Rationality and irrationality in design

When we use the A. Ricard ice tongs, when we sit on the E. Saarinen Tulip Chair or when we use an iMac, we are experiencing something more than the physical state, something more than the comfort and utility of these objects, our experience is not solely based on the superficial functionality of their designs, we are enjoying an aesthetic and emotional experience linked to the objects themselves. Today, in a world that is increasingly more interested in the virtual and the intangible aspect of design, it is taken as read that, although it may seem contradictory, the objects around us exceed objectification and have an impenetrable character, they are filled with hidden feelings and acquire a symbolic meaning that transforms our purely utilitarian view of them. The famous P. Starck juicer, a design that has become a classic despite its doubtful functionality, is an object that possesses an aesthetic and symbolic charge that helps us understand it more as a cult object than a kitchen utensil. The futuristic metal spider has become a sculptural metaphor for the traditional purely functional juicer. However, this status of the object, this almost philosophical vision of the object, this cult of the product is not something that design traditionally possessed nor is it is inherent to it. This vision of the object comes from a discussion between two seemingly opposing styles held during the first third of the twentieth century, the confrontation between the purely functional object and the symbolic object that was the product of surrealism.
The appearance of this dual vision of the object was the most material projection of a philosophical discussion that opposed two human realities, two opposing natures, the wolf and the human, irrationality and rationality, hubris and sophrosyne. Two realities that in the world of the object led to two initially opposing and found design styles. The new status of which is derived from the current object, an object which is both functional and symbolic, it is a product of the assimilation of the most aesthetic and emotional aspect of the surrealist object and of the purity and absolute quest for the utility and functionality of the rationalist and purist object; two realities that transform the design product into a cult object and awaken an aesthetic experience in the user.