vintagehoover
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2006
- Messages
- 2,883
Funny where ideas come from, isn’t it?
The letter shown below is from George Church, the Industrial Design Manager for Hoover UK. Aged 11, I had been in correspondence with him since February of that year, having sent him some vacuum cleaner designs I’d come up with. Designing these cleaners was as much a hobby of mine as vacuuming – I wasn’t really collecting machines at that point.
The letter shown below was sent in September 1997, in response to a letter I had written him, asking for a few details from the missing ratings plate of my newly-acquired Hoover Constellation, a birthday present from my grandparents on the 12th of that month. Also enclosed were some designs I’d come up with for a modern Constellation – unfortunately, I no longer have these as far as I know, but it was black and silver. I also sent a few pages of designs of tools to go with it.
I eventually lost contact with Mr. Church, and I have no idea if he continues to work for Hoover. But all these years later, along comes a New Constellation.
I wonder – could a few drawings sent to the Design Manager by an 11 year-old have started an idea in the design department for re-issuing a classic machine, all these years later? Designers take inspiration from almost anything, after all. It seems a little odd to me that Hoover would have come up with the totally idea unprompted, especially as nowadays they seem committed to forgetting their glorious past, and churning out uninspired cleaners of poor quality. At face value, suddenly re-issuing the Constellation seems a little random, at best.
Perhaps it's far-fetched, but I'll always wonder if in some small way my idea contributed to the re-launch of the Constellation! If not, maybe I just have a knack for seeing into the future!
The letter shown below is from George Church, the Industrial Design Manager for Hoover UK. Aged 11, I had been in correspondence with him since February of that year, having sent him some vacuum cleaner designs I’d come up with. Designing these cleaners was as much a hobby of mine as vacuuming – I wasn’t really collecting machines at that point.
The letter shown below was sent in September 1997, in response to a letter I had written him, asking for a few details from the missing ratings plate of my newly-acquired Hoover Constellation, a birthday present from my grandparents on the 12th of that month. Also enclosed were some designs I’d come up with for a modern Constellation – unfortunately, I no longer have these as far as I know, but it was black and silver. I also sent a few pages of designs of tools to go with it.
I eventually lost contact with Mr. Church, and I have no idea if he continues to work for Hoover. But all these years later, along comes a New Constellation.
I wonder – could a few drawings sent to the Design Manager by an 11 year-old have started an idea in the design department for re-issuing a classic machine, all these years later? Designers take inspiration from almost anything, after all. It seems a little odd to me that Hoover would have come up with the totally idea unprompted, especially as nowadays they seem committed to forgetting their glorious past, and churning out uninspired cleaners of poor quality. At face value, suddenly re-issuing the Constellation seems a little random, at best.
Perhaps it's far-fetched, but I'll always wonder if in some small way my idea contributed to the re-launch of the Constellation! If not, maybe I just have a knack for seeing into the future!
