gumption design: afro collection

gumption is a very peaceful thai designer who has portrayed himself in this toilet brush and in the cushions.
he does have afro hair and wears sunglasses and is skinny.

the self-ironic and funny intent might not be readable universally, but we can assure you all,
that there is no evidence of racism and there are no intentions of promoting racist feelings.

we understand all the comments of the anti-racist activists,
in fact we don’t cut them off, but we feel that all this bad energy has nothing to do with the designer himself.

we just spotted that among our readers there is cliff kuang, writer for [url=http://www.fastcodesign.com/1661878/racist-design-an-afro-headed-toilet-brush] fast company magazine [/url].
cliff, your article is misleading and we do not agree with your point of view. unfortunately there is no comment
area on fast companies’ blog, so we cannot add any statement.
cliff, if you want to interview gumption, please let us know. designboom is happy to help to clarify this.
please email us.

Oh man – those are so cool. I am getting one of those.

Strip away the racial faux pas & appreciate just how funky & cool they really are. BTW, they will end up as (expensive) collectors items once banned from the US by the politically correct crowd – so get them while they are cheap

Interesting discussion here…i hope people are commenting on that link.

The toilet brush is very cool at first…but then…one sees the black features. One thinks of the intended use of this product…then one thinks of all the iconagraphy of Blacks protrayed in media over the entire history of the Americas (not the 21st century)…the maids, the mammys, the dancing black faced fools, Amos & Andy, the pickininnies, the Step n fetch it (A real actor in old movies though I don’t know how to properly spell his name), the watermelon eatters, and all the portrayals that would not be acceptable today.

Its the intent of the product that makes me mad. The features are of a black person.

As designers yes, we all have the freedom to create. We can create anything we want….but some of it can be hurtful. We shouldn’t yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater….even though we could.

for more about this product there is a 60 page discussion here:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6571024

yeah, even designers have limits. you shouldn’t design something that you KNOW is going to offend others. In this case, perhaps he the designer wasn’t aware of minstrel shows and the black coon stereotype. Understandable. So the brushes aren’t deliberately racist (though they are very ugly, IMO) but the still carry symbols that may seem degrading to some people.

to a friend of gumption: what I am curious about…if the designer “has an afro” then I am guessing he is of African dark skinned descent…and that he lacks both knowledge of the ancient history, and of modern history. He lacks love of himself, and of his brothers and sisters.

Who would design a copy of themselves or their family to scrub out toilets?

I would have loved one looking like “W” bush… along with the pillow and the doormat. Where was this man from 2000-2008??? <8-}

its all gravy , shaking it up is good , where ever you guys are from you obviously dont have enough love in your life to realise that design is freedom to create , what ever the pun intended ..
The peverse in intervention of a dark mind is the greatest cause of all the down falls of humanity , lighten the uck up , lifes for laughing , not for picking and prodding and putting down others , cheer up you lifes not that bad is it hahahahahaha

get them to sell some buddah-toiletbrushes in thailand….
this design is just racist, stupid and uneducated… i would like to see the designers presenting their work in brooklyn….