Modern Classics: The George Nelson Ball Clock

 

You know something?  The creation myth behind George Nelsons Ball Clocks has to be one of my favorite ever.  Why, you ask?  Well because it involved creativitys nectar, booze, and the genius of not one designer, Nelson, but four designers.  As the story goes:

 

we’d had a little bit too much to drink- and the next morning I came back, and here was this roll (of drafting paper), and Irving and I looked at it, and somewhere in this roll there was a ball clock.  You put Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Bucky Fuller and Irving Harper all together, get them drinking and drawing and this is the result?  Cant be mad at that!

image via bijou kaleidoscope

There are rumored to be more than 100 clock designs in Nelsons ouvere, but this is one of my favorites by far.  Its definitely one of the most iconic of mid-century modern designs, up there with the Eames Plywood Chairs and the Saarinen Tulip Table.

Also, its just a lot of fun!

By now you know what time it is (see what I did there?)  Just got in some gorgeous reproductions of George Nelsons Ball Clock:

via rexkelly.com

Available in Multi-Colored and Walnut, this is an exact reproduction of the original design.  On sale for only $99!

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