Happy New Year!

It's the time of year for all the prognosticators to have their say. The San Francisco Chronicle has their list of "10 Interior Design Trends for 2010" while the Denver Post tells us what "Home for the New Year" will look like. It all goes into the mix!

The New Consumer

Spendthrift to Penny-pincher - a Wall Street Journal article.

The Complexity of Authenticity

Moving forward in developing new products and enhancements, authenticity is one of the most important attributes of our material culture. However authenticity turns out to be most difficult to describe. The magazine Interactions has an enlightening article "On Authenticity" that is worth reading.

"Some advise that the best way to deliver authenticity is to be authentic (either in the art historian’s sense or the philosopher’s sense, though each requires a different set of corporate actions). Perhaps in our goal to deliver authenticity we should strive instead to avoid inauthenticity. Perhaps the straightest path to inauthenticity is to fail to investigate the meaning of what you are delivering, asking not only yourselves, but also your customers, who will ultimately define your authenticity."

Are the gourmet copies of Hostess cupcakes authentic? A confusing question, but we know that the image above from the sixtyminuteartist.com is art. Gourmet cupcakes are an authentic concept in themselves, and only memory will tell each of us individually if they are authentically "Hostess."

Consumers Today

A year after the shock of the decade, consumers are wise to greenwashing and faux social causes, but value local engagement. Read the article Stand by Me by Dori Molitor, WomanWise LLC.

Design Week/ Miami... Photography

Design may be my vocation, but photography is my avocation, so my first report is about the photography at last week's Design Week in Miami. Photography was down from 2 fabulous tents with great diffused light 2 years ago to 1 location in an abandoned Circuit City store. I believe this is actually good news in that photography was totally integrated into the other art venues rather than set apart. I highly recommend this week in Miami – you get to see so much in such a compressed area (maybe a little over-saturation but pretty great none the less.)

The main focus at “Photo Miami” was LARGE prints of elaborate constructed sets “inspired by” artists from the past. Artifice was the mood of the day in this venue, IMHO the galleries in this show was trying too hard to prove that “photography is art.” In the rest of the shows, acceptance was complete and unequivocal with more room for straightforward photography. The artists and gallery owners that presented artifice were somewhat unknown and seem to be banking on the need for the familiar and the classic to move their wares - a tried and true concept in retail.

There is no question that art sets trends for commerce, and as art is well ahead of the curve it in interesting to look here for what will happen when interior finishes and building materials start to recover. All the art dealers that I spoke with agreed that this year was much better than last, so that is good news. The art at these shows is curated, so there is quite a bit of editing from artist to gallery, which is an important process. In Miami, both story and artist personality were an important part of the selling process.

Story reigned in Vera Lutter Hibiscus Series which is presently in the Brooklyn Museum and was featured in both prints and a slide-show. She named each individual photographic image for a fallen Iraqi civilian.

Nature's fury told a story in Clifford Ross's Hurricane Series.

One of my favorite shows was actually in a cafe in the design district by Umberto Armiraglio. I particularly like the casual hanging of the work – color prints hung with screws and a small piece of wood. His website is a delightful, and shows that outstanding product does not really need elaborate presentation. This wins hands down for the work that I would hang in my house.

An interesting body of work based on Horizons from across the globe by Sze-Tsung Leong, an architect was shown by the always excellent Yossi Milo gallery.

Will Design Within Reach survive the downturn?

An interesting saga of "pure" design in Fast Company: "The Rise and Fall of Design Within Reach" is worth reading in this age of authenticity. Will the company survive their attempt at knocking off their lifeblood designs or not is the question. A tough call in this downturn, as they return to their roots, after the investors fired the CEO who brought in shameless knockoffs.