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Jacques Carelman

Jacques Carelman (1 November 1929, Marseille – 28 March 2012, Argenteuil) was a French painter, illustrator and designer.

Carelman is famous for his Catalogue d’objets introuvables (Catalogue of Unfindable Objects) published in 1969, the work included almost impossible-to-use, imaginary objects like a teapot with the handle on the same side as the spout or a bicycle for stairs with cross-shaped wheels that permits you to ride a stairway with a bicycle. The catalogue was intended as a parody for a French company that sold objects via mail order.

The video below shows Donald Norman illustrating how to use the “Coffeepot for Masochists”