Form Follows Function:
Design & Engineering
"It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,
of all things physical and metaphysical,
of all things human and all things super-human,
of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that FORM EVER FOLLOW FUNCTION. This is the law."
— Architect Louis Sullivan
L to R: Lightweight Miele stick vacuum and Jiffy professional quality clothing steamer, both masterful combinations of engineering and design
Things that work well get me excited. Engineering is the inside to the outside of a beautiful design and as with people, if the inside is rotten, the outside is pretty much irrelevant. Gorgeous design should lead to gorgeous guts or it isn't really successful. Great design needs to start with great engineering for anything with more than a superficial purpose. It makes sense that an architect, Louis Sullivan, for whom Frank Lloyd Wright worked, would coin the phrase, “Form Follows Function.” If a building falls down, it really doesn't matter how nice the drawings were.
Here are two items that do what they are supposed to do very well: Miele vacuums and Jiffy steamers. The Miele stick vacuum works better than most larger industrial models with a fraction of the required effort. Miele makes numerous models but this lightweight one wins the award for me, as it's so much easier to work with and does a better job than I've ever seen a vacuum do. The Jiffy professional quality steamer is similar in expertise. It heats up almost instantly and never stops its powerful yet gentle-on-fabric steaming, as you see in the photo above. Both these products are amazing labor-saving devices that will make you realize what it really means for a piece of equipment to work well. Good tools change your life.