James Dyson on Alec Issigonis

CNN is running a nice piece on Alec Issigonis, father of the (original) Mini.  What's notable about this brief bio is its author, James Dyson, father of the eponymous vacuum that never loses suction.

Issigonis was a genius on many levels.  As Dyson notes, the father of the Mini was nothing if not elegant in both his design solutions and his structured approach to problem solving:

Sir Alec Issigonis... came up with his ingenious idea while sipping on a gin in a hotel in Cannes -- a very civilized approach to engineering.

If this article is indeed written by Dyson and not some pathetic PR flak, it poses an interesting question: why not have real, working designers write the history of design?  Why leave it up to non-pracitioners who don't know really understand the design process?  I'd like to see more designers follow Dyson's lead.  Gin or no gin.

Comments

[minispace]

Thanks for the link to that CNN-article (and the other link) although I do not see what some hoover has got to do with the Mini. Oh, and we 'non-practitioners' are simply better drivers ;)