Stuff that is just "right".
It works and I can't think of anything that could replace it.
The humble BS 1363 plug.
Safe as anything and a spectacular anti personnel caltrop
The bicycle. And if it's folding the Brompton.
Another from Casio is the basic digital watch.
The tiny folding tin opener - though being made redundant by that other classic the ring-pull can.
The clic-clac sofa bed.
The Telecaster (or Stat if you prefer)
Many of the tools and fixing systems we take for granted, Torx for example.
Aeropress.
Fantastic coffee. Very simple. Cheap.
Not sure i would call the telecaster an everyday design classic. It has always been a luxury item. Fantastic design i fully agree though.
I bring you the computer mouse
Anglepoise lamps.
The design is still stolen used by lots of other lighting companies,but the originals ( I think) are beautiful simplicity.
The design is still stolen used by lots of other lighting companies,but the originals ( I think) are beautiful simplicity.
I wanted one of the old industrial angle poise lamps for my shed until I saw how much they go for 🙁
The iPhone. You can argue about which version is the definitive one (probably the 6 for me), but it's a game changer and an absolute classic.
IKEA Atilop high chair.
Ergonomic triumph in the age range of kids it fits with no adjustment.
Indestructible.
Very easy to clean with no nooks and crannies to gather food (jet wash if you want - or even take the legs off and chuck in dishwasher).
Cheap.
Light.
More compact than some folding monstrosities
Fender P Bass
Airport Departure Boards - the ultimate information radiators
330 ml drink can
Bialetti Moka stove top
Croc Martens
The iPhone. You can argue about which version is the definitive one (probably the 6 for me), but it's a game changer and an absolute classic.
I am going to disagree with this. Its a game changing interface so in that respect its a phenomenal design.
However...
I don't think you can call anything a classic if it has such a short life before its obsolete. A classic would be so good it just doesn't need replaced. Casio watch, plug, ipods etc.
Its got consistently bigger to the point where its now absolutely massive. Its just a bloated device to lure in consumers. Its unique selling point is it does thing that they tell their customers they want.
Its only as good as the apps available for it. Compare it to the nokia 3310. Ubiquitous for so long, and functionally as good as it ever was.
Can't remember the date this was made but it's 50s atleast. Been in the family the whole time.
How about OS landrangers and explorers. Phenomenal mapping compared to most countries, and the overlapping cover that prevents the fold being rubbed away.
And some more
- BIC Pen
- Barcelona Chair
- IKEA Billy Bookcase
- Alessi Kettle
NOT THE UI ON THS FORUM - FFS!
I don't think you can call anything a classic if it has such a short life before its obsolete. A classic would be so good it just doesn't need replaced. Casio watch, plug, ipods etc.
I think the latter iterations do last, mine is version 11, 10 ish years old and still works fine. For an electronic device, that's a good lifespan. It's certainly lasted longer than many watches and iPods that I've owned.
Its just a bloated device to lure in consumers. Its unique selling point is it does thing that they tell their customers they want.
Is that not the tech rather than the design?
Cycling related.
Cheap, light and strong.
Swiss Army Knife? I can't remember a year when I have not had at least one. Actually, maybe add Opinel to that list given how simple it is, yet so useful.
IKEA Atilop high chair.
Ergonomic triumph in the age range of kids it fits with no adjustment.
Indestructible.
Very easy to clean with no nooks and crannies to gather food (jet wash if you want - or even take the legs off and chuck in dishwasher).
Cheap.
Light.
More compact than some folding monstrosities
This was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the thread title. Makes every other example of a high chair seem like it was designed by an idiot
Merino buffs. There are lots of imitations, but I check one on for dog walks, cycling to and from work, going out for a run. They are just so usable!
I don't think you can call anything a classic if it has such a short life before its obsolete. A classic would be so good it just doesn't need replaced. Casio watch, plug, ipods etc.
I think the latter iterations do last, mine is version 11, 10 ish years old and still works fine. For an electronic device, that's a good lifespan. It's certainly lasted longer than many watches and iPods that I've owned.
Its just a bloated device to lure in consumers. Its unique selling point is it does thing that they tell their customers they want.
Is that not the tech rather than the design?
Yeah but the tech is the design you can't seperate the two.
To be clear i am not saying its a bad design, far from it but i would argue its not an everyday classic its constantly being "improved" tells you it isn't a classic.
And individual cases of it being used for 10 years aren't the same as "so good people haven't upgraded" for 10 years.
Bialetti Moka stove top
This again. I don't think it will ever not be a cherished morning ritual. I get tempted to buy a newer fancy shaped one, but we have a range of sizes going back 25 years which I can't see ever dying.
The humble cardboard egg box. It's evolved very little over time, is cheap, light, strong and does exactly what is needed.
Kenwood chef.
Timely thread as i was in the Design Museum on Monday and they have an installation for exactly this question. A good proportion of the above make the cut.
I'll add the Stanley Knife.
The ’safety bicycle’
Apologies for missing the n out of IKEA Antilop.
I'd forgotten just how cheap they are - £15 or less!
And even when being disposed of, it can be easily separated into materials for recycling (no fabric stuck to foam stuck to plastic etc).
I have the Canon version of that calculator on my desk and it has been used almost daily at work for the last 15 years, still going strong.
The 1460 DM in black is an absolute classic. Created in 1960 and still just as timeless and stylish today.
Agree on Opinel and the original SAK
Trangia… I know it isn’t perfect for everything but it’s great.
Not that old but time is passing… Alpkit Gourdon 25.
The original Birkenstocks
My Pamir Hypercracker… hard to find these days.
I don't think you can call anything a classic if it has such a short life before its obsolete. A classic would be so good it just doesn't need replaced.
We're talking about design though. The smartphone design hasn't fundamentally changed since the iPhone. Phones have a short life (usually) due to the rapid pace of technology changes, not fashion. From a distance you'd be hard-pressed to tell apart any phone made in the last 15 years. Look in the window of a modern-day pawn shop such as CEX and you'll see a rackful of shiny black slabs all near-identical to each other.
A given model might be relatively short-lived for sure, but the radical-for-the-time iPhone design has influenced an entire generation of handsets. Surely that's the very definition of a classic design, when the entire world has copied it.
We're talking about design though
We're talking everyday design. I did say the user interface was exceptional but the design of smartphones over all is poor.
Look in the window of a modern-day pawn shop such as CEX and you'll see a rackful of shiny black slabs all near-identical to each other.
Exactly. They are not in peoples hands, they've already been chopped in.
They fail the second line of the OP you can replace them with the latest one, almost immediately.
Lego!
Leftfield choice: the humble ironing board, no doubt there are dozens of different manufactures of these things but they all have basically the same design.
......the design of smartphones over all is poor.
I think you're going to have to explain/defend that statement.
Poor in relation to what? Poor at doing the job it's designed to do?
The hardware form and input and navigation model that was first introduced to mass markets with the iPhone is definitely a design classic.
So a 200e Squier Telecaster that will last a lifetime is too expensive for this thread but a luxury iphone that will be incompatible with a load of apps and unuseable in the near future isn't, Josh. Picky picky. 😐
Fork, knife, spoon. Better than any alternative I have dabbled with.......
......the design of smartphones over all is poor.
I think you're going to have to explain/defend that statement.
Poor in relation to what? Poor at doing the job it's designed to do?
Poor because they are disposable. They have a designed short life.
They are great phones and each time they get better i'm not disputing that.
I'm also not disputing that they are an iconic design.
I am not disputing they aren't nice things.
What i am saying is that they are horrendously wasteful and that is bad design. And we should not use that as an example of good design. Its an example of exceptional marketing.
More specifically, and i did edit my last post but it seems to have disappeared in forum being shit.
The brief was every day design, designs so good that if you do need to replace you go out and buy the same. No phone does that, i mean you could go out and buy an iphone 11 bit you wouldn't, would you. You would buy the newest model in your price range. So all phones fail the brief.
The brief was every day design, designs so good that if you do need to replace you go out and buy the same. No phone does that, i mean you could go out and buy an iphone 11 bit you wouldn't, would you. You would buy the newest model in your price range. So all phones fail the brief.
I'd still buy an iPhone though, and I said originally that the iPhone was an everyday classic design.
I also call out your comment about them being disposable. I use my phone more than pretty much anything else I own (the only other things that overtake it is my office chair and my bed, maybe the sofa). So to have to replace something that gets that much use every 8 or 10 years seems very reasonable to me. No, it's not got the lifespan of oak furniture, but it'll last way longer than anything else similar that I own.
Ticks all the boxes.
Victorinox Star Vegetable Peeler (Mine is the classic aluminium version. Amongst peelers this is the best)
(from Object of Use - shop sells plenty of good quality items and I going to buy some of the classic Spanish kitchen knives soon)
I'd still buy an iPhone though, and I said originally that the iPhone was an everyday classic design.
I stand by it. Totally different phone, no "classic iphone" about it. Therefore not an every day classic.
Record G-clamp
Fwiw there were other phones with a very similar form factor before the iPhone - Apple didn't do anything that new or revolutionary with the form. The things that they did well were marketing and usability for non tekkies. Its success as a product is what defines it as the start of the smart phone era, not the fact that it was a rectangle with a touchscreen and minimal buttons.
Trangia.
id argue that the telecaster is a design classic.
it was very easy to manufacture from generic tools, and worked perfectly straight out of the box.
how did it price, compared to a tv in late 40’s USA?
never owned one, but people will clutch their zippo’s till their final, exasperated breath.
ring-pulls on drinks cans?
how did it price, compared to a tv in late 40’s USA?
Telecaster was 230 dollars in 1951. Cheapest tvwas about 150. Very expensive.
Again though as classic as it is its not an everyday classic is it. There isn't one sitting in most houses just quietly getting on with its job.
My Gaggia Classic although its not getting used just now as I do like my Silvia but might sorn her tonight and get the Classic fired up for a few months
Wooden deck chair.
Stanley Steelmaster hammer.
Came on to say UK road signs but was beaten by Moab 😀
Then I thought a hammer and got beaten by cakeface 😅
The UK road signs history is an 'interesting' read for a rainy afternoon....
Worboys Committee on Road Signage - Wikipedia
https://share.google/2sdf1cHECRbUphp51
The humble BS 1363 plug.
Safe as anything and a spectacular anti personnel caltrop
Along with Lego bricks; another simple modelling item that’s become an iconic design classic. And stealthy anti-personnel weapon… 😖🤬
I wanted one of the old industrial angle poise lamps for my shed until I saw how much they go for
I’ve got one I ‘borrowed’ from a former employer that went bust, mine has a light fitting that takes a short fluorescent tube - I keep meaning to measure it and get an LED replacement and get it back into use.
Its got consistently bigger to the point where its now absolutely massive. Its just a bloated device to lure in consumers. Its unique selling point is it does thing that they tell their customers they want.
*rolls eyes* Clearly avoiding mentioning the fact that all the competition are doing exactly the same thing. They all got where they are by slavishly copying the iPhone, because the phone that Google were planning on releasing with the Android OS at the point Jobs announced the first iPhone was a slavish knock-off of the Blackberry, whereupon all Android phones became a flat glass-fronted slab with a touchscreen.*
As for size, they still make smaller versions, and I can use my 16 Pro Max to take photos single-handed, the only time I need two hands is for inputting information.
*Fact.
Its got consistently bigger to the point where its now absolutely massive. Its just a bloated device to lure in consumers. Its unique selling point is it does thing that they tell their customers they want.
*rolls eyes* Clearly avoiding mentioning the fact that all the competition are doing exactly the same thing. They all got where they are by slavishly copying the iPhone, because the phone that Google were planning on releasing with the Android OS at the point Jobs announced the first iPhone was a slavish knock-off of the Blackberry, whereupon all Android phones became a flat glass-fronted slab with a touchscreen.*
As for size, they still make smaller versions, and I can use my 16 Pro Max to take photos single-handed, the only time I need two hands is for inputting information.
*Fact.
my simple statement was they are not an every day design classic because there simply isn't a single iphone that fits the definition given.
I don't disagree with any of your points. I haven't said anywhere that they're not an iconic design or that they didn't change the way we use phones over night.
The original is quite obviously and absolut game changer and deserves recognition.
But they are constantly evolving so you can't or atleast would be unwise to replace your 10 year old one with an identical one.
Iphone is a brand not a single "classic design"
Black and Decker Workmate. It may have been improved upon by Black and Decker (and imitators) over the years, but I think I'm right in thinking it was the original, and the basic design still stands up today as a easy portable solution for the home DIYer. 
You're arguing semantics now. Which may (arguably) be a point worth arguing? "The iPhone definitely is an iconic design but definitely is not a classic design." 🤷♂️
How do you feel about the Zippo mentioned earlier, or the Maglite? Design classics? Both are pretty crap functionality wise. I had a Zippo for a while, it leaked fuel vapour so badly that it gave me a rash on my leg next to the pocket and by the time I'd come to needing to use it it would be dry. It made for a great fidget toy though. The beam from a Maglite is poor even with a LED upgrade option fitted.
I see your Zippo and raise you the humble but universal Zip.
How do you feel about the Zippo mentioned earlier, or the Maglite? Design classics? Both are pretty crap functionality wise. I had a Zippo for a while, it leaked fuel vapour so badly that it gave me a rash on my leg next to the pocket and by the time I'd come to needing to use it it would be dry.
When I was a smoker, about 30 years ago now, I had a number of Zippo's over the years, with various engravings from different ships etc. They were l great, didn't leak significantly and lit nearly every time.
In fact I still have an unused one, in it's box, from SS Canberra. They are lovely things.
The humble wire coat hanger.
A Parker Jotter ballpoint pen. I totally agree with a Bic Biro, but they are essentially seen as disposable, whereas a Parker can be durable.
But they are constantly evolving so you can't or atleast would be unwise to replace your 10 year old one with an identical one.
The design classic is the form; simple glass and metal slab coupled with the way of entering and navigating information.
That has been copied by all smart phone makers and hasn't been significantly improved upon since the initial design. Sure they come in different sizes, but so do lots of other design classics e.g. the Moka Pot, Different Colour pic pens and different size billy book cases. The available variations does not mean that they are not design classics.
The humble BS 1363 plug.
I take it you don't travel much?
It's fine for big stuff like washing machines but nowadays on smaller devices you realise how ridiculously bulky UK plugs are compared to European ones
Aeropress
As above.
double bubble
...and 
The round wheel? Square ones never really caught on.
The humble BS 1363 plug.
Safe as anything and a spectacular anti personnel caltrop
The reason the UK has those plugs was because we had really crap consumer units. There was little or no protection from RCDs and MCBs just fuses.
The rest of Europe had them way before we did.
I bought a house in 1999 which had a CU which still had the old school fuse wire, which had to be wound on the terminals.
When I was a smoker, about 30 years ago now, I had a number of Zippo's over the years, with various engravings from different ships etc. They were l great, didn't leak significantly and lit nearly every time.
Different use cases though. Mine probably got used once a month rather than multiple times a day.
When I was a smoker, about 30 years ago now, I had a number of Zippo's over the years, with various engravings from different ships etc. They were l great, didn't leak significantly and lit nearly every time.
Different use cases though. Mine probably got used once a month rather than multiple times a day.
Well they were never designed to be used like that.
Why did you carry it all the time, to point of affecting your skin, if you only used it once a month?
The humble BS 1363 plug.
Safe as anything and a spectacular anti personnel caltrop
The reason the UK has those plugs was because we had really crap consumer units. There was little or no protection from RCDs and MCBs just fuses.
The rest of Europe had them way before we did.
I bought a house in 1999 which had a CU which still had the old school fuse wire, which had to be wound on the terminals.
They were created to be used on a ring main which saved lots of copper. The fuse allowed more stuff to run on a single ring and different current requirements to run on the same ring. But there os far more impressive design in them than the fact they contain the fuse.
The UK has had mandatory requirements for RCD for longer than a fair number of european countries
They don't go live until the earth connects (and they are earthed)
If you yank the cable out the last core to break is the earth.
Speaking of yanking, if you pull the outer out and expose the inners the inners insulation is long enough to prevent exposure to live bare cores.
The socket is is physically shuttered until the earth is pushed in.
The live and neutral pins are insulated until they disconnect from the main. Which also means you can't do the "wrap a bare wire round the pins and push it almost all the way in"
The main cable is clamped. At 90 degrees so they can't be pulled out by the cable easily.
Three pins also means there is a single polarity orientation.
They pretty much designed stupid out and safety in. they are used worldwide. You only have to wobble a two pin socket to see its shonky.
The bulk can be dealt with, plenty of phone charger examples. The iphone is a pretty decent example.
Elu router. Was gifted one by a friend. Much prefer it over any Festool offering.
The one litre Tetrapak.
Paperclip