cocoon 2

In the MoMA yesterday, I walked past a glass case with this in it:


It looked remarkably like the O2 Cocoon: a white, minimalist oblong with large LED clock glowing through the translucent plastic.

This phone is the Neon, by Naoto Fukasawa for KDDI. The similarities in design are there for all to see and don't need further comparison. But I'm going to do it anyway:



I'm not going to give o2 a hard time. Frankly I think it gets a bit silly when people point fingers every time ideas are used as inspiration. But it was interesting that I gave a subconscious thought to the Cocoon while the Neon was still in my peripheral vision. Just goes to show how design can create such distinct identity and equity in our minds.

And anyway, if Cocoon, the phone is anything like Cocoon, the movie, then 51 year-old Fukasawa should be happy. He'll share the rewards of the geriatrics in the film whom, according the back of the DVD were "hoping to find a new, rewarding and elongated life". There you go Naoto - if people keep re-using your ideas, you'll live forever.