Recessionist Times
I read a splendid article in The New York Times about the possible effects the current economic crisis will have on the design world. And it ain’t all bad news. If you’re like me and cry while drooling over sofas that retail for $15,000, you must read Michael Cannell’s article, Design Loves A Depression.
Here’s a particularly heartening excerpt:
“Now, given that all those slick Miami condos are sitting empty in the sky, designers like the Campana Brothers, with their $8,910 Corallo chair, and Hella Jongerius, with her $10,615 Ponder sofa, might have a harder time selling their wares. Already designers are biting their knuckles over the damage reports. The American Institute of Architects reported that last month‚Äôs billings index, a gauge of nonresidential construction, reached its lowest level since it began collecting data in 1995.
The pain of layoffs notwithstanding, the design world could stand to come down a notch or two ‚Äî and might actually find a new sense of relevance in the process. That was the case during the Great Depression, when an early wave of modernism flourished in the United States, partly because it efficiently addressed the middle-class need for a pared-down life without servants and other Victorian trappings.”
In short, it seems there’s hope for those of us with B & B Italia taste and an IKEA wallet.
Read the entire article here.
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