Soviet-Era Industrial Design
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Soviet-Era Industrial Design
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Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#2The camera is Iskra, not Vilia. Manufactured by KMZ rather than BelOMO.
Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#3The camera is Iskra, not Vilia. Manufactured by KMZ rather than BelOMO.
Kinda embarrassing mistake when the name is quite visible right in the picture.
Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#4If you liked this, you'll probably enjoy the North Korean equivalent:
https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/articl...
Although the designs are more austere and less whimsical. (As, to be fair, were the vast majority of Soviet products too.)
Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#5Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#6Eastern bloc design is what American fifties-early-sixties were, back when Khrushev was trying to make USSR a semblance of a normal nation.
To many here, it will may sound surprising, but Khrushev kept quite high opinion of the Western society, and looked up to it.
After Khrushev was kicked out of the politbureau, all things got stuck in that era till the moment USSR kicked the bucket.
Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#7Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#8Eastern bloc design is what American fifties-early-sixties were, back when Khrushev was trying to make USSR a semblance of a normal nation. To many here, it will may sound surprising, but Khrushev kept quite high opinion of the Western society, and looked up to it. After Khrushev was kicked out of the politbureau, all things got stuck in that era till the moment USSR kicked the bucket.
The system (obviously) did not encourage free market competition, and there were issues in supply and demand. Therefore things like re-design and re-styling, which happened naturally in a highly competitive marketplace didn't happen. But, on the other hand, having worked out a reasonably functional, stylish design for a coffeepot there was no need to invest pointless money re-styling it, to try and capture market share.
These designs were 'contemporary' when done. They froze? sure, but thats a rational decision when you face cost side imperatives like 'how many can we make and for how long' rather than 'what can we do, to innovate, to capture more market share'
As design exemplars, in context, these are pretty good. The typography and design sensibility is world-class.
Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#9For those interested, this particular kind of design is known as retrofuturism around the Internet. Reddit has a good subreddit on it: https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroFuturism/
I personally have once had these Sputnik razor blades: https://www.ebay.com/p/Sputnik-100-Double-Edge-Razor-Blades-...
In addition to being dirt cheap, I also found the branding funny. Somehow I felt like I am buying something not very good in terms of quality, but which does work (somehow) anyway. There were also pack called Lada's in there. I definitely felt like the Sputnik ones were better than the Lada's though.
Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design
#10Eastern bloc design is what American fifties-early-sixties were, back when Khrushev was trying to make USSR a semblance of a normal nation. To many here, it will may sound surprising, but Khrushev kept quite high opinion of the Western society, and looked up to it. After Khrushev was kicked out of the politbureau, all things got stuck in that era till the moment USSR kicked the bucket.
The system (obviously) did not encourage free market competition, and there were issues in supply and demand. Therefore things like re-design and re-styling, which happened naturally in a highly competitive marketplace didn't happen. But, on the other hand, having worked out a reasonably functional, stylish design for a coffeepot there was no need to invest pointless money re-styling it, to try and capture market sha…
When you have dumb rules then rational decision lead to bad effects. That's why you should have good systems of rules. Instiutional economics 101.