Sign and Design: Koen and deKoen  

Koen talks of designing things to look not designed. FWIW, there seems to be some foundation for this in the oldest roots of the word "design."

(I beg pardon if he or others have tread this path before.)

"Etymology: Middle English, to outline, indicate, mean, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French designer to designate, from Medieval Latin designare, from Latin, to mark out, from de- + signare to mark -- more at SIGN
transitive verb"--Merriam Webster Online Dictionary (note: my apologies also for not being able to access the OED; Oxford has not yet joined the digital etymological commons)

In any case, isn't the Latin de+signare intriguing? Consider...

Signare means mark.

Designare means (or at least seems to mean) mark out a mark.

Isn't this what Koen is doing when he is deKoening, er, designing a product? Isn't he de-signing the sign?

Now the interesting irony would be: what if he were famous for not being famous? What if his de-sign became his sign? His de-signature his signature?

Ah, thought is not only a labyrinth, as Borges said, but a connundrum, too.

And no, I'm not going to take on "de Winter" now. I'll leave de Winter for de Spring or de Summer.