5th
I Found My Old Sofa
Today I was browsing through the house tours on apartmenttherapy.com and happened to see my old sofa in someone else’s house (yes, the actual sofa, not one like it). It was a rare sofa by Charles and Ray Eames, which may suprise some who know me well. Not that I had one, but that I let it go.
There is a certain amount of foolishness modern furniture appreciators achieve when they are ruthlessly tantalized by aesthetics that can only be described as “genius.” The perfectly sculpted form can seduce our eyes so successfully that it actually makes our asses numb.
Sounds crazy? How else could you explain the plethra of design junkies who are not only willing, but demand beautiful sculptures as seats only to find (and to ignore) that they have the comfort of nude bicycling? Design critics and enthusiasts alike go back and forth:
“It is too comfortable”
“No it isn’t. How could it be? It’s made of moulded ply.”
“But it’s shaped perfectly to sculpt the human body.”
“But then I can sit in only one position, which bothers me.”
“It has to be comfortable. An architect designed it. You just sit incorrectly.”
“No, it must be that people were smaller and shorter back then.”
This only infuriates the design junkie more into a state of denial where he pretends 1) that he is smaller and everyone else is too fat to enjoy his furniture 2) that he really does enjoy being a vegetarian 3) that he likes jazz music 4) that he is well read and hates television and 5) be believes that SUVs are 100% wrong, no matter your transportation needs.
More than likely he will end up with 1) very hard furniture 2) a vegan wife with 4 three legged pit bulls who proves her equalness to him by putting him down constantly 3) a hybrid station wagon 4) two adopted foreign kids 5) a secret drinking problem.
To make a long story short, this is why I got another sofa. There is indeed design out there that meets all of your needs. The Eameses didn’t design one for me (they are still my favorite designers, let’s clear the air now so no design geeks come knocking on my door crying). I’ve learned that not every designer can meet your needs 100% of the time. Perhaps that resembles expecting every Beatles’ song to be your favorite ever. While they all relate to one another, and all hold a certain quality, one will always be better than the next.
So, be yourself design junkies. If you have a tumor on your ass the size of a beach ball from sitting on your prized piece, perhaps you should rethink your design ethics. Perhaps you should lengthen your one rule design declaration of simply “being beautiful.” You should add being comfortable, human, inviting, and unpretentious to that declaration. Why design something whose only attribute is beauty? Do you like people who only possess that same attribute? Or do you find them to be empty of spirit?
