[chamomeal]

Lmao yeah I checked the domain after that. Cannot believe a person seriously wrote that. Inspired by the concept of a piece of cloth is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

Sometimes I think they’re messing with us. This is more ridiculous than that monitor stand from a few years ago

[wahnfrieden]

No, you just aren’t familiar with the term. It has a specific meaning in the context. It’s this: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/100361 and it’s well known to customers familiar with the popular Issey Miyake label (which does something like $85 million in sales)

In tech we also use common words or phrases to trademark new ideas. It's not ridiculous or unusual. But it may be unfamiliar to you if you are not interested in fashion (common in these parts, as apparent in this thread) and fashion topics are easy targets for technical brothers.

[dghlsakjg]

You linked to something called “a piece of clothing” styled as A-POC.

The article referred to ‘the concept of “a piece of cloth”’

I’m not sure they are the same thing at all. If you are going to invoke a piece of artwork wouldn’t you get the name right and reference it directly? Wouldn’t you also use the base concept that makes the art interesting instead of 3d knitting as well? Would you reference that it is specifically tied to the completely different pleated clothing line instead of A-POC?

[wahnfrieden]

see my other reply. "cloth" is the correct one. and no I wouldn't use the original A-POC for a phone case (no one wants a piece of rigid fabric for a phone case). the construction has more to do with A-POC as it is made from one piece of material without seams while the pleated line has seams and is pleated. if you're curious you can see m.a+ for another spin on "one piece of material", where even shoes are made with one cut of leather

[dghlsakjg]

Ah. I see.

The MOMA project seems not to be rigid fabric, but it is clear that the description there is not exactly canonical.

In any case the press release was worded so weirdly that it seems inevitable that only superfans would make the connection to a piece of art from the 90s, and the rest of us would just make fun of 'the concept of "a piece of cloth"'

[pseudalopex]

A–POC (A Piece of Clothing) and a piece of cloth communicate different ideas to most people. The MoMA article showed how the press release could have been written to be clear to anyone interested. And tech people should consider this in their writing.

[wahnfrieden]

"Cloth" is the correct one, sorry for not reading the link closely. I chose to share that one because of the illustrative photo, but they are incorrect in calling it "piece of clothing"

See: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/185792 and https://us.isseymiyake.com/pages/apocable?srsltid=AfmBOopZJL...

(You can also see an archival garment in the Met article that closely resembles the iPhone Pocket btw)

[pseudalopex]

A–POC (A Piece of Cloth) and a piece of cloth communicate different ideas to most people. The Met article showed how the press release could have been written to be clear to anyone interested.

[wahnfrieden]

> concept of "a piece of cloth"

and

> a piece of cloth

communicate different ideas to most people

but this product isn't for most people, it's for Issey Miyake's customer base. That's why this is buried as a newsroom update and the marketing is elsewhere rather than the apple.com front page

[chamomeal]

Ah ok thank you for the explanation, that’s actually super cool. At first it sounded like some ridiculous and unrelatable modern art stuff. Makes a lot more sense now.

[astrange]

It's translated from Japanese. It makes more sense there. Especially if you don't leave out the load-bearing quote marks.

[wahnfrieden]

It's not translated from Japanese, it's originally in English. "A-POC" for "A Piece of Cloth". It refers to garments sewn from a single cut of a ream of cloth. It was translated into Japanese as 一枚の布 which isn't any more meaningful, but the original trademark is in English.

edit: What are you disagreeing with? That's what I'm referring to. The Issey Miyake trademark, which the label uses as "A-POC" as an English acronym, and translates into Japanese only to explain it to the domestic market rather than as the trademark itself. I linked that MoMa article elsewhere in this thread

[0x457]

Well, no? This is A-POC it was inspired by: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/100361 and I'm pretty sure this is where that meaning you are referring to originated from.

[wahnfrieden]

Yes...

[0x457]

What I mean is: even though its true name is originally in English, Issey Miyake probably thought of it in Japanese, and it made more sense to him.

[wahnfrieden]

Sure but the way his company translates "a piece of cloth" into Japanese has the same literal meaning. There's nothing more meaningful, it has the same exact meaning. My opinion is that it's chosen to be deliberately simplistic - what could be simpler or less expressive than a piece of fabric with fashion - because it highlights how much innovation in craft and resulting form results from the simple description taken as actually an extreme constraint: nothing but a single piece of cloth. And then when you perhaps think about it more, or see some of the work, you realize the complex ingenuity of it, in stark contrast to the simplicity of the phrase itself. That contrast enhances the impact by highlighting the gap between the humble description and the complexity of the result which nonetheless remains faithful to that simplicity.

A more illustrative term might be more easily understandable, at the cost of elegance (in simplicity and constraint) and surprise (from your underestimation of the work based on its name). The term is branding.

BTW another reference is Maurizio Amadei's "One Piece" work. Here's an installation/artwork he did that makes it easy to understand: https://lucentement.com/blogs/journal/m-a-by-maurizio-amadei... He also has many products labeled "One Piece [X]" such as "One Piece Wallet" or "One Piece Boot", where they are made from a single piece of leather (never cut into multiple pieces) and with a minimal number of seams. He chooses a similarly simple term, "One Piece", with enigmatic effect.

[astrange]

The sentence structure 'inspired by the concept of "thing in quotation marks"' is what's translated.

[wahnfrieden]

> 「一枚の布」のコンセプトからインスピレーション

... isn't any more meaningful than the English, it is exactly "inspired by the concept of "thing in quotation marks"

I think this article was originally written in English anyway (only the English one credits an author, who is not Japanese)

[astrange]

That use of quote marks is Japanese. It's used for emphasis, it gives the thing in quote marks an air of specialness like it's a fancy philosophical concept.