Modern Furniture Design

September 29, 2003 9:59 AM

Is This All There Is To Modern Design?Although Design Within Reach is a commercial website, it's well put together, with interesting features that provide biographies and a a potted history of modern furniture design. However, like the plethora of coffee-table books on the subject, the uncomfortable (!) feeling remains that it crystalizes the accepted and the historical - the so-called modern classics - rather than engage with what is truly contemporary. This is, after all, highly traditional modernism and post-modernism. And it's rife. Where is the avant-garde? Is there one on view to ordinary mortals? You end up feeling that the truly new designs - this century's, after all - are being swept under the carpet, awaiting some boring committee process of consensus and approval.
posted by MiguelCardoso (35 comments total)

Design Within Reach is also a chain of retail outlets - there's one in Santa Monica, right off the 3rd Street promenade. As for the merchandise they sell... well, mid-century modern has never really been my thing. Too hard, to quasi futuristic, not comfy enough.
posted by jonson at 10:08 AM on September 29, 2003

(...reminds me of the state of 'contemporary music'. What contemprary music? What we hear seems as much consensus and approval driven as 'Modern Furniture design. Partucularly in the US...)

Last week in London there was the World creative Forum but for biggest the annual furniture dezign fest must go to the Salone del Mobile in Milan
posted by marvin at 10:23 AM on September 29, 2003

Philippe Starck's desk, in his NY apartment, is made by IKEA

I'm not kidding
posted by matteo at 10:33 AM on September 29, 2003

DWR has some good pieces, but as you say, they are all very famous. Even if you think you haven't seen the Mies pavilion chair, or the Le Corbustier LC2, you're probably wrong. Those pieces have become so commonplace and accepted that they have become a part of the orthodoxy that they once challenged. That's thanks in no small part to their excellent quality; a well-built pavilion chair can make an otherwise excruciating wait in my bank's loan department a relatively pleasant experience.

There are, of course, retailers with newer stuff (I love Limn in San Francisco), but because of economies of scale and mass production most of that is well outside the reach of middle class (or even lower-upper-class) families looking to redecorate. Oh, and there's always IKEA. Just don't expect that modernist chest of drawers put together with Elmer's Glue to survive more than one move.
posted by profwhat at 10:36 AM on September 29, 2003

this is a little broader--the cooper-hewitt design triennial (i love SuperHappyBunny)
posted by amberglow at 10:39 AM on September 29, 2003

The biggest difference between mid-century modernism and contemporary modernism, in my humble opinion, is that of breakthrough.

Who are the Saarinens and Eamses for the 21st century? My initial reaction is that no names of contemporary industrial designers pop into my head whom have made such a large contribution to modern manufacturing techniques. (OK, maybe Karim Rashid comes close, but who else?)

Mid-century modernism was truly new, unique, and inspired. I believe that post-modernism (as well as today's "retro" craze) is holding us back from really taking a close look at what can be done with industrial technology. There are lots of interesting prototypes for contemporary modernist objects floating around out there, but what is holding us back from getting them into production? Attitude? Possibly. It certainly isn't technology.
posted by ScottUltra at 10:47 AM on September 29, 2003

Hey, thanks for the excellent Limn website, profwhat! I like the way pieces link to the manufacturer's website, e.g. cecelia del guerra's caracol cabinet - perfect for cocktails! - to cecotti.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:48 AM on September 29, 2003

My wife and I drool over the DWR catalog every time it comes. Too bad we can't afford any of it -- despite DWR being one of my company's customers.
posted by Slothrup at 10:49 AM on September 29, 2003

As a sidenote: the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis just had a fantastic show titled Strangely Familiar: Design in Everyday Life that explored contempory industrial design ideas from a more artist-inspired perspective. The show closed September 7th in Minnesota, but should be opening in Pittsburgh on November 8th at the Carnegie Museum of Art ... and the exhibition catalog should still be available through the Walker. Definitely a worth-while read.
posted by ScottUltra at 10:59 AM on September 29, 2003

ScottUltra: your link led me to find out (and rave) about Thomas Bernstrands' 1997 Do Swing - a robust chandelier you can swing from, ideal for those swooping office exits - and his ingenious three-tiered Wembley bench. Sorry I can't link directly to the photos, but it's a nice website all round. Cheers!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:13 AM on September 29, 2003

MiguelCardoso: It took every ounce of restraint I had to resist flinging myself onto the Do Swing in the exhibition. Simply wonderful!
posted by ScottUltra at 11:17 AM on September 29, 2003

profwhat: For more affordable contemporary modernist furniture, try BluDot. Fantastic stuff in a great contemporary style using "traditional" modernist materials (laminated birch ply and enameled steel, among other things).
posted by ScottUltra at 11:28 AM on September 29, 2003

I always thought Marc Newson was one of today's modern masters, though his stuff is very commercially oriented, and not nearly out-there I guess.
posted by mathowie at 11:46 AM on September 29, 2003

While DWR does stock the essentials of mid-20th-century design, it should be noted that they also carry other, more contemporaneous and lesser household names, like Ted Boerner, Sandy Chilewich and, yes, Karim Rashid. They are also one of only a handful of retailers licensed to sell Isamo Noguchi's spectacular Free Form Sofa and Ottoman.
posted by JollyWanker at 11:46 AM on September 29, 2003

They are also one of only a handful of retailers licensed to sell Isamo Noguchi's spectacular Free Form Sofa and Ottoman.

It's a great design, but good lord, $7k for a sofa and ottoman? This is why people mock "design within reach" since so many of its feature pieces aren't in the reach of anyone I remotely know.
posted by mathowie at 12:09 PM on September 29, 2003

> Is This All There Is To Modern Design?

It's at least conceivable that it is--by which I mean some periods don't produce any great designs in a given medium (consider Victorian furniture and bric-a-brac, for example, 100% of which is dreck) and we may now be in such a period as regards meubles-de-la-chambre. After all, barring the occasional Mies or Corbu who may toss off a chair (and leaving aside the theoretical possibility of entering a Henry Moore sculpture garden and sitting on one of the pieces,) furniture designers are not designers of the first rank any more than towel designers are. What child ever wanted to grow up to design chairs? And architecture itself appears to me to be in a notably themeless and higgledy-piggledy phase, which makes it less than likely that architects are secretly sketching great chaises and telling nobody about them. I am not all that eager to try to relax on a sofa designed by this fellow.

The most functionally successful thing I have sat on recently was a brand new, fully powered, fully conformable-to-the-body dentist's chair. Nice attached swing-out table for the scotch, nice very bright reading lamp. If it wasn't for the damned dentist, who insisted on doing things to me that precluded reading, it would have been an utterly satisfactory furniture experience. I doubt, however, that this chair (however successful) will ever figure in anyone's coffee table book.
posted by jfuller at 12:29 PM on September 29, 2003

Design Within Reach is a chain store. It's in business to sell large quantities of stuff.

Like most chain stores, it's not particularly avant-garde. I'm not sure why this surprises anyone.

(I bought a coffee table from them, and it's a fine coffee table. But I didn't confuse them with a museum or an educational institution or anything other than a store.)
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:42 PM on September 29, 2003

This is interesting.

and this one has me thinking of Swan Vestas'.

we can always dream though.
posted by clavdivs at 1:43 PM on September 29, 2003

I think I met Rashid when I was nambe's Web developer. Every once in a while the designers would stop by.
posted by hyperizer at 1:47 PM on September 29, 2003

matthowie: This is why people mock "design within reach" since so many of its feature pieces aren't in the reach of anyone I remotely know.

The "reach" in their name has never meant within "financial reach," at least not as I've understood it. Their mission has been to collect together these 20th century icons and make them available, all from one source, which prior to their establishment meant dealing with a design professional and their fees, or stomping around town trying to assemble pieces yourself, if you even knew where to go. It's not like DWR goes about claiming they're "bargain priced" - they stock 12" square pillows that cost $150 a piece, for heaven's sake. I'm just sorry you don't know anybody who owns one of these, because they are truly beautiful in person, regardless of how much they cost.
posted by JollyWanker at 2:29 PM on September 29, 2003

I have been known to stare at DWR's catalogues for hours. I would basically move heaven and earth just for an Eames Lounger to call my own. Sigh, that damn catalogue porn gets me every time.
posted by beatnik808 at 3:37 PM on September 29, 2003

I have ordered some smaller items from DWR (when they had more Alessi), and if you are in the market for designer items, their prices are quite good. If I ever get the chance to buy that Eames lounge chair and ottoman, I know where I am gonna buy it. The other part of the equation is that most of what I have seen is of superior quality and construction than what you would find at American Furniture Warehouse or some such place. It's like modern heirloom furniture which I know is counter to our disposable society. At that price too, you'll be more careful about getting skid marks on the sofa.....
posted by Eekacat at 3:44 PM on September 29, 2003

> At that price too, you'll be more careful about getting skid
> marks on the sofa.....

Be sure you order it with the clear vinyl slipcover option.
posted by jfuller at 3:55 PM on September 29, 2003

Miguel, what you're missing is that "modern" is entirely distinct from "contemporary." "Modern" design - that is, design produced under the influence of modernism, the Bauhaus, etc. - dates maybe to the 1970s at the very latest: Dieter Rams and the Eameses and Mies and all that yummy stuff.

It was all (relatively) unselfconscious work which proceeded from first principles of simplicity and integrity, which absolutely cannot be said about the work of the delightful Newson, the vile Starck, the ego-mad Karim Rashid, Ross Lovegrove, Hella Jongerius, et al.

About the only "modern" designers I can think of who are currently active are Jasper Morrison and (in a different way) Naoto Fukasawa, and they'd probably both dispute the characterization.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:02 PM on September 29, 2003

some Fukasawa work.
posted by clavdivs at 5:19 PM on September 29, 2003

adamgreenfield, I completely agree.

We must be sure to make the distinction between modern and contemporary. The modern movement (much to my chagrin) died fifty years ago. People don't "do" modern anymore. It was replaced with (my favorite!) post-modernism. But, (fortunately?) this seems to be near death, as well. What it will be replaced with, remains to be seen.

I think that "Yes" is a perfectly legitimate answer to Miguel's question "Is this all there is to modern design?". But indeed, the amount of contemporary design that is widely available is lamentable.
posted by danbeckmann at 6:28 PM on September 29, 2003

..and Fukasawa did this too.

I'd say the current Apple Industrial Designdirection is distinctly "Modern". No frills, no bollocks, but getting down to the essence of the product, brand, and audience... Technolust
posted by marvin at 8:31 PM on September 29, 2003

miggy. tell me you don't actually sit around and think shit like this. i mean, without smirking and giggling giddily.
posted by quonsar at 9:37 PM on September 29, 2003

It really niggles me when people use the word 'design' to mean 'fashionable, contemporary, expensive, independent furniture design'. It gives a totally false impression of the scale of the design industry and the important but often quite dull work that most designers engage in.

Last week in London there was the World creative Forum

[smug] I was there [/smug]. You forgot to mention it was part of the first London Design Festival, which was quite a bold attempt to cover design in its entirety - furniture, graphics, web, fashion, architecture etc. I'm not sure how well it worked but at least someone's trying to do it. In most big cities, but in London especially, all these strands are increasingly feeding off each other and it's fitting we've now got an event to celebrate that.
posted by Summer at 2:37 AM on September 30, 2003

I subscribe to FRAM? magazine to keep in touch with contemporary design. (And some Modernism as well.)

Maybe contemporary design is being swept under the carpet but the designs that last will eventually manifest themselves as the lasting lumps under the rug worth keeping while others dissolve into little more than the specious little dust-bunnies they are.
posted by Dick Paris at 6:00 AM on September 30, 2003

Oops. FRAM∃
posted by Dick Paris at 6:03 AM on September 30, 2003

> the important but often quite dull work that most designers engage in.

Well, somebody's got to design those hair clippers and seatback trays. What's coolest to me is someone who takes one of those boring assignments and nails it so hard the earth trembles. While Raymond Lowey's Greyhound bus was in service it was the handsomest vehicle on the road.
posted by jfuller at 6:05 AM on September 30, 2003

What's coolest to me is someone who takes one of those boring assignments and nails it so hard the earth trembles.

Me too. You can keep your contemporary furniture, design to me is all about improving lives.
posted by Summer at 6:12 AM on September 30, 2003

I'm strongly reminded of the objects of design line sold by MoMA.

Victorian furniture and bric-a-brac, for example, 100% of which is dreck

I'm actually a big fan of Victorian, because it goes with my house. However, remember that this too is an example of 'Victorian Era' design. Perhaps they were simply the equivalent of DWR for the 1880's?
posted by anastasiav at 1:04 PM on October 1, 2003

Interesting story on a hot Dutch design school--Design Academy Eindhoven. (nyt)
posted by amberglow at 8:34 AM on October 2, 2003