There's some really crazy stuff out there... I've seen my share.

Growing up in Denmark also meant growing up with a very strong "form must follow function" ethic, which is inherent in much Scandinavian design. Add to that ergonomics and "design for humans," and you usually end up with products that both work and look beautiful.

I think part of what we see these days is the influence of our "instant gratification" society... there is not enough time put into determining how and whether a pretty design actually works.

So we end up with disasters like you've shown here... or one of my favorites, the guest toilet where you can't actually close the door when someone is in it... unless that person sits in the sink, or stands on the toilet lid. Or furniture that "looks like a million dollars" but is impossibly uncomfortable to actually use.