September 10, 2008

HP and Vivienne Tam unveil a ‘fashionable’ laptop

The New York Fashion Week, currently underway in Manhattan, New York, will feature an unlikely accessory debut this year: a Hewlett-Packard laptop by fashion designer Vivienne Tam. During the presentation of Tam’s Spring 2009 line, models will carry the laptop instead of bags. HP has not disclosed the size or specifications of the laptop yet, but has said they will be the size of a woman’s clutch bag. They’re rather pretty, and HP learnt more from Tam during the collaborative process than they thought they would, as Vice-President of Marketing Communications at HP, David Roman says in the article:

One, Tam’s precise vision for the computer’s design helped its in-house industrial designers learn what was possible in terms of how complex patterns and chic colors can be achieved using HP’s current supply chain. “We use a technique that can build a design into the plastic, so it’s molded into the plastic as a computer is built,” says Roman. “It’s not painted on. We saw that we could use our sophisticated supply chain to do this and keep it at a competitive, aggressive price point.” Two, they also considered how to build buzz around a new notebook computer outside of the typical tech showcases (like CES) and target a specific consumer (in this case, “fashionista moms,” as Roman calls them, women who want a small, stylish, and affordable computer).

[via BusinessWeek]

Article categories: Branding, Design, Fashion, Product Design, Web & Technology