What a purchase represents

Mark Newson. Fibre felt chair


We got the ikea catalogue in the mail this week. When browsing through it I began to think of what an ikea purchase represents. Ikea design is about affordable products. The value is economic. But I think an ikea store also makes intelligent design accessable. This comment has opened up a can of worms in the past. There tends to be alot of disdain for ikea, But I'm convinced that you can happily furnish your house with these goods.

So why is there a divide between high end design from milan and ikea product? Its a pretty ridiculous question and one that I already know the answer to. When you buy a Mark Newson chair you are buying a package of what that chair represents. It represents high end technology, and fashion trends. It represents your own socio-economic status and your obviously superior taste. This connects back to my investigation last semester about the system that rules high design. You are creating within a set system of values where creativity and status of the designer = $$$ = value to the target audience.