In what is quite possibly the most eagerly anticipated announcement of 2010, Apple Supremo Steve Jobs will unveil the companies latest product in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Is this the iSlate?

Rumoured the be called iSlate, or possibly iPad or iTablet, the product is expected to combine the functionality of the iPhone with that of the iMac in a flat, transportable, keyboardless computer; thus allowing the user to write, draw and calculate anywhere.

In effect a chalkboard for the 21st century.

Hence the name.

What may surprise many of you, however, is that not only is the history of the chalkboard itself Germanic, but also Apple’s approach to design has it’s roots in Germany; and indeed even Apple’s nomenclature system is based on historical German syntax.

The iSlate is, therefore, German.

The centre of the global chalkboard industry was Steinach in Thuringen. From this idyll of forest and streams some 30 million chalkboards were produced and shipped to all corners of the globe, before production finally ended in 1968. The towns “Chalkboard Museum” provides a wonderful overview of the history of chalkboard production in the area and is well worth a visit next time you are on the Rennsteig. According to the operators, the decision as to whether the iSlate will feature in the exhibition will be made after Steve Job’s official unveiling.

And confirmation that it is called iSlate.

The classic Eiermann Desk by Egon Eiermann from Richard Lampert

But long before Jonathan iVes started reinventing the way we think about products, the Germans were already doing just that.

The iRmann desk by Egon Eiermann is perhaps the best example of just where the Apple approach to product design originates from.

Just as Jonathen iVes strips products down to the bare minimum before relaunching them in a pseudo-post-Dieter Rams format; so Egon Eiermann stripped desk design down to just the frame before relaunching it in a pseudo-pre-Dieter Rams format.

The name “iRmann” originates from a popular anglo-frisian construction whereby the phonetic “i” was treated as inferior in written forms and so the second letter was written as a capital. The lower case i remaining for sake of clarity alone. Popular in Egon Eiermann’s native Brandenburg and neighbouring Berlin, this practice died out as ingvaeonic languages finally ceded to modern German in the 1980s.

It is generally accepted by academics that Apple’s use of the lower case”i” in front of words such as iPod or iPhone has similar origins and is associated with Steve Job’s Frisian ancestry.

Today the iRmann desk is produced by Richard Lampert; albeit under the name Eiermann Desk

And today both Apple products and iRmann desks are used globally by architects, designers and other creative people.

Which can’t be a coincidence.

The iRmann desk is wonderfully complemented by George Nelson’s iClock from Vitra.

The name iClock is a cheap pun we thought up to fit the article into this post.

But we do like it.

You can read full details on the iSlate here, once Apple have made the formal announcement in San Francisco

iSlate and iRmann desk with a panton chair... is this the future of creative office design?

Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor.

The Trial by Franz Kafka.

Madonna and Child with St John and Angels by Michelangelo.

Although there are always ethical and stylistic questions concerning the completion of unfinished works, in principle it is always a joy to see someone who cares as much as the original artist complete a project.

And so hats off to the Vitra Design Museum for it’s decision to finally bring George Nelson’s Ceramic Clocks onto the market.

George Nelson, designer.

In 1945 George Nelson joined the renowned Herman Miller company as creative director and in 1947 started designing clocks for Howard Miller.

And yes they are related.

Howard was Herman’s son and had learned both the art of clock making and an appreciation for the beauty of the craft in the Miller’s native Black Forest, Germany. The spiritual home of cuckoo clocks.

In 1923 Herman was persuaded by his son-in-law D.J. De Pree to invest in the Michigan Star Furniture Company, thus forming the Herman Miller Furniture Company. In 1926 Howard persuaded his father to start a separate clock company and the Howard Miller Clock Company was born. Today the two companies HQs remain next door to each other but they are both fully independent companies.

George Nelson Ceramic Clock Model 1

Nelson’s first clock for Howard Miller was the Ball Clock in 1948, a design that, if we may say so, still looks as fresh and exciting as it did over 60 years ago.

Over the next two decades Nelson designed an incomparable range of wall clocks, desk clocks and children’s clock, the so called Zoo Timer range for Howard Miller.

In the early 1950s Nelson also designed a range of ceramic desk clocks for Howard Miller, and although these were brought up to a “production ready” state, never entered production.

With the acquisition of the rights to produce George Nelson’s “Herman Miller” works, Vitra also received the rights to George Nelson’s clocks and still produce classics such as the Eye Clock, Sunflower Clock or Pill Clock under the Vitra Design Museum re-editions label.

In addition to owing the rights to Nelsons work, Vitra also posses George Nelson’s archive including original sketches, models plans, notes and letters.

George Nelson Ceramic Clock Model 2

Using this archive the Vitra Design Museum has now made George Nelson’s ceramic clocks available for the first time.

Much softer than many of his metal clocks, we’re particularly impressed with how much Model 2 looks like Lisa Simpson.The George Nelson Ceramic Clock’s are made of glazed porcelain and come with a quartz movement including a rechargeable battery.

And for us we also find it fitting that clocks created by one of the most influential figures in 20th century clock design, for a passionate clock maker from southern Germany, should finally see the light of day through a passionate designer furniture producer also from southern Germany.

In many way George Nelson’s clocks have come home.
And thankfully without a cuckoo.

All George Nelson’s clocks can be purchased through smow.

George Nelson Ceramic Clock Model 3