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Gifts, presents, and design, the role of next, ikea, habitat, and conran.
An edited interview with Oliver Defoe from The Designer Jan 2005
TD: Is design art?
OD: Yes and art is also design. You cannot engage the viewer, customer, patron, whatever, without placing the hook and barbs of interest in the piece in a manner that engages attention. The placing of those hooks and bards is design… often unconscious. The high street… like… conran, ikea, habitat, they are galleries for every day living. They are the next thought after the idea of giving… a gift, a present. TD: What do gifts and presents have to do with art and design?
OD: Gifts and presents are design in action. There is bad design and good design but it’s all the same thing, it’s still design. Take the figures in this area, conran, ikea, habitat, john lewis, marks and spencers they are all practitioners in that they are editors, shall we say of, design. What is the next new thing that will attract attention? Where to look? Which vase? What bowl? This chair! That chair! The next, and the next, and the next. It’s a continuum.
TD: Are you saying ikea is an artist?
OD: No that is a different matter. I am saying that ikea, and conran, and habiat are editors and purveyors of the arts. Gifts and presents... furniture, accessories, vases, bowls, pots and pans, all of these objects decorative, whatever, are artefacts that are often given as presents and gifts to another. They will most likely have been bought from next, conran, ikea, habitat, john lewis, marks and spencers who are the biggest retailers in this area.
TD: Are decorative objects necessary?
OD: No more than any other pleasure. Gifts and presents give pleasure. Decorate china objects are designed to give pleasure over and above any practical purpose. People look to find decorative objects, china, ceramic, etc to make a point of giving pleasure to the recipient. They shop at ikea, habitat, conran etc etc. and next. They sell design content.
TD: Who do you think are key players in the “content” game?
OD: Without doubt ikea, habitat, conran, next etc. etc.
TD: What type of decorative gifts and presents would you say that are the most popular items?
OD: China to use a generic term. Vase, bowls, etc. China is such a flexible material. It can be practical and indulgent at the same time. It is infinite in its variety. It is no accident that stores like ikea and habitat, and the rest, carry big ranges. What can be more decorative, practical, and give pleasure in a simple and immediate way? Apart from ikea and habitat stores like next and marks & spencers also carry ‘homeware’ now. They started mainly focused on clothing now they sell pots and pans and vases and bowls, and tableware, as well as furniture. This is a form of content. All of these items give pleasure and are constantly changing in order to entertain. Gifts and presents are a form of entertainment and comment. And, entertainment is content.
Limited Company Limited is devoted to the design and marketing of homeware; innovative contemporary decorative objects, that entertain and give pleasure
CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS
DECORATIVE OBJECTS
ENTERTAINING CERAMICS AND CHINA
Clarion Top Draw Jan 2008 LONDON
Emap Spring Fair Springfair Feb 2008 NEC BIRMINGHAM
Springfair and Top Draw start the UK gift fairs in 2008. They are the main B2B gift events at the start of the year. Springfair and Top Draw are the longest standing gift fairs.
Whilst Springfair and Top Draw gift fairs are well subscribed to, the Internet is having an impact on the pattern of fairs and not just gift fairs.
It remains to be seen if Springfair and Top Draw remain retain their profile in the future. |
