CALIFORNIA: Designing Freedom at the Design Museum looks at the origins of the technical and social innovations emanating from the sunshine state. The unlikely influences of the LSD fuelled counterculture of the 60’s, surf/board/skate/ride culture and biker gangs fed the DIY tech start-up phenomenon of the 1970’s which continue to this day. From Disney to Xerox to Apple to Google. From the hippy communes and improvised festivals to the growth of Silicon Valley and driverless cars. Californian design has created the systems by which we live, work, play and communicate. From spoken language to visual language the stream of innovation coming from the West Coast continues to dictate our very existence leaving us permanently turned-on and tuned-in.
1. Disney: The garage of Walt Disney’s uncle
2. Hewlett-Packard: The garage of David and Lucille Packard
3. Apple: The garage of Paul and Clara Jobs
4. Google: The garage of Susan Wojcicki
Dome construction system used at festivals and communes.
Xerox Star – the first graphic user interface, 1981.
Apple 1 – sold as a kit for self assembly.
April Greiman’s poster for the California Institute of the Arts, 1983.
Aerial photograph of the Burning Man Festival, Nevada.
Original neon sign from Google’s first office
Google Maps’ layered information system.
