Tools for Dying Celebrates Design’s Long Reach

September 23, 2008. From Rob Price, creative director of Thwart Design, creator of the (slice of a) Grandfather Clock and the Duchampian homage R. Mutt Sticker (like a bumper sticker but you put it on urinals), comes Design Without Reach: Tools for Dying, a cheeky take on Design Within Reach’s Tools for Living campaign. Pondering DWR’s accomplishment in raising design awareness in the U.S., Price decided to extend the long arm of modern design even further – until it went back underground, in fact, exactly six feet under. “When I first heard about Tools for Living,” Price admits, “my immediate thought went to Tools for Dying and the idea of playfully bringing back, or ‘resurrecting,’ past designs.” The concept collection includes a Michael Graves Urn that resembles, yes, a tea kettle, a Philippe Starck Juicer-Sickle, a Coffin Pillow Pouf by Corbu and an Eames molded plywood lounge coffin (at only $3,000), among other items. The morbid tribute has even tickled a few feathers in the offices at DWR: Price recently received an email from the Santa Barbara store manager asking, "What else you got?" It’s a thriller, indeed. thwartdesign.com