Читать книгу The Dodo Collection - Steve Stack - Страница 27

Trimphones

Nothing dates an object more quickly than futuristic design. Create a telephone in the 1960s that looks like it is from the 21st century, and by the time you reach the 21st century, it will look more like an object of the ’60s than anything else from that time.

Such was the case with the Trimphone, an attempt by the GPO (before it was privatised and became BT) to create a luxury telephone for which they could charge more than the traditional rotary dial version.

The handset of the Trimphone (Tone Ring Illuminator Model) sat vertically on top of a body that resembled a slap of Cheddar cheese. The dial lit up when in use (although there was a health scare about the gas used to create this effect and it was removed from later models), and you could use the phone cradle as a handle to carry the whole thing about with as you chatted nonchalantly but in a futuristic fashion.

The Trimphone went through a few design changes from its arrival in the mid-’60s till they stopped making it in the early ’80s, including a touchpad model and an array of designer colours. However, none of these could disguise the fact that a phone that looked cutting edge in 1965 had become something of an anachronism less than 20 years later. It was outlived by its rotary dial older brother.

Dodo Rating: