At Nixon we’re supremely interested in the makers and doers of the world. All over the globe, people continue to inspire us with new ways to make, change, create and push the boundaries of what’s been done before. The work these progressives are doing influences the work we do here to create the new and it’s especially fun when we get to partner with some of them like we did on the Dork Too.
In creating The Dork Too, we drew heavily on street geek and maker culture. Sporting lines like a vintage answering machine, this timepiece has so much personality, it actually yells the time. To keep it real, we brought in two multi-talented makers to interact with the Dork Too and see what they would “make” of it.
Emmanuel Carrillo
Industrial designer, streetwear aficionado, BattleBots designer, and self-proclaimed dork. As a past collaborator to our watch designs, it only natural that we thought of Eman once we created our new smart ass watch. When he first laid eyes on the watch, Eman’s mental maker wheels started turning. “I wanted to build something that spotlighted what makes The Dork such a fun watch,” he told us. “So I designed and 3D-printed a stand that has a tiny hand push the watch button. I thought it was kinda fun to use your large finger to press a large button, which then makes a small finger press the smaller watch button. A sort of shrink ray chain reaction.”
When asked how it was to work on the Dork Too Eman said, “As an industrial designer, I'm often constrained to some sort of project brief. But this project allowed me to explore techniques and processes I don't often get to. I have a lot of dorky hobbies and this project gave me the opportunity to share those with the world a bit more. It's not often you can combine, puppets, animatronics, 3d printing, and Arduino into a project.”
Sophy Wong
Multi-talented maker & designer.
Multi-talented maker and designer Sophy Wong had her own way with the watch. “I really liked the vintage electronics aesthetic combined with the quirky personality of it,” she told us. “I wanted to make something that was an extension of those two ideas. I thought it would be cool to have a visual way to show that the watch was actually talking to you, and came up with the idea of a sound reactive ‘Watch Face’, which is also a little play on words.”
The watch-face Sophy designed kinda blew our minds and we had to know more. “I designed a geometric, robot-like face, inspired by vintage electronics and product design by Dieter Rams for Braun in the 1960s and 70s, which is what the Dork Too really reminds me of. When it’s quiet, the eyes light up and kind of look around, just observing. When the watch talks, the Watch Face’s eyes blink and the mouth/teeth illuminate, as if the robot is talking through the watch.”
Sophy also wanted us to know she had a blast on the project. “It was super fun to think about what the physical identity of the mysterious voice inside the watch could be! It’s a beautiful object but also unexpected and whimsical, and I loved using it as inspiration for my project. I was already a fan of Nixon watches, so this whole project was a dream come true!”
