This just in. In a stunning turnaround, brought on no doubt by a midlife crisis and the new Dutch influence over modern design, Rob Forbes, the founder of DWR, released a companywide statement last night saying that "this modern era is over. The future of great design is in reclaiming the 19th century." What is going on? Here's a clip:
Modern design has had a good run and we have done our very best to support it. However, it has become clearer and clearer to us at DWR in the past few years that the public - and Americans specifically - have grown tired of the cold, clean lines and imagination of great modern design. 19th century design is the new modern."
Forbes said that as a result, DWR was continuing its colossal growth and market domination by completing a hostile takover of the Williams-Sonoma/Pottery Barn empire and that DWR would begin to sell "tasteful reproductions of early American design," specifically Shaker tables and Adirondack chairs. What is Philip Starck going to do to pay the rent? (via Reuters) MGR
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is this an april fool's joke? just kidding...
It is an April Fool's joke - not kidding
That'll teach me to not click on the links - my laziness is really doing me in
Remember that if you forget to do an April Fools day joke today the alternate bonus April Fools is the first Monday following 1 April.
April Fools.
Ha! Good effort!
An April Fool's joke??? Damn, I wanted to bubble profusely about their low low prices!
;-)
It was a perfectly believeable april fools joke until the part about a hostile takeover. If it had ended with a rant about how DWR was surrending to the 19th c trend because they saw their customers moving their Victorian furniture into their new glass curtain wall lofts it would have felt more true, because people do move Victorian furniture into undulating glass high-rises.
This was a great April Fool's joke... I was like, wait a minute, that came out of nowhere! For about two seconds.
I am still trying to picture Adirondack chairs on DWR's front page...
good one!
There's a letter to the editor in the new Met Home where someone says they're sick of seeing the same old same old mid-century modern pieces, i.e. much of what DWR sells. Maybe this April Fool's isn't that wacky.
Although I would love to see DWR's version of that incredibly fake looking "antiqued" furniture.
That's funny. Aren't most of DWR's products much more contemporary than mid-century?
Ruth, that's why it was so clever. NYtimes house and home recently did a piece on people flocking back to 19th century furniture because the mid century modern and contemporary stuff had run its course. They also ran a piece a couple of years ago where they said ppl were similarly flocking back to wall to wall carpeting because they were sick of solid wood flooring but that's beside the point.
A much better April fool's than the Steve Jobs has left Apple type of stuff that's floating around.
Oops, that sounded like I was lecturing Ruth. I wasn't. I was agreeing with her.
that was almost a cruel joke. i couldn't believe a modernist would "give in" to pop culture and say something like that, yet the prospect of pottery barn being taken over by someone with good taste was a nice thought. and here i was all ready to rant and rave about modernists needing to express the point that people need to live in today and not yesterday. awwww, thanks for the joke, now i have to wait for my heart to stop racing.
bridgett--
"pottery barn being taken over by someone wuth taste"? That's kinda (understatement) harsh. While their taste may not be for you, it is far better than the average, and just a completely differnt category than DWR (but, imho, neither exhibits "better taste"). I don't know why PB continues to get bashed, or why people have such impossibly high expectations of what are intended to be mass-market retaillers.
ps, mgr--
bravo on the April Fool's prank.
(sorry for the typos)
patrick (the other one) -
while i appreciate your defense of popular mass-market retail (i apologize for being harsh without explaning why)...the reason pottery barn, and stores like it, continue to get bashed is because of their lack of crafstmanship and lack of original design. the concept of craftsmanship is a dying art in american society. trying to find quality designed pieces (not modern or contemporary, but "designed" pieces) is increasingly more difficult. objects are copied from an original design, made on a factory floor, slapped together, and shipped out for the next piece of profit. every time one store turns up with something "new" all the other stores turn up with something similar. do you know upsetting it is that Urban Outfitters has a horribly made knock off of Mies Van der Rohe's Pavilion Chair?!?!?!?! it's ruining good design. the man made a beautiful chair. i was repeatedly told in school, "there's nothing wrong with 'borrowing' design, as long as you make it better". but i've yet to see any of these mass-market retailers make good design better. and while i don't agree with the profitability behind DWR's furniture (the fact that many of Eames furniture pieces were designed to be made for less than $10 and were to be sold to the 'average man' and are now sold for thousands of dollars is incredibly frustrating), i do appreciate that they are trying to bring quality into our homes, they're not trying to sell me a knock-off, and they're not trying to sell me something so that i can be just like everyone else. they are making the attempt to remind people that quality should seep into every aspect of our lives.
i don't think this explained anything, there are just too many different issues to address, and i just don't know to start. and patrick (too) please don't feel it was directed at you, it just felt good to vent.
Ok, that was funny. The Hans Wagner chair thing was just mean, I really did forget to breathe for moment on that one.
I don't consider Urban Outfitters to be a viable outlet for grown-up furniture on par with the likes of PB or C&B. Yes, I applaud DWR for design purity and celebrating the designers. But does that mean DWR is "good taste" and PB is not? I don't think so, necessarily. I also don't usually find PB to be guilty too often of rampant knock-off mentality, so I don't think it's fair to deduct points in that respect. And as for craftsmanship, in furniture and in all other categories, you get what you pay for. Not everyone can afford DWR.
I'd also suggest spending some time with the new Pottery Barn library of books... they have great style, give great design tips, don't just pimp their own wares, and actually celebrate personal style.
Patrick (the other one) - I totally agree with your comments - but here again, I wonder why correspondents to this site have become so disagreeable lately. I keep saying the same thing on other posts - I initially came to this site to learn how to decorate my small apartment - since Max also had a studio, I thought the input from him and others would be beneficial. Not so much lately.
If I wanted to be combative, a designing/decorating site would not be the appropriate outlet.
"Written passion" sometimes crosses the line to just plain disagreeable, I guess.
I get passionate about PB bashers!!
Patrick (the other one) - I wasn't referring to you as "disagreeable" - you were politely responding to those I considered disagreeable.
Hope you see this -
saw it! thanks. I was HOPING that's what you meant!!!! ;)
excellent joke! i believed it and got very cynical about DWR's about face, and even told other people about it! so i am relieved it was an april fool's joke -- even though that makes me an april fool!
let pottery barn be pottery barn and dwr be dwr. there's room for everything.
Good joke. I got all excited thinking that the prices of modern furniture might drop, and I'd be able to afford stuff that I currently only look longingly at...;) Talk about wishful thinking!
UGH I nearly died after reading that! Glad it wasn't for real...
DWR IS GREAT .. HOWEVER IT'S PRICING IS OUT OF REACH FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON .. SO HOW WILL THEY EVER GET EXPOSED ??