Object: About Time

Designer: CULTIVATE

URL: http://www.cultivate.nl

Category: Consumer Technology

Price: $120

Lust Factor: Hot

Description: Last week was the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. I, unfortunately, am too poor to go to any international design events this winter, so I’ll feature a few of the designers that have been featured in the Dutch Design Week in recent years.

CULTIVATE is a design house that, as many Dutch designers do, explores the extreme edges of puns. They are very toung-and-cheek with their designs. The About Time table clock is certainly in this punny vein. It’s what you might call a triple entendre. One meaning is: it’s about time we got such a great clock on the market. Another meaning is: this object is about time… which isn’t immediately apparent at first glance. The third meaning is: the clock is not about telling “accurate time” but “about time”. That is, instead of having numbers on the face of the clock, the clock displays phrases like, ” It’s probably about seven.”

The mechanism to tell time is also a genius move. The shape of the clock is a cone. The clock slowly rolls in a circle as time goes by. It has a slow, lulling motion. I think it’s a wildly successful re-examination of the importance of the accuracy of time and people’s modern hectic schedule. You should buy one now!