philippe starck: limited edition blade runner hard drive for LaCie

limited edition ‘blade-runner’ hard drive for LaCie by philippe starck

influenced by the mysterious, incredible power of information technology, french designer philippe starck has collaborated with LaCie to create the ‘blade runner’ – a limited edition hard drive that combines an anthropomorphic metal interior with an angular cage-like shell. the concept asks the question; can we truly confine technology to a cage?

with only 9,999 produced, the device is made available with 4TB of memory and comes equipped with 10GB of complimentary ‘wuala secure cloud storage’ and user-friendly backup software using high-speed USB 3.0 as its main interface. featuring an LED power button indicatior coming in the form of starck’s signature symbol, the hard drive is wrapped and protected by an aluminum exterior case, shielding the inner-components from overheating, ensuring file preservation.

“in my design nothing is useless – style, symbolism or functionality,” says starck. “in the ‘blade runner’, the warm interior electronics are encased in a mystifying shell, and the blades are the radiator that cools it down. the suspension gives space for air to circulate around the hard drive, and the metal material increases the temperature conduction.” 

underside connection port view

front view with ‘starck symbol’ indicator

3/4 overview

concept exploded view