El Raja Key Archive by Robert J. Kuntz

Rob Kuntz is a living legend and El Raja Key Archive is here to prove it. Now ask any of the people in the know within the Role-Playing Games (RPG) community, and they will agree. I also witnessed it first hand when Rob and I attended Lucca Comics & Games 2015, of which he was a special guest. Rob Kuntz is up there with Dave Arneson, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons® (D&D®), and Gary Gygax, he who made it all happen from the maproom to the boardroom, and from the figurines to the seven-figure profits. Meanwhile Rob's name will forever remain associated with the legendary Castle Greyhawk and his no-less-legendary character, Robilar. So yes, we are about stuff of legend here.

A timeless piece of gaming that is set to become a collectible!

Although Rob was one of the youngest in the original crew, back in the early 1970s, his formative years in Lake Geneva (WI) amongst a bunch of creatives and visionaries, shaped his style, honed his craft and nurtured his talent. Bear in mind that Rob has never sold out. He has remained true to his core values, and not lost sight of the power of creativity as a game designer, and imagination as a gamer - and how to unleash them both and keep them up. Rob has never ceased to be a prolific author and designer either. When he's away from the public eye, you can be sure he's holed up at home working on a project.

Throughout his career that spans more than 40 years, Rob has authored an impressive number of adventure modules and has consistently remained a firm RPG favourite amongst his loyal fan-base and those Original D&D® (OD&D®) afficionados.

Gem of many designs! The Sunken City adventure module has an original artwork by Jim Roslof.

Tread carefully for Rob doesn't want to be typecast. To associate him solely with the world of RPG would be to deny him his versatility. He branched into new territory years ago, as a screenplay writer and a novelist, and now as a game design theory author, with a few books in the pipeline!

Rob's brand new company, Three Line Studio partnered with TLB Games earlier this year in order to capitalise upon his impressive intellectual property. As a starting point, they produced El Raja Key Archive, a retrospective of his early work, brought together under the DVD project as The Collected Maps, Manuscripts, and RPG Artifacts of Robert J. Kuntz.

Rob's classic RPG adventures: imagination unleashed!

Fans are rewarded with four editions to choose from: Basic, Standard, Deluxe and Collector's. Psst, if you want to feel spoilt and special, go the extra mile and stretch your dime: treat yourself to the Collector's edition!

The DVD is a must-have, not only for the die-hard OD&D® aficionados and Rob's loyal fanbase but also to a new generation of gamers looking to explore the origins of D&D® and their legendary adventures. 

El Raja Key Archive DVD is a testimony to Rob's 40-year+ legacy, packed-full with fascinating OD&D® material that harks back to the origins of the game. With Christmas only four weeks away, this is one experience that will make you think (and strategise!) outside the box. Happy gaming y'all!

Source: All imagery via TLB Games.

Good Design according to Dieter Rams

When a product designer rambles on about good design, the first thing you do is check their designs. If said designer is Dieter Rams, you can pay closer attention to his word for you will learn invaluable information (design rules). And you can take his word for it because the gentleman knows his subject. If this weren't enough, he proves it too with his immaculate timeless executions!

PCS 45 Record Player, designed by Dieter Rams for Braun (1962)

Design without the Noise

As Chief Designer at Braun (1961-1995), Dieter Rams applied the winning formula of form and function to the 'T' of technology,  with a concise, methodical, pared-down ('Less, but better'), sleek and sober design. The end result was electrical consumer goods that served beyond the mere consumer act. We had the fusion of practicality, functionality, discipline into a stand-alone style icon that we may describe as a useful object of desire. Expect no brash, tack, bells or whistles. This is a case of unadulterated and enduring design. We're talking the 90% pure cacao bar of the chocolate world: potent, punchy and a classic.

"Indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design." - Dieter Rams

Mirabelle wouldn't be surprised if the likes of Apple took a leaf out of Dieter Rams' design book in their formative years or whether they themselves came up to the equation of form and function that would challenge planned obsolescence by standing the test of time, trends and fads, and never fade or date. A quick online search validates my assumption.

Clockwise from top left: Early Shaver Series, F 1 Mactron Lighter, H 3 Heater and F 26 Flash Unit for Braun

You get it: there is design and then there is good design. For the former, expect the average, the bog-standard, and the mediocre, uninspired, imitative mass-produced hotchpotch from a mass of sycophantic designer cheats.

"What Dieter Rams and his team at Braun did was to produce hundreds of wonderfully conceived and designed objects: products that were beautifully made in high volumes and that were broadly accessible." - Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple

However for good design, expect a small distinct number of measured - usually quiet - dutiful and industrious personae like Mr. Rams, busy working on their next ground-breaking design innovation. Good design is not a case of here today, gone tomorrow. It makes a statement and it lasts the distance.

(L-R) SK 4 Phonosuper (1956), and TP 2, portable transistor radio and phonograph (1959), via Wallpaper

Dieter Rams Ten Commandments of Design:

1  . Good design is innovative
2  . Good design makes a product useful
3  . Good design is aesthetic
4  . Good design makes a product understandable
5  . Good design is unobtrusive
6  . Good design is honest
7  . Good design is long-lasting
8  . Good design is thorough down to the last detail
9  . Good design is environmentally-friendly
10. Good design is as little design as possible

Source: (1-2) All photography via Das Programm, the UK-based specialist dealer of Dieter Rams' designs for Braun and Vitsoe (1955-1995), described by the company as "some of the best 20th century modernist industrial design". Photographic montages by Mirabelle. (1) PC 45 Record Player by Dieter Rams for Braun (1962). (2) Clockwise from top left: Early Shaver Series by Futterer / Braun / Rams / Muller / Gugelot for Braun (1954-1962);  F 1 Mactron Lighter by Dieter Rams for Braun (1979);  H 3 Heater by Dieter Rams for Braun (1962); F 26 Flash Unit by Dieter Rams for Braun (1963). (3) Left to Right: SK 4 Phonosuper, combined audio system by Hans Gugelot, with Otl Aicher, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Dieter Rams, for Braun (1956); TP 2, portable transistor radio and phonograph, by Dieter Rams for Braun (1959). Photography by Marcus J Leith, via Wallpaper. (4) 'Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible', the definitive monograph on Dieter Rams' life, work and ideas, by Sophie Lovell.

Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible by Sophie Lovell

Poolside

If like Mirabelle you are blessed with Mediterranean living conditions, Summer's now just a stone's throw away and already you are able to enjoy what the sun has to offer. However if you live much further north, odds might be against you, so we thought you are due a little visual heart-warmer. Enjoy, this is just for you!

Sources: (1) Michael McLaughlin, 'Beach, Rio' (2002), via 1stdibs (Robin Rice Gallery Fine Photography). This is an open invitation to blue yonder! (2) Via Fancy: 'Naka Island Resort at Phuket'. (3) Emily Summers's California Desert Retreat, via Architectural Digest. Mid-century and Californian desert can only mean Palm Springs! (4) Fancy (via) and (5) Touzet Studio Design & Architecture. You can only feel 'vacational' once you picture this residential jewel on the waterfront. One of Miami Beach's latest additions, La Gorce Estate was designed with clean lines in mind. Le Corbusier springs to mind, but the brief couldn't be more eloquent: "There was a threshold restriction that the layout of the residence and its placement on the site were to follow those of a residence the client had once owned. That property was a 1926, Mediterranean-style estate built for Carl Fisher." (6) 'Moving with the Music' (2009) by Brian Auer, via Fine Art Photoblog: 'A shot straight into the sun capturing people dancing at a drum circle in Venice Beach, California.' (7) Sunkissed, but neither shaken nor stirred by the evening breeze: 'The Escape' by Rickard Sund via Agent Molly. (8) 'Another Day Ends...' (2008) by Brian Auer: Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, CA. (9) Via Tumblr, although the exact picture source remains unknown. The Boho Chic look complements admirably a poolside cocktail.

Modern Technologies in Retro Packages

Self-confessed "tortured artist, rogue scientist and international playboy" Alex Varanese is on a mission: to revisit the late 1970s with four staples of our modern-day technology, MP3 player, laptop computer, mobile phone and hand-held video game system, taken through a digital once-over with a resolute 1970s resonance; the kitsch optical twist and the copy tone lend a futuristic connection to the past by taking it off a tangent, almost like a visionary reinterpretation of vintage without complacency, which makes it a compelling project in a crazy professor sort of way!

Source: All illustrations by Alex Varanese, and part of his 'ALT/1977: We Are Not Time Travelers' 14-piece series project: (1) ALT/1977 Pocket Hi-Fi print ad, (2) ALT/1977 LapTron 64 print ad, (3) ALT:1977 MobileVoxx print ad, and (4) ALT:1977 Microcade 3000 print ad.

Palm Springs: Playground of the Beautiful People

Every day is a holiday, and every holiday a poolside cocktail party, entertained by beautiful views stretching beyond the manicured lawns and over the sierra, while the hostess with the mostest and her chic lady friends strike a pose and discuss couture, husbands, children, travel, hobbies, gossip and (speculatively) young lovers... and not necessarily in that order.

Source: Poolside Gossip, by American jet-set photographer Slim Aarons (1970), featured on Photographers Gallery. The background to the photoshoot is Kaufmann Desert House, a jewel of mid-century California architecture designed in 1946 by architect Richard Neutra. The ladies sat at the front are Nelda Linsk and Helen Kaptur (the wife of Palm Springs architect Hugh M. Kaptur). Ambling towards them is actress Lita Baron.

Grandeur & Decadence: Detroit's Michigan Central Station

The flipside of grandeur is decadence of dizzy-high proportions; nonetheless from the tragedy, from the combined obsolescence and degenerescence of the once-bustling station emanates solemn beauty at its most pared-down form, bathed in visual silence.

Pict 1-4: Michigan Central Station is one of Detroit USA's iconic derelict constructions. Built in 1913 it was sadly doomed as a white elephant, never achieving its full potential despite its credentials. Later in the 1970s, the motor town's changing fortunes further accelerated its demise. The station's future has been hanging in the balance since closing down in 1988 and demolition is now on the cards as the only viable option. That will be yet another Detroit symbol biting the dust. Photographic footage featured by Kevin Bauman on Behance. 

Celia Birtwell: Textile Designer Extraordinaire

Celia needs no introduction as one half of the Ossie Clark duo who revolutionised fashion design in the course of the Swinging 60s and 70s, with accent on body-flattering floaty florals, ruffles, crêpe de Chine and chiffon which graced the limbs of royalty and rock royalty alike; the fruit of Celia's talent can still be enjoyed today, exemplified by her partnerships with British retailers Top Shop, Boots, Millet and John Lewis, or as shown here through her soft furnishings collections.

Pict 1-3: Bird Song fabric design by Celia Birtwell, available in French Blue on natural linen, French Blue on crisp linen, and Ivory on natural linen. Pict 4-8 (clockwise from top left): Jacobean at Night Charcoal on natural linen, Mystic Daisy Dusky Violet on oyster linen, Jacobean Rose Red on natural linen, and Little Animals Blotch Aqua on beige linen. All by Celia Birtwell.