Cool Hunting

by China Young

Rob Price made a name for himself with the Grandfather Clock, a modern, abstracted take on the classic. Although you may have seen his slice of the traditional before (he debuted it last year), we think the way the design literally cuts away the excess material while still echoing the classic in a completely fresh way deserves a closer look.

Cool Hunting spoke with Price who said, "The grandfather clock is iconic on a global level and a part of our shared visual lexicon. With my Grandfather Clock, I wanted to play with how little I could provide visually and still evoke the image of an entire grandfather clock in minds and offer a functioning clock."

Price succeeded in creating a design classic and it's no surprise that it's his most popular design to date. Seamlessly melding design with art, the Grandfather Clock also brings together classic with modern, accessibility with intellectualism and the familiar with the new. An old world product and made in the U.S.A, Rob once carved and assembled each clock himself at his old studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yards but the requests came in too fast. So, he enlisted the help of Spring Gallery in D.U.M.B.O. and found a woodworker artisan in Vermont who could hand-build the clocks and keep up with demand. Made of Pine harvested from sustainably-managed Vermont forests, the Grandfather Clock has a deep walnut satin finish for an elegant look. Bonus: It even fits in the smallest apartments.

Price graduated from Pratt and currently runs the Brooklyn-based design collective, Thwart Design. His most recent project includes Tools for Dying, a concept collection that parodie DWR's new Tools for Living stores which he created with Kathy Park. Price is also responsible for the R. Mutt Sticker to celebrate Fountain and mark the 40th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's death.

Purchase Rob Price's Grandfather Clock (3" H x 14.25" W x 3" D) from Spring Gallery for $120.