I had expected Craig’s talk on the demise of skilled manufacturing get me thinking about traditional design methods that have been lost due to mass manufacturing and the factory boom of the industrial revolution, but it actually set me down a whole new route for a potential assignment topic.
It was the introduction of Tricker shoes that really got me thinking. These shoes are attractive and can be expected to last for decades (with some refurbishments of course) but will cost you anywhere in the region of £400-4000. Any well-designed shoes with a household name (Doc Martens, Vans, Nike) are expected to set you back at least £60, but last a long time. The phrase ‘buy cheap, buy twice’ came up and it got me thinking. What about when you can’t afford to buy expensive pair of shoes when yours suddenly fail? You have no other choice but to buy cheap and then buy another pair when they fail again. And then Vitsoe came up. I’ll be honest, I don’t like Vitsoe. I never have. I think the chairs are ugly, the shelves bland and the whole lot ludicrously overpriced. And the main reason for my disdain is that this whole idea of ‘good design’ is marked with such a high price point that only the 1% can afford it. All this was underlined by the fact that, one of the main reasons Craig outlined for the demise of skilled manufacturing, was the low pay apprentices received. Now these handcrafted products are so expensive that the people who make them can’t even afford to buy them.
Some later research linked me to an extremely interesting site called ‘Everyone Deserves Great Design’. The author, Ehsan Noursalehi, brilliantly outlined exactly what Craig’s presentation had sparked in me. I think, after just one week, I’ve already decided on the outline for my assignment topic, which I will refine in the coming weeks.
Morven
留言