String-like status receives praise

“Only Alan Fletcher would name something like a ball of string a design classic,” a leading designer confided not that long ago, glowing with admiration for a presentation his graphics hero had made.

But Fletcher is apparently not alone in his love of honest twine. We tuned into BBC2’s promo for the BBC Design Awards on Monday to find Fletcher’s erstwhile partner Ken Grange kittenishly twiddling with a ball of string to make his point about good design. And unravelling the ball was a “nice little treat” for our Ken.

Can everyone join in the fun, we wonder, or is it just a Pentagram thing?