try not to

Hubs sent me this site yesterday, and I like it. It got me thinking, and I like things that get me thinking.

Basically, Elliott Scott and Christopher Doyle, a couple of designers from Sydney, have put together a publication with some Don'ts in current design called "This year I will try not to", which are trends that are being repeated by a lot of designers out there, illustrating the point that designers should innovate and come up with something new.

Page from 'This year I will try not to' by Elliott Scott and Christopher Doyle

I have to say I do agree with the amount of appropriation out there, and do we really need to see your funky loft apartment interior with the stylish vintage furnishings? I am sometimes tempted to post an image of my space - Gosh! an interior designer whose living 'space' is complete with 70s brown velour sofa and a corner overflowing with toys - tres chic. Tempted, but no.

But you know what? The thing is there are plenty (pl-en-ty) of people who DO want to see your funky apartment (albeit after it has been styled thanks), they WANT to know what you carry around in your uber-trendy brown leather satchel, and they WILL buy the tote bag with the logo on it. They want to see your apartment because it is probably cooler, neater and cleaner than theirs, and you carry cool gizmos in your bag, not receipts and bits of old gum wrapped in the paper it came in... or do you???

Page from 'This year I will try not to' by Elliott Scott and Christopher Doyle

It's all part of the fantasy is it not? The same realm that mags and ads occupy - 'you too can look like me!' (which reminds me, this chick is hilarious). It's a bit of a fine line I think, mags like Frankie are great because there is no pretense, it's not about celebrity but accessibility, they have real stories with real people and yet they still have a fashion spread with designer clothes...

It's a wierd paradox, to be a designer. To give something to society that has not been done before, but to keep the avenues open. I hate the exclusivity that design can bring about, cause with that come stupid elitist games and other forms of bullshit. The problem being that to be paid properly, there needs to be a certain elitist quality about it, for if it is mass-produced, you won't get enough cash to keep designing, not alot of people can afford the starving artist gig with a family to feed.

Design is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "the art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan or drawing of something before it is made". This, I guess, is the point of "This year I will try not to", the fact that design involves conceiving the plan as well, not appropriating someone else's. 

But is anything new?? What is old is new again etc... that's a whole other blogpost/rant...