Another Beautiful House Falls Prey to a McMansion

 

See more at http://www.beltstl.com/2006/03/beautiful-home/

The High Price of Living Cool (replacement parts for high-end furniture)

Elitist pricing is just one of the many problems with modern design.

What is the point of making "design for the people" so inaccessible (other than to make sure certain classes can't afford it, thus making it not for the people)?

I understand the merits of pricing something so that attention can be given to detail and quality assurance (both extremely important), but this is just ridiculous.

A replacement cushion for a Knoll Saarinen Tulip chair is $265.

That's just for the cushion.

Just the cushion.

Just the...


The problem is you've got to have consistency. If your puppy decides to shake your Saarinen cushion like a polaroid picture, and the end result is a happy puppy but a sad cushion, you need to be able to replace said cushion and know that it will look exactly the same as the one made in 1957. It's going to cost more than a cushion from T.J. Maxx. Period. I think everyone can appreciate that.

But $265?!

That's the point when we do our best, find a good upholsterer and say, "Can you make me one of these?" (hand over puppy toy). It might not be exact, it might not be original, but you're gonna save yourself at least $165 and that's how most real humans need to function. Just make sure you pay attention to detail and don't end up with a round cushion on your Tulip.

Origins

Bizarre

–adjective

1. markedly unusual in appearance, style, or general character and often involving incongruous or unexpected elements; outrageously or whimsically strange

c.1648, from Fr. bizarre "odd, fantastic," originally "handsome, brave," from Basque bizar "a beard" (the notion being of the strange impression made in France by bearded Sp. soldiers); alternative etymology traces it to It. bizarro "angry, fierce, irascible," from bizza "fit of anger."


Archetype

–noun

1. the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.

2.(in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.

The Genesis of the Real Mod Blog

I go cuckoo for Mid-century Modern.

Flat-roofed Eichlers, the gentle slope of a Cliff May, the sultry curve of Saarinen chair, the way a George Nelson light floats and casts a gentle glow... they all make the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

My parents don't get it.

My brothers don't get it.

Most of my friends don't get.

(My wife gets it).

They realize that (I think) MCM is "cool," but they don't understand the degree to which I passionately love clean lines and reason or specificity in design. Outside of the clique-ness of it, the hip factor, they don't get the "why."

So many people view modern as cold, uncomfortable... unrealistic. But I think, like most things, the reason for this notion is mainly ignorance. Modern is misunderstood. People have gotten some ideas into their heads that make modern seem like something that it is not.

I hope to use this blog to explore this notion and perhaps help at least a few people see that one can live normally (dare I say better) while subscribing and adhering to modernist ideals.

...plus I'll get to find and publish pretty pictures of super cool houses and furniture.