I've been thinking about all the ranting we've been doing about 'real-ness', elitism and respecting a salesperon's time and I think that I've come to a realization. What we're really all concerned with is VALUE.
It's a normal human aspect to want what we buy to have a value commensurate with what we've given for it. As Design Addicts we have pretty high standards and although we want a good deal, we won't buy at the expense of quality. But that quality/value calculation is very individualistic. Some folks are willing to pay to maintain what they see as a standard of authenticity, hence value, while others see the claims of 'real-ness' as a way of over-pricing things above perceived value. The balancing act of price and value is as old as Prometheus. Probably even older.
And in the end we will all have to walk our own paths. Mine is to buy products that work well, look good and are priced within the boundaries of what I think they're worth. As long as I break no legal laws or cross my own ethical beliefs, I'll be satisfied with my possessions. After all they are only things. The truth is that all the 'real' valuables in life are free.
Well stated, Olive
Agree with every word. Lately, I've actually unloaded a few of my more vaunted pieces of design. And sure, having kids has had a bit to do with it. But considering the fact that the Nelson Swag Leg Chair is my favorite chair design ever, it raises the question of why I would ever get the urge to rid myself of one once I had it in my possession... which leads right into your point. Value. No matter how much I love a design, $1500 for a side chair was going overboard on my 'responsibility meter'. I'm not rich by any means, nor do I have to want for anything for the most part. But as you said, we all draw our own lines. I found Riki's confession that she would never shell out $3-4k+ for a chair quite refreshing considering that she has obviously done well for herself and could if she so chose. It becomes an issue of perspective and moderation in all things. For whatever it's worth, that's the way I see it.
Implicit
in the above comments, if not explicitly addressed, is the fact that our estimation of value (which, however you slice it, is just "what we're willing to pay" *) changes with time. In other words, "value" isn't even consistently held by a single individual, much less by the group (of consumers) at large. What we so desperately had to have six months, or four years, ago, may be less "valuable" to us today -- for a variety of reasons. And, some of our possessions become dearer to us, over time, perhaps because we come to realize what a good choice (for us) that purchase was -- or, because the "market value" has risen ?
And this in turn raises another interesting question: is an object more valuable to us because we got it at a good price (i.e., really cheap, or even free) -- or is it more valuable because we had to spend every penny we had that week ? This I guess involves "replacement value" -- but I've never evolved a satisfactory answer to this conundrum, in my own mind.
*(Maybe the answer can only be had after we acknowledge yet another semantic difficulty : in the above conondrum, "value" will have different meanings, depending on the question being asked ? That is, value = $, or value = desire. . .)
Interesting comments, SDR
I have to say that I have been exactly at that point of value/price/desire/appreciation for some months now. I am looking at every single item in my home from paper towel holders to Womb chairs and making decisions as to what goes with us to New Mexico and what gets tossed/sold/donated/freecycled.
What I am finding in myself, and in my husband is, that some things I thought were precious to me aren't and vica versa. Also things I thought he would NEVER part with are getting chucked with nary a twinge and there are others he's ready to fight to the death for that I think are crap. Going through clothing has been especially traumatic for him, which surprises me; we've been married nearly 18 years I had no idea that he felt so strongly about t-shirts! For me, it's small things that I've had a long time that I'm loathe to part with. I guess its the history or the continuity that I'm looking to hold on to. Maybe that's his deep-down reasonings as well.
But our new home is planned to be about 50-60% the size of the home we have now; therefore half of our stuff simply must go. So applying stark rationalism to things I love is needful in my life right now. I just had no idea how stressful it was going to be for us to do. I don't consider either one of us sentimental but 'd*mn!' this is hard!
We are also having fits about the 'staging to sell' process. Thinking of your much-loved home of 13 years as a commodity is darned hard to do. Adjusting our entrenched way of seeing the house and our style to something more generic screws with our sense of the home's value. We feel like it looks worse even if we know, intellectually, that what we are doing actually improves its overall appeal.
I definitely am in a strange place in my life right now. This much change all at once is doing funny things to my head.
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