Current mood:

chipper

Retro-futurist
Lately, Coriander and I have been thinking about retro-futuristic design. I guess it's because we're putting up curtain rods and supports made of copper pipe and fittings (yes, we made them ourselves -- we now know the difference between a "street" elbow and a regular elbow). The aesthetic was this sort of Fritz Lang "Metropolis" kind of theme: in this modern world, we have these pipes coming out of the wall, so we decided to hang multi-colored curtains on them.

It has created a leitmotif. Last night, for instance, we were having martinis out of glasses that I bought for Coriander for Christmas. They look like this:



Coriander said, "In 1934, everyone in 2009 drinks martinis from these."

I want more.

As much as I like modern design, as in, mid-century modern, I'd like to avoid the stuff-your-grandmother-had-in-formica syndrome that goes along with it. I want examples of design from the past, very clearly retro, that are images of "design of the future". (Nothing earlier than the 19-teens, however. We're not steampunk-y.) Have a favorite example? I'd love a link or a picture. We're collecting -- surely you know something. Care to help us out?