A lot of the terms in...
A lot of the terms in question are included in Craigslist ads as keyword spam. Sellers know mid-century items are in demand, and will try to get as many of the pertinent keywords into their item description as possible, even when they know their item is nothing special. So, lots of "MCM, Eames, Danish", etc. Even mentioning words like "estate sale" helps them to get their ad noticed by more people.
Yes, there was a time,,,
and I was there in the 60s, married to an architect who not only designed most of our furniture, but together we bought light fixtures, dining chairs etc that were all from "famous" designers - well, positively good ones, anyway. We made our coffee in a Chemex coffeemaker, had a geodesic dome for the kids in the back yard, teak and cedar built-ins all over the place, and underneath many pieces of furniture was that significant Danish or Knoll sticker. So, yes, there was a time. Happily, that time is back again, and good design reigns, be it an original Danish piece, or a contemporary cutting-edge newcomer. Whatever the origin, the old 'form follows function' and 'good design' still hold.
I think you must have
grown up in an extraordinary household. I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1960's and yes, we had some "good" furniture in the living room which we were not allowed to sit on under threat of death.
However, we also had plenty of other stuff, like beds and dishes and the furniture in the den that any of us ever gave a moment's thought to whether or not it had been "designed" by an architect. It was a friggin' ottoman over which we draped our small bodies and dripped popsicles upon!
I guess that I am showing my prejudice here. Give me a home over a showroom anyday.
Sounds like you had a great home too Riki
a bit like ours, actually. With four kids running around, it wasn't a bit like a showplace - but at least all the messy and bounced-on things were in good taste. What I'm trying to say is we took all these wonderfully-designed pieces as normal. There were no forbidden territories - hey, if good stuff can't hold up to wear and tear, it isn't that good.
Riki your home was like...
Riki your home was like mine.... No go in that living room to sit on the baker Henredon good stuff.
sit in the den on that early American looking crap.
Olive i hope you know what i meant. I have some great stuff by Pace that took me a year to find out who made it. I bought with out a name and found out who it was I love it. I have found some great stuff that way. just keep an eye out for the junk.
woods metals materials. you are always safe with.
A designer by any other name...
Ya know when thinking about it, truly everything that is manufactured is first 'designed' and therefore has a designer. My dad spent his entire working life as a tool designer designing the jigs and widgets that a company uses to help make the things it actually sells. No one ever knew his name, but his efforts allowed for the manufacturing precision his company was known for. He was a very good designer.
My point being that many things of anonymous design are, in fact, of very good design. I have no idea who designed my waiter's corkscrew, yet it is beautifully made and wonderfully functional. So is the hairbrush I use every day, and the pencil sharpener, and the packing tape gun and, and, and....ya feel me?
Having a name, whether famous or not, has very little to do with the usefulness or quality of these items. If it's good; it's good. Period.
Furniture is but a small aspect of the world of design. But, on DA it seems we spend most of our time nattering on about furniture and MCM in particular. Although I'm not much for collecting or that whole thing, I can see the attraction that it holds. It's like stamps or coins or butterflies. However, if we see design as encompassing more than collecting famous furniture, I think thinks become a bit more interesting.
Add to that that we all have viewpoints as to what makes for good design in our lives. I value functionality over form and I've taken quite a few punches to the gut from those that feel that form is the primary aspect in rating a 'design'. But as Riki said above, I'll take a home over a showroom any day!
"I have no idea who designed my waiter's corkscrew"
But you may be able to find out. And when you do, you might discover that he's designed other objects which are equally functional and beautifully made, and maybe you'll decide to purchase one or two of them. You might happen upon an interview with him from which you can learn more about his design philosophy. You might learn what he wanted to accomplish with his design, why he thought he could improve on what already existed, how he got his ideas... And the next time you're opening a bottle of wine and one of your guests says, "Wow, that's a nice corkscrew," maybe you'll have an interesting little story to tell her.
Ya, but that presupposes that I want all that information...
and I don't. I just want to enjoy the object and the use of it in my life. I want to happen upon other nicely made useful things in my travels; I want to be surprised. And I don't think my friends would find all that info particularly interesting, at the least the ones that don't already know it.
Olive, save your breath.
He's (or she, I don't know) is proving my point precisely. For example, just within my eyesight in my own home, I can see 4 Eames shell chairs around a glass and chrome table that I love, but that I don't have a clue about its' origin. Does it keep me up at night that I don't know who designed the table? No. Does it bother me that I don't know this when my friends and I are playing cards on it? No.
I see an incredible stainless steel shelving unit from the 30's that came out of a Swiss elementary school that holds everything but the kitchen sink. Was it designed? Yes, obviously, and his name was probably Yuli. Does it matter to me as it sits there holding all my paper and pens? No.
I see an Eames Hang-It-All on the wall opposite a drafting desk. Do I know who designed the drafting table manufactured by UNIC in Paris in the 1930's? No, I do not. Do I need to know this info for my life to be complete? No, I do not. Does the desk work splendidly for the tasks that I require? Yes, it does.
Olive, how's your corkscrew? Did it open your wine? Brava, girl.
Riki, save your breath,
Nobody's saying that you "need to know this info for [your] life to be complete".
Olive originally thought it was "odd" to care about the designers of one's stuff, but then she posted about the insight she had into the fact that there was a person behind each of the objects she likes... So I took that opportunity to explain why someone might enjoy learning about those designers.
I don't care whether she or you are actually interested enough to want to do that; I was simply proposing it as something she could do, and indirectly explaining why I do it and why it perhaps isn't quite as "odd" as she originally thought.
Ok?
Yep, Fastfwd!
Most of us here at this forum want to know 'who's who and what's what' in terms of design. Those who don't will have to get over the fact that many or most of us do want to know.
Most us want real pieces and not knockoffs and cheesy copies. Most of us have had some over the years, but with knowledge, we've moved onto the originals.
I have some pieces that I don't know how designed them and are not too concerned, but in the main, I find that most of the 'good stuff' is good because someone with a brain designed it and someone else with a brain manufactured it.
That would, for example, not include Burke, who seemed to live on copying other people's design and concepts.
fastfwd, my prickly friend,
it's Design Addict....not DesignER Addict. I love design, I'm addicted to it in fact....I'm just not all caught up in the brouhaha of who's who and what's what. IMHO, what matters is the actual design, not the 'story'.
Thanks, Riki, I know what you mean. If you ever find yourself in New Mexico I'll open you a bottle of surprisingly good, but not famous, New Mexico wine with my generic corkscrew and we can have a nice big glass of it from my jelly jar glasses!
Perhaps its not everyones int...
Perhaps its not everyones interest but there is a lot more to learn from any piece of design than a few names.
Scratch the surface a bit more and everything from passivation (how stainless stays stainless) to the earliest fabric dyes to copyright law under Elizabeth 1st is within reach.
In my opinion appreciating design for what it can actually do or teach is much more rewarding than the kudos or short lived thrill of collecting 'names'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple
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