Why Is Good Design So Difficult?
Both Loud and Versatile
In the early 19th century, a Belgian boy called Adolphe Sax came to be known as “little Sax, the ghost” because of the number of times he survived brushes with disaster. He swallowed a pin, he burnt his side on a cast iron hot frying pan, survived suffocation from fumes from the varnish kept in his room, and even managed to singe himself in a gunpowder explosion. No doubt these experiences gave him a zest for life, as he went on to join his parents’ business in making musical instruments and proceeded to invent and innovate a number of horns, flutes, and clarinets. In 1846 he patented his most famous invention—the saxophone. The saxophone is not just one of the most recent instruments ...