JKR

There were two stories in Monday’s Times which illustrate the value of appreciating what you have (and the perils of taking said for granted).

In one piece we see the fate of Britain’s classic red phone boxes. A part of our national iconography since 1924, they are being decommissioned by BT due to falling relevance and the high cost of repairing them from relentless vandalism. They are loved enough by the section of society, which does not look at them and just see a handy urinal, that their future is not too much threatened.

Rather they are being converted into information centres, shops, and even the world’s smallest art gallery. But this is about preservation of something whose time has past. Many may love the old boxes style, but the modern day equivalent design from BT is functional but soulless. They could have had a pillar box red home hub (hey, it worked for Olivetti with the Valentine typewriter), but elected for generic iPod white with that odd little globe logo which is so deeply forgettable (try drawing one from memory).

In the second story, the original Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger is going up for auction. It’s expected to go for $5 million – presumably to someone who once owned the Dinky version. But if you miss out on buying it, you can always settle for the V8 Vantage, still tripped out in the famous silver paint job on their website, and with design features such as the grill still evoking the 60′s classic.

BT squandered its design legacy and visual equities. The old boxes are reduced to relying on the kindness of strangers, and who would ever actively choose the brand on design grounds now? Aston Martin revered its past, and would still put a dent in a bankers bonus because of the allure they have preserved. That’s presumably why they topped the Coolbrand 2009/10. While we rush to jettison brand’s unwieldy pasts, it is sometimes worth considering what else we might be consigning to the trash.