You guys are good! Yesterday's Guess the Decade was an example of design detective work at its finest, with over 250 votes and 35 comments.
We were hoping it would be a challenge - the look is a timeless one and there are lots of "clues" that could be interpreted in different ways...but enough chatting...
Click below for the answer:
Decade: Published in the early 70's. (so really, consider yourself right if you voted late 60's as well - the photo could be from then, too)
Location: Scandinavia
Thanks to: oliver.tomas on flickr.
We found the photo in a set put together by oliver.tomas from early editions of the Design From Scandinavia magazine. The photo in question is from Issue 4.
So, the AT readers hit this one on the nose...the 70's won, followed closely by the 60's. A surprise: "Now" got a lot of votes, too and came in third. The 50's and 80's were pretty much tied for fourth place, followed up with a handful of votes for the 90's.
Interesting comments from the original post:
Lisa Hunter - Phones, turntable and art are good indicators, but I'm looking at the flooring too. 50s would be some kind of linoleum; 80s would be the ubiquitious sisal. This looks like wool wall-to-wall, so I'm going to stick with my 70s guess. If it were from today, we'd probably see a trendy flotaki rug or at least one identifiable item from Ikea or DWR.
moddog- Not as mod as the 60s should be, And not as ugly as the 80s would be, So I guess the 70s
Bruised- The quality of the photography/printing has a very late 60's/early 70's feel to it. It looks like a photo ripped right out of one of my mom's old Better Homes and Gardens decorating books. That, and the monochromatic color schemes were VERY big among the decorating books of that era. There are also a number of clues that could plausibly tip this off as a contemporary recreation of that era. It could be argued that some details are just too pointed and on the nose, while others just feel a little off. I'm dying to know the actual answer.
Space MonkeyX - I don't care what year it is, I want it to be mine now.
Great job and thanks to all for playing along!
OK, now give us another!
view cat's profile
Yeah, that was fun.
view casandra's profile
I voted late 60s. Those cabinet doors were cutting-edge then. And, boy, that color scheme, and wall and floor coverings everywhere.
But I was thrown by the previous comments noting the cordless red phone. Is that what it is? (By the way, for future posts like this, it would be nice if the answer didn't hang too much on the use of technology... but rather, on the design elements themselves....)
view Sea's profile
I'd also be happier if the picture were bigger.
view Joan A.'s profile
I don't think that the phone is cordless, if you look closely you can see a smidge of cord to the left of the phone going out of frame. I can see why it appears cordless, though....
view eat more lemons's profile
Very nice. Just goes to show, good design stands the test of time.
view redshirt's profile
Yes, I'd like to see this be a regular feature too...and it didn't "rely" on technology for an answer: we were just hunting down ever clue.
That was fun.
view Alana in Canada's profile
Great feature, Janel--do it again!
view Shannon's profile
Glad y'all had fun...here is a link to an earlier Guess the Decade post that I did that you may have missed to tide you over until i scout out some more good photos:
Guess the Decade: The Entryway
and the answer: Guess the Decade: The Entryway - Answer
view janel's profile
crap... i forget what my vote was.
Is there a way to look back at what I voted on??
view Ashton Anders's profile