Looking for something to add a bit of levity to your life now that the holiday season, with the requisite helter-skelter, is fast approaching?
Consider buying a new clock.
Yes, wit comes in a lot of unexpected forms these days. Unlike the high-tech clocks of the early `80s whose minimalistic design made them serious timepieces, today`s technically astute clocks do indeed keep time, but they keep a sense of humor, too.
”The functional items that are part of our day-to-day lives need not be dull. They can be fun, amusing and whimsical,” says Deanna Hansen, buyer for Chicago`s Chiasso shops.
That`s the motto shared by many clock designers today, including San Francisco-based Miles Design, which created the ”Coffee and Donuts” clock. It sports the conventional rotating little hand/big hand-but pictures of, you guessed it, donuts and coffee cups replace numbers to mark the hours. Slogans like ”You deserve a break” are inscribed on its perimeter. ”Checking the time is such a rote process,” says Gary Miles, ”so we decided to give people a surprise.”
Some of the wittier clock designs on the market are inspired by cultural icons, both high and low. Check out the wall clock with the slightly blurred numbers-an innocent parody on the good ol` school clock-andthe ”Mona Lisa”
clock in which part of Mona`s face is put to work as the minute hand. For those who like a little action in their timepieces, there`s the ”Rolling”
clock in which time is kept by rolling hour and minute plates.
Let`s face it: Minimalism is a style whose time has passed.
