The furniture design scene in the US.

Hi guys,

I recently read an article in ID magazine about furniture/housewares design in America and how it’s not as visible and progressive as European design. There was a debate amongst american versus european designers about why that is, etc. The Eameses brought modern furniture to the forefront but then it seems there was a decline soon after the 1970’s (I just took a class on design history and got that impression). I mean, I don’t see a lot of US furniture design companies, like there are in Europe making home furnishings for mass comsumption, with the exception of maybe IKEA, but they aren’t even American. Can anyone name any American companies who do mostly modern furniture, other than BluDot (and not the kind of furniture manufacturers that produce old fashioned wood furniture down in North Carolina)? By the way, according to that article, they did mention the American lingering obsession with antiques and traditional furniture, the trends towards that type of style that keeps us from making inroads in Modern Design like the Europeans and especially the Italians and Scandinavians. But anyone else has any other thoughts as to why modern design is not so successful here? I fear that when I graduate, I will have to move overseas to have a career in housewares and furniture in order to be successful. It seems here in America, most modern design is left for contract office furniture, with the likes of Herman Miller and Knoll or Orange 22 or dTank, which produces cool stuff too for commercial spaces.

modern denotes 1920 … be careful what you ask for.

United States is more about cost.

I guess blue dot is one that might make your list… Minneapolis www.bludot.com but you mentioned them.

I guess the united states can only mature thru education and the only education we get is from retailers like walmart and target.

If you leave, educate yourself then come back to educate a buying market.

Why isn’t modern design more popular in the US? Would you be shopping for Eames or Bouroullec if you lived here?

It has nothing to do with education, or maturity (those were pretty condescending statements BTW), or cost, or getting retailers to stock different things. Also, Walmart and Target don’t set style trends here, they follow them.

Like it or not, Middle America lives in houses like the one you see above, and modern furniture would look ridiculous inside of them. The market for modern design starts and ends with people who live in cities. And guess what? The same thing is true in Europe.

To answer the original question, lots and lots of companies make “modern” or contemporary furniture for mass consumption. Very few specialize in it, just like very few specialize in Victorian or Louis Phillippe. Modernism is seen as a style here, not a philosophy.

Look at those iron brackets on the automatic garage door… so authentic, and the shutters that don’t shut, and the god-awefull proportions, and the faux brick… man, it’s a design crime, but people love houses like the above. I live in (well for the next 2 weeks until we move to Cambridge) a development full of houses just a notch or two more designed than this.

We went “off spec” for ours, grey on grey color scheme, stainless light fixtures that look like light bulbs go inside instead of a cartoon of a gas lamp, and so on throughout, so our Eames stuff would fit in. We frequently have parties with all the neighbors, and they love our place, yet I think it would be hard for them to psychologicaly break with the “traditional” furniture they have.

Yo: now you point out the fake shutters I see them all over … Sux

SHUTTERS that don’t SHUT are a particular issue for me!

Just a quick correction on that one:
Comparing Herman Miller / Knoll to Orange 22 is like saying that just because your Uncle Larry has a nice tool set, he’s doing work alongside Home Depot (Edit- I revised my analogy, my first comparison, in retrospect, was rather harsh). Orange22 has made a bench, albeit a decent bench, I think we can all agree it doesn’t qualify them as a contract furniture manufacturer.

Modern = 1920, modern = contemporary. Careful what you choose to correct.

It is subjective, not hard and fast:

Modern 20th Century Design are those objects of art, lighting, and furniture from about 1920 through the present time, and they continue to be a hot commodity in the collectibles world, especially for the younger generation who grew up during the time period of these great designers.

From:

of course, there is Wikipidia:

Modernism describes an array of cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The term covers a series of reforming movements in art, architecture, music, literature and the applied arts which emerged during this period.
It is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology or practical experimentation.[1] Modernism encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of existence, from commerce to philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was ‘holding back’ progress, and replacing it with new, progressive and therefore better, ways of reaching the same end.
Embracing change and the present, modernism encompasses the works of thinkers who rebelled against nineteenth century academic and historicist traditions, believing the “traditional” forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated; they directly confronted the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world. Some divide the 20th Century into movements designated Modernism and Postmodernism, whereas others see them as two aspects of the same movement.

But we al knew what you meant.

the original post is so naive and ignorant i don’t know where to begin.

how about weighing in then KFC Jesus?

let me think about it so i don’t sound condescending.

LOL

Perhaps a little late for that.

KFC jesus? is that like seeing the face of jesus in a fried chicken leg?

The first consideration for furniture designed for the US and that for Europe are the differences in the markets. You have to look at the core markets, their styles, their environments, their cultures.

Consider that Europeans tend to be located in more urban areas, geographically, than Americans. Consider that the average American residence is 2349 square feet, double that from 1950’s. (http://www.census.gov/const/C25Ann/sftotalmedavgsqft.pdf). Europeans are (in modern times) apartment dwellers. Furnishing an apartment vrs furnishing a home are distinctively different: scale, efficiency, customization, etc. Americans will tend to move out further from a city for a larger home and more land. Transportation issues are another matter that I won’t discuss other than you might see a reversal of urban spral in the US.

So, Americans have bigger homes, they like to stuff them with a lot of shite.

Culturally, Europeans have a stronger sense for contemporary design. This is more ingrained in their culture and everyday life. Larger populations live around cities that have centuries of established architecture, planning, and diversity over that in the United States. The European consumer has an affluent taste for the contemporary because of location and environment. This is a large market. Modern/contemporary furniture cannot afford to be fussy and one-sided in its purpose. There isn’t room for that.

For the American market, styles tend to fight for the meatiest market: middle American suburbanite. They have the dollars to spend and they have a pretty big home to fill. Culturally, Americans are still romanced by the periods that the country came to exist or by that which their first relatives arrived. This isn’t a blanket statement, it’s an observation. Architecturally-speaking, the American home appeals to a comfort-area that hits the meat of the curve also. Colonial, Cape Cod, McMansion, Southern plantation style homes are extremely common throughout 2/3 of the US.

Now, onto manufacturing. Furniture today is all about sourcing. Most of contemporary furniture is designed for mass-production. The attention is in the details, or lack therof. Some contemporary furniture lacks expensive, laborious detailing that adds a lot of cost and adds time it takes to produce. The details are in the quality of execution.

Traditional styled furniture gives the impression that it is more expensive because of some of the details it possesses of the quality of the construction or even the materials. A lot of consumers just don’t understand how modern-day traditional furniture pieces are manufactured. Still they think a craftsman or team of craftsmen built everything by hand. Not necessarily true, but the appeal is still there.

A lot of this sort of furniture can be still made by hand, but mainly overseas. By the way, you should consider the loss of American manufacturing job as a tragedy. I have worked in the Carolinas as a designer and have never been afforded a better opportunity to work with true craftsmen as I did while I was in that area. They know far more about producing and executing modern, contemporary furniture and upholstery than you will ever hope for.

I believe the desire for more contemporary styling is increasing. Our generation is one that has experienced a sharing of ideas and information like none before. We are more exposed to other cultures and styles than our parents. As we become the power market, the styles will change accordingly. I am a firm believer that only rich people can afford cheap furniture. It is very expensive to replace , let alone unhealthy on the environmental side. I have an eclectic collection in my own home. I buy pieces I like, but because I am intimate with the industry, I like to buy well-executed, well-built pieces that I choose carefully. The only “collection” I bought was the bedroom set in our guest room.

If the originally poster is concerned about have to move to Europe to design housewares and furniture to suit this/her own taste, then that person has a LOT to learn about this career as a designer. It is far more rare to design for yourself or what you like than it is to design for someone else. It is also more difficult to design for your consumer than yourself. If you feel you can only design for yourself to be successful, you may want to reconsider your current career path.

Hi

Thanks for that insightful reply. At first I was turned off to your initial reply, saying I was ignorant and naive, and then I realized that YES, I am naive and ignorant to the design industry, as I am just a student and you have more experience than me, so I decided not to take that as offensively as I did initially.

Like I said, I had not taken into account the middle class suburbs, being that I am a bit biased from growing up in a big city (New York) and always being surrounded by modernity and contemporary furnishings. I had not even thought about the majority of Americans who have homes and and prefer traditional furnishings. I made the comment about moving to Europe in order to begin my design career because I love European design a lot, not because I want to design what I want to design or design only what I like (I knew already that I won’t be designing for myself, as that in itself is hard to achieve, like a Karim Rashid, but at least, I will be working probably for a manufacturer that produces modern design, not traditional). That was my point.

But I thank you and the person before you who made me realize in much simplicity, how different the American way of life compared to European city living is. Had not even occurred to me. By the way, not only did this article in I.D. magazine get me thinking about this issue, but also a few books that I own about designers and they usually showcase mostly European designers (they might be a bit biased against American design, not sure) and only a handful of Americans. So it just got me thinking, that’s why I posted this.

Hi

Thanks for that insightful reply. At first I was turned off to your initial reply, saying I was ignorant and naive, and then I realized that YES, I am naive and ignorant to the design industry, as I am just a student and you have more experience than me, so I decided not to take that as offensively as I did initially.

Like I said, I had not taken into account the middle class suburbs, being that I am a bit biased from growing up in a big city (New York) and always being surrounded by modernity and contemporary furnishings. I had not even thought about the majority of Americans who have homes and and prefer traditional furnishings. I made the comment about moving to Europe in order to begin my design career because I love European design a lot, not because I want to design what I want to design or design only what I like (I knew already that I won’t be designing for myself, as that in itself is hard to achieve, like a Karim Rashid, but at least, I will be working probably for a manufacturer that produces modern design, not traditional). That was my point.

But I thank you and the person before you who made me realize in much simplicity, how different the American way of life compared to European city living is. Had not even occurred to me. By the way, not only did this article in I.D. magazine get me thinking about this issue, but also a few books that I own about designers and they usually showcase mostly European designers (they might be a bit biased against American design, not sure) and only a handful of Americans. So it just got me thinking, that’s why I posted this.

designers in america have a bit different role than their european counterparts. american designers have a fairly pragmatic approach to their design because of manufacturing roles they have to serve.

also, i believe a lot of foreign countries subsidize certain manufacturing technology developments to offset the amount companies/people spend developing designs. some are known to subsidize the materials.

herman miller will take 3-5 years to develop a product before it releases it for sale to the public. it will also mothball a particular project if it feels the market will not support the investment.

also, consider the differences in markets between contract and residential alone. they are two different sides to the same coin: production scale, price point, product life cycle, build parameters, testing parameters, etc. not to mention markup (300% minimum-low end retail)

I heard that some stuff was coming back the the Carolinas. I sure its nothing compared to what was lost, but what have you heard KFJ?

i haven’t really heard that. some of the larger players are restructuring, merging, becoming bought out or simply closing. there is a lot of skill being lost.

i would like to see it restrengthen more. personally, i really enjoyed living in that area.

well said. i never looked at it this way before…