So in between golfing, high school graduations, dancing until the morning at a gay bar, and having my car broken into, I spent a lot of time watching TV this Memorial Day weekend and couldn't help but be fascinated by these home decoration shows that are on every other cable channel. Most of these home makeover shows only do one thing, prove that taste isn't always in the genes. They focus on how to take ugly rooms, badly decorated, and turn them into slightly less ugly, still badly decorated rooms for the enjoyment of people who don't know any better. Yes I am on my architectural soapbox right now. So what.
One of the most distressing things about the amount of insanely tacky makeover shows is the lack of any alternative. The US television audience is terribly underexposed to good quality modern design. This could be because 95% of modern design exists in other parts of the world, and sadly the high quantity of developer driven stickboxes in the US have force fed the public into believing that these new homes are really nice. It's kinda like pop music. Since people aren't given much of an alternative, they accept what they are told is 'popular' and internalize it as something that they like.
This is not to say that modern design doesn't have its share of Charles Jenks' philosophical nonsense or Philippe Starck recklessness (which I happen to like), but in no way does it compare with the wince-inducing jankyness of most design styles presented on television.
Where did we go wrong as a country set to embrace the modern world way back when? People like Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson were making products for the masses, who were embracing them. Somewhere along the way floral wallpaper, dull chairs and busy flatware -- not to mention McMansions and the influence of the Southwest -- took over, and we all found ourselves on Ugly Street with someone from television there to document our lack of curb appeal.
This is not to say modernism is the only way to go (well, it is, but who needs the e-mail?), just that it's about time some other perspective was offered. Maybe someone contemplating a remodel could be gently redirected away from generic appliances or poorly conceived, meritless architecture, toward something more uplifting, more design-conscious or environmentally friendly. How can we, as a country, learn about clean lines and the philosophy of less is more if the majority of what we see on television celebrates fat loungers and train station themed living rooms?
Maybe we're just a country that needs, not surprisingly, to be educated about design. Maybe we need to be told that, yes, vinyl siding sucks, that mirror is hideous and that's the ugliest "entertainment center" known to man. No, it isn't cool to have your house look like everyone elses on the same block, and red walls aren't as cool as you think they are.
Here's a Design Within Reach catalog. Sit. Study.
No, an EMPHATIC HELL no, two grand and 48 hours is not enough to redo your whole house.
and the design revolution will not be televised.
Here are a few links to set you straight:
http://photos.innersource.com/group/6610
http://www.therme-vals.ch/?language=en
http://www.vongirsewald.com/schaulager/
http://www.dezain.net/2003/prada/
http://web.mit.edu/evolving/stata/photos/photos.html
http://www.objectsby.com/hudsongb.htm
~C
CD of the moment: Aya - "Strange Flower"
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