Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/ en-us Design Observer Group 2011-04-12T05:25:53-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0
It's not only about "internet commenters" going wild; its about a professional class of designers, design writers and critics who are out of tune with reality.

Outside in the real world, not everything is hum or glum, but it is real. It's energizing, inspiring, sometimes difficult, but always real. In the real world, designers are self-publishing, creating downloadable designs, and building their own homes. Designers are starting up independent practices in social housing. Even squats. Designers are recycling chairs from the street with a simple and cheap coat of paint, and reselling them for 10 a piece.

In the real world, designers are also washing dishes, doing salad prep and waiting tables. Otherwise, to make a living, they're still doing 90s corporate work at branding firms they'd rather not show in their online portfolios.

Meanwhile, everything inside the heads of professional designers and critics (and professional design blogs and magazines) is stuck in a Western 20th century utopian paradigm (and business model). In the professional world, a discarded chair, which is repainted with a "story" about "when I was little, I was fascinated by" deserves a 10,000 price tag and a spot in Milan. It is celebrated on the front page of Frame, can be purchased via Wallpaper and is promoted by Rawsthorn or Helfand as a cultural good. Why? Because its "personal" and "makes the world a better place."

Well, it seems smart people everywhere have started calling bull$hit on this.]]> C. Tate http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-04-12T05:25:53-05:00 Chris http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-03-07T07:37:02-05:00 See. I will never discuss trivia again.]]> Doug C. http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-03-01T15:56:09-05:00
To me, this is the most fascinating statement in Lange's piece. How do social constructions surrounding gender shape design practice and the resulting products?

GOOD was asking the same question just the other day:
http://www.good.is/post/architecture-is-tough-will-architect-barbie-help-more-women-become-designers/]]> Kai Mazurczyk http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-27T22:48:05-05:00 FTW http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-25T12:04:31-05:00 DrDeadline http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-23T02:31:12-05:00 LTF http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-22T17:28:42-05:00 David http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-22T11:41:00-05:00
You're not allowed to go back online until you clean your room and finish your homework!]]> DrDeadline http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-21T11:08:18-05:00
VR/]]> Joe Moran http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-18T21:02:22-05:00
Can you explain a little why you did it? It's always fascinated me.]]> rodney http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-18T17:32:28-05:00 Milton http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-18T16:57:24-05:00 p http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-18T13:17:51-05:00 waynard http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-18T09:41:15-05:00
This statement is gold. Even though there's a sense of it being semi-ironic there's a genuine element of revelation in it. This is what Design means for those who can afford to indulge in it – an ego-centric/socially-conscious practice of stylistic moves operating within a caste defining aesthetic discourse. This is bourgeois nest feathering, and I would imagine most of us reading this publication would be caught up in it more than we like or understand. We are carried along and carried away.

'What's the point?' is a great rhetorical device. It rests on the premise that we share the same unutterable (non-propositional and taboo) desires that ground this world of meaning. It acts like a warning, 'acknowledge that you can identify with this or it all falls apart into some unbearable nihilism'. God is dead, and unless those with in interest in it pitch in with some emergency plasterwork every now and again, Design's fate will be terminal.

But the death of Design, along with the discourses, identities, economies, and politics tied in with it would not be such a bad thing. The imperative of learning to live better lives with less demands exactly that. If designers and their "critics" moved from questions of 'how should this look/function' to 'how should we live', then this might just be possible.]]> matt http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T23:20:08-05:00
I just thought it was funny that the author would write and fight so much over what essentially looks like the "Billy" bookcases from Ikea. Sorry!]]> comments observer http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T18:15:56-05:00 Maurice Meilleur http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T16:25:41-05:00
Seriously? It's not Jessica and her family who need to get a life.

And Jessica, your place looks great. It's odd: in many ways more spartan (though that might be an artifact of the photo direction) but also a lot more inviting than the interiors of other designers' houses I've seen. That's a neat trick.]]> Maurice Meilleur http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T16:23:32-05:00 Lauren Z http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T16:02:27-05:00
Thanks for the post. I love the steel beams and the "floating" hardwood ceiling. Very nice.]]> Alan http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T15:44:05-05:00 Barf-a-rooney http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T15:02:55-05:00 Pete http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T13:53:45-05:00 wrongtable http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-was-an-unhappy-hipster/24618/#comments 2011-02-17T11:54:37-05:00