Art Deco industrial design revival

A lot of modern electronic devices (from component stereos to PDAs) tend to look rather uninspiring. Most seem to subscribe to a techno-minimalist aesthetic, and thus look like flat plastic boxes with buttons and displays and the odd logo. A minority look more imaginative, but most of those tend towards tackiness (such as much of the translucent iMac-knockoff design of recent history, which, more often than not, just tends to look cheap and tarted-up).

I was looking at my Pilot one day and started thinking that someone should resurrect the Art Deco style for modern electronic devices. And not by making slavish knockoffs of old wireless sets which look like radios but play MP3s, but rather by using the features of Art Deco in contemporary designs. Rather than flattish boxes with buttons and displays, you could have the buttons and displays framed with recessed layers. At various points, details (such as ridges or low reliefs) could be added, making for a more interesting look, and one with more classic character. The space above a mobile phone or PDA's screen could be adorned, for example, with a semicircular or triangular panel with a geometric motif such as a sunburst. And so on.

Art Deco would be a perfect movement to resurrect, as it combines futurism with classicism, and thus offers classic style without automatically being pretentious. One could also get away with using contemporary materials (titanium or modern plastics, for example) without it seeming anachronistic or tacky (as, say, a neo-Victorian steampunk MP3 player would look unless it was made of real brass and ivory).