I was in a satellite office of my company in Poland a couple of months ago, and scattered around the place were these meter high plastic egg pod things that looked like robots from a Portal game. Took me a while to realize they were garbage cans. For god's sake, people, can't we even let a trash can be itself?
Sadly I can't remember where I heard it, it may have been in the documentary "Objectified", but there's a designer that raises an interesting point. It's something along the lines of: "Why are there still uncomfortable chairs? It's a solved problem, we know how to design chairs."
Honest question: where do I find out how to design a comfortable chair?
Not all chairs should be comfortable. Really comfortable chairs in the subway would be ridiculous.
Why?
The design principle of this chair is something you don't see: "accessible to everyone".
An uncomfortable but functional chair that you can afford and own is preferable to a comfortable chair you can't afford and don't own.