Photo: Julian Mackler / MACKME.COM
Inventors are passionate people. It takes a certain je ne se quois to see a lack in the world and say, “I can fill that lack”.
Then the hours tinkering in the basement begin. And perhaps these hours are more telling than the initial moment of genius. A certain je ne se quois leads to heart. And the true heart of the inventor is revealed only when the invention manifests.
Or in the case of Tony Fadell, when we reach for the iphone in our pocket.
Thomas Edison said, “Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration”. That’s the motto of the 99% Conference, so it is no surprise Fadell was the inaugural winner of the ALVA Award, a new prize presented by Behance in partnership with GE to “recognize remarkable serial inventors”.
Fadell saw through the creation of the iPod, early iPhone and more recently, the Nest Learning Thermostat. Wired dubbed Nest the “iPhone of thermostats” - it learns about you and your home to dynamically predict energy-efficient temperatures.
Watch Fadell’s talk at the 2012 99% Conference where he emphasizes the importance of “not letting the art of atoms die” in an age dominated by the internet.
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Images: 99%; Parris Whittingham Studio
