This is the tenth essay in a collection of twelve written by Byron Ferris for the "Design Sense" feature of the Sunday Northwest Magazine insert of The Oregonian during 1984 and 1985. As always, Byron entertains and shows a knack for having his finger on pulse of Portland, then and now. Who else can wrap the mythical Calvin Swine and the esteemed Charles Eames to illustrate his idea? Nobody, that's who. And that's why we love the young feller'.
Not many products are designed in Oregon because, of course, the state manufactures little in the "mass-market manufacture" sense. Oregon, as home to Jantzen, White Stag, Speedo and Nike, has a large name in the active sportswear field, but much of the styling or manufacture for these brands is done out-of-state. Pendleton's fashions are Oregon-directed; Gerber Blades, Columbia Outdoorwear and several other products can be called Oregon-based in the national marketplace. Oregon is a surprisingly large supplier of printing and publications, and the growing electronics industry has required some specialized product design.
But design innovation is not a great need in our cut-and-ship state, where most products are grown, harvested and shipped out — timber, fruit, wheat and vegetables. I suppose there's not much need for invention when you live with a "let-me-watch-my-garden-grow" attitude.
The cut-and-ship condition may have been responsible for Gov. Tom McCall's invitation to visitors, "Come visit, but don't stay." That is, visit, but then cut out, ship out. But now we're part of the international marketplace, with trees and wheat shipping out to the Pacific Rim nations and the Port of Portland acting as point of entry for massive numbers of Japanese cars. We have to think of the new intermix of one-world technologies and cultures. I knew the international mix was upon us when I suspected that our local Mexican restaurant served guacamole made with CooIWhip.
In spite of Oregon's conservative, relaxed attitude about creativity, we do have a good share of creative people. Salem's photographer/ designer/gourmet cook, Bob Koval, saw a need for a method to measure fish. Fish aren't designed like milk cartons, and it's hard to judge how thick a fish is to determine just how many minutes of cooking it will require, a vital timing measurement — 10 minutes per inch of thickness — in preparing the perfect fish.
Bob devised a sliding arm on a scale that indicates the exact number of minutes needed for baking, broiling or sauteing. His "Perfect Fish" device earned James Beard's recommendation and is now on sale all the way from Bloomingdales in New York to small kitchenware shops on the Oregon Coast. Bob also has been proud of his successful promotion, though the large "Perfect Fish" stenciled on the back of his jacket looks strange at lunch at Trader Vic's.
I suspect that Boston can match Portland in conservative attitudes, but Boston can reveal some surprisingly creative innovation. In particular, I admire Boston's "Hog Wild" shop, which promotes everything having to do with pigs. I have a pig-shaped designer tie-tack by Calvin Swine, for instance, and my wife wears a lounging robe embroidered with a small pink pig — instead of that polo player or that alligator — from Hog Wild's "Pork Avenue Collection." On occasion I sketch ideas that I, one day, may send off to Boston to point up Oregon creativity, in some kind of exchange.
During an interview some years go with Charles Eames, I asked how the Eames leather chair came to be designed.
"Well," said Eames, "I produced one prototype as a gag for my friend, Billy Wilder, to characterize my version of his flamboyant Hollywood director's style."
To Eames' surprise, Wilder's friends asked for their own repeats of the chair that started out as a gag gift, and now this trim but luxurious chair is a highly produced design classic. Eames went on to a policy of generating his own design ideas, calling IBM to propbse an exhibit about mathematics. His studio's educational reading of "Mathematica" became a feature of the Seattle World's Fair and continues as part of the Seattle Science Center. The Eames idea of innovating design projects provided industry with products they didn't know they needed.
I keep sketching: Anybody need any "pig" products?
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