Nicholas Fox Webber, the author of a biography of Le Corbusier, has recently published iBauhaus. I have not read the book yet, but the subtitle, “The iPhone as the Embodiment of Bauhaus Ideals and Design,” says it all. There is no doubt that the iPhone is a minimalist, no frills machine and proud of it. It is also a quintessentially Bauhaus example of form follows predetermined aesthetics rather than form follows function. The iPhone doesn’t fit the human hand particularly well, certainly not as well as the classic Western Telephone Model 500 handset designed by Henry Dreyfuss in the 1940s. The predecessor of the Model 500 was the Western Electric Model 300 designed by Bell Labs engineer George Lum in the early 1930s, about the same time that the Bauhaus school moved to Berlin. I have an iPhone, and I’ve had a Wassily Chair and I formed no attachment to either.
Western Electric Model 302, c. 1930s
The iPhone serves as a multi-purpose device — web browser/camera/phone. It’s a compromise, being barely adequate at its main tasks, but good enough at each to have earned it a place in the pockets of millions. It doesn’t hold a candle to the best multi-use devices like the Swiss Army knife which I’ve carried in my pocket for fifty years (not the same knife, but pretty close), and which is close to perfection. But Weber may be right about it being an “embodiment “ of the Bauhaus, i.e. a superficially minimalist nod to functionalism which manages to be not all that functional in fact. My old Nokia phone fit my face better when phoning and was much easier to hold onto. My DSLR takes better pictures and my iPad works better for typing and watching video. I think everyone I know has put a plastic case on their phone because the slim aluminum and glass object is too awkward, fragile and slick to hold onto safely. The iPad also requires a plastic case, so why aren’t these products made from robust plastic in a hand-friendly design to begin with? That would constitute form following function for real, not just rhetorically.
I’m reminded of the Bang & Olufsen stereo I had back in the seventies. Really stunningly elegant design paired with mediocre sound. I bought it for the design, obviously. Or the many Braun products owned over the years, of which I only still have a kitchen scale which, to its credit, is an excellent design functioning well to this day.
My iPhone 7 has a leather cover which is nicer to handle than the original metal and actually ages pleasantly,