My dad’s been bugging me about being unable to tell the time whenever he’s at my apartment because I do not have a clock anywhere. It’s true… I don’t wear a watch as much anymore and usually rely on my cellfone to check the time. It’s not that I don’t need to know the time or don’t benefit from having a wall clock (I do!) but I just haven’t quite found the right clock yet to get for the home decor of my apartment. I have however scoured the internet for a bit and found several time-telling devices which caught my attention.
1. Orbit Wall Clock, 2. Icon Clock, 3. Noriyuki Shirasu Peep Clock, 4. Wood Wall Clock by West Elm, 5. Nuevo Living Lotus Wall Mounted Clock, 6. Party Time! Excellent! Clock
1. Bamboo Wall Clock from The MoMA Store, 2. Gideon Dagan Timesphere Clock, 3. Aluminum Hands Wall Clock – NeXtime, 4. Black Hands Wall Clock – NeXtime
, 5. Chroma-logical Order Clock
, 6. Mississippi Clock at Target (One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi….. ), 7. CB2 hour/15-minute glasses (I bought these at the NYC Soho store and they’re now sitting happily in my study.)
1. Ceramic White Alarm Clocks by West Elm, 2. White Wall Clock by West Elm, 3. George Nelson Sunburst Clock, 4. George Nelson Flock of Butterflies Clock, 5. The Backward Clock (Benjamin Button, anyone?), 6. Established & Sons Two-Timer Modern Wall Clock by Sam Hecht
Yeah, clearly from the selection above you can tell that I am partial towards either a simple, mod and minimalist design, or a sunburst design. :p I think it’s the most suitable home decor for my pad anyway, which is… yes, you guessed it, simple, mod and minimalist.
Oh, let me share with you a couple of things which you may find interesting. The first one is, in Chinese culture it is a taboo and NOT appropriate to give clocks as a present or gift. This is because in Chinese language, the way to say “giving clock” is 送钟 (read as “song zhong”) which is pronounced exactly the same way as 送终 which means “sending one to his end”. This term is used in instances when one is in his dying bed and his loved ones gather around to see him off one last time.
送 sòng to deliver / to carry / to give (as a present) / to present (with) / to see off / to send
钟 zhōng clock / time as measured in hours and minutes / bell
终 zhōng end / finish
Therefore it is really a very bad idea to gift a Chinese person with a clock, due to the gesture’s negative symbolism! BIG NO NO. Don’t do it.
The second one is, back when I was in design school, my typography teacher told us that there’s a psychological factor to the way clocks are shown in advertisements. The hands are always be at the positions of 10 and 2. This way the resulting formation resembles a smiley-face and it will in turn subliminally sends a positive message to the viewers. This is much more visually-pleasing and effective than say, the opposite where the hands are positioned at 8 and 4, which is kinda like a sad face. Don’t believe me? Start looking around, you will find that in catalogs, tv shows, magazines, advertisements, product shoots, editorials, etc. most if not all of the clocks will have a happy face.
Anyway, with all that said, it’s time for me to buy a clock soon and display it in a prominent place somewhere in the apartment. That way everyone can see the clock, my dad will quit complaining and we can all tell the time. In the meantime though, just bear with me — now that you know I don’t have a clock anywhere in my house, therefore… I’m always late, but worth the wait. ;P
Tick tock,
-MB.
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