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January 2014 Yuck Design Award : fake Italian brands

This month, I decided to assign the Yuck Design Award not a to product but to a trend. I’m Italian, but having lived and worked in five other countries, I am always amazed at how many products and brands sometimes pretend to be Italian. I remember working, when I was a student, at a restaurant in Denver Colorado, United States, called Fratelli’s. The restaurant served a variety of Italian dishes, but nobody was Italian in its the staff.

Even in France, the term “sandwichs” (correct English would be sandwiches) is now giving way to ” paninni “, also often written “pannini” sometimes correct, sometimes erroneous versions of the Italian ” panini “.

Pizza and pasta are among the world’s most famous words, yet their popularity does not make a single penny for Italians, unlike champagne and Coca- Cola who bring billions to France and USA.

I find it quite normal, albeit a little grotesque, sticking an Italian name to products originally designed in Italy but manufactured in another country. That is why this habit’s worth the Yuck Design Award . This is the case, for example, of the popular (in Europe) discount Lidl, which offers products with brand names that seem quite Italian, like mozzarella Lovilio, which was produced in Germany, or pasta Combino, which have also excellent value for money. The image below is an example of “Italian” brands by Lidl:

fake Italian brands

fake Italian brands

 

Lancia Flavia, December 2013 Yuck Design Award

Lancia Flavia

Lancia Flavia

After only 18 months of its launch, production of the Lancia Flavia convertible was interrupted. Indeed, instead of 2000 Lancia cars intended for sale on the Italian market in 2013, only 225 copies of these convertibles were sold, despite a resounding commercial launch and a price reduction of € 13,000, from 37,900 euro to 24,900 euro. It is a commercial failure all the more bitter that Fiat Group, which owns Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Chrysler, has always had a tradition of success in the design of beautiful cars. Just throw a glance at the Alfa Romeo 4C, below, which FHM Magazine, the best selling fashion magazine of the United Kingdom, named “Car of the Year 2013”. Alfa Romeo

Alfa-Romeo design: the 4C

Alfa-Romeo design: the 4C

So here are the reasons to award Lancia Flavia the Yuck Design:

  1. there are many reasons to admire American cars, but we must also be aware of its capabilities: the Italian design furniture and cars has nothing to envy to the American design, so why try to sell in Europe an American car design?
  2. considering the higher price of gasoline, and minor consumption of diesel cars, why this cabriolet was available only in petrol version ?
  3. why call Lancia a car that looks pretty much as a Chrysler?

The November Weird Design Award, the hedgehog coat

I am pleased to introduce the Weird Design Award of the Month : each month, we assign a price to a comically weird design. It does not mention the designer, both because it’s not nice to criticize others for fun, and also since very often the designer himself knows he has designed his funny masterpiece for fun or to generously give others the opportunity to laugh a little.

Here is a picture of the winning November Weird Design Award, the hedgehog coat :

weird design: hedgehog coat

weird design: hedgehog coat

The purpose of this jacket design is to prevent other travelers to crush you when the subway is packed. The Weird Design Award is well deserved : just see the looks of other passengers, it says “weird” on their faces. It’s not an artificial pose in order to win the prestigious  Weird Design Award. A sweat stain on the armpit of the traveler on the right demonstrates that this is a spontaneous picture.

  1. weird: the poor girl looks like a hedgehog
  2. weird: if this trend spreads, travelers will remain entangled in each other when subways are full
  3. weird: we could not even exchange a hug with this girl without being painfully stung
  4. weird: if a person wearing an hedgehog coat bounces into another traveler because of the inevitably shaking subway, he may pierce him

It’s true, however, that this hedgehog coat would be effective to keep off the sex maniacs who take advantage of public transport to abusively touch girls …