Jan 29
Permalink
My take on the company, Best Made. I do understand their motto, which their name implies, but I keep seeing their material on design blogs. Which is making me angry. They are making a bad name for design, symbolizing that good design is hand in hand with expensive products. Yes, good quality and process do equal higher production costs. But lets take their fabric electrical cord as an example. Growing up with my father as an electrician, those parts in that product range from $14 + an hour of labor to put it together. They charge $38 simply because it is an authentic old-age cloth cord. Their ideas are great. Their products are great. But their price-tag is giving design the after-thought of design= expensive. Everything Modernism was not about. Modernism was about honest, good work for the masses with minium cost. This company is the perfect example of what I call egomania-design. It is all about the ego. They take couple Modernism principles, make it look good and slap a huge price-tag on it to impose its’ true authenticity and craftsmanship. Hint - when I mentioned taking only a couple Modernism principles leaving out one of the most effective one - affordable & honest. I think any young designer knows what I am taking about. Design blogs are full of this egomania content. Websites like Svpply http://svpply.com/ and Design Sponge + many others encourage this uprising in craft, authentic ownership to somehow be woodsmen in your own geeky nature + the uncontrollable price-tag. Living in Portland, this is huge here, especially in the design atmosphere. Let me state for the record, I have nothing against authentic , hand-made product culture. I am against taking that culture mixing it with some Modernism design principles and slapping a huge price-tag on it. I think it is giving the general public the wrong view of what Modernism was really about - it was never about high-class products for the few and elite. It was never about that, but seeing Apple showcasing design as money plus all these sub-cultures feeding this fury - it is hard to see how design will ever go back to authentic Modernism principles. I could see many arguments with this discussion, but seeing that our economy is and has been in very hard times with the majority of working people on minimum wage - I truly see this “egomania-design” culture as a crippling and degrading genre towards the honest and wholeness rewards design can really achieve. I would rather design something small, effective and amazing for Dollar Tree than I would for Target. Let’s say, a orange $29 plastic Spatula. I know this may sound silly to some, but it means a great deal to me when I see some item in Target for $6.99 but you can get the same item at Dollar Tree for $.99. That is only a difference of, oh $5.

My take on the company, Best Made. I do understand their motto, which their name implies, but I keep seeing their material on design blogs. Which is making me angry. They are making a bad name for design, symbolizing that good design is hand in hand with expensive products. Yes, good quality and process do equal higher production costs.

But lets take their fabric electrical cord as an example. Growing up with my father as an electrician, those parts in that product range from $14 + an hour of labor to put it together. They charge $38 simply because it is an authentic old-age cloth cord. Their ideas are great. Their products are great. But their price-tag is giving design the after-thought of design= expensive. Everything Modernism was not about. Modernism was about honest, good work for the masses with minium cost. This company is the perfect example of what I call egomania-design. It is all about the ego. They take couple Modernism principles, make it look good and slap a huge price-tag on it to impose its’ true authenticity and craftsmanship. Hint - when I mentioned taking only a couple Modernism principles leaving out one of the most effective one - affordable & honest. I think any young designer knows what I am taking about. Design blogs are full of this egomania content. Websites like Svpply http://svpply.com/ and Design Sponge + many others encourage this uprising in craft, authentic ownership to somehow be woodsmen in your own geeky nature + the uncontrollable price-tag.

Living in Portland, this is huge here, especially in the design atmosphere. Let me state for the record, I have nothing against authentic , hand-made product culture. I am against taking that culture mixing it with some Modernism design principles and slapping a huge price-tag on it. I think it is giving the general public the wrong view of what Modernism was really about - it was never about high-class products for the few and elite. It was never about that, but seeing Apple showcasing design as money plus all these sub-cultures feeding this fury - it is hard to see how design will ever go back to authentic Modernism principles. I could see many arguments with this discussion, but seeing that our economy is and has been in very hard times with the majority of working people on minimum wage - I truly see this “egomania-design” culture as a crippling and degrading genre towards the honest and wholeness rewards design can really achieve.

I would rather design something small, effective and amazing for Dollar Tree than I would for Target. Let’s say, a orange $29 plastic Spatula. I know this may sound silly to some, but it means a great deal to me when I see some item in Target for $6.99 but you can get the same item at Dollar Tree for $.99. That is only a difference of, oh $5.