Objectified

Whether you’ve pulled this week’s Pitch out of a kiosk or you’re reading this online in your ergonomic computer chair, chances are that you take the objects you interact with daily for granted. Gary Hustwit name-checks his stylish 2007 typography doc, Helvetica, in this second film of a proposed nerd-porn trilogy: a slick, entertaining and thorough curio about the form, function, context, inspiration and evolution of industrial design. Broader in scope than Helvetica but shot as if it were a sequel, Objectified asks an elite global posse of talking heads (creatives, journalists, and big dogs from Apple and BMW and IDEO) to pontificate on their sundry beliefs and presents condensed portraits of the brainstorming, manufacturing, sale and use of various household items. You probably won’t ever look at a toothpick the same way again. Hustwit wisely raises the issue of sustainability, but he might have spent a little more time thinking about how our species will overcome rampant consumerism and a little less time fetishizing materialism.