Oh, no! How inauthentic! I have that Palisades poster, too.

What an idiotic article. It confused the stuff/minimalism axis with the unique/mass-produced axis, thus falling for the mass producers' efforts to market their mass-produced stuff as unique.

Which wasn't Maxwell's fault. His comment is fine.

Hmmm, authentic and unique items will always have a place in my heart and home. I believe the 'overkill' effect has been driven by retailers trying to copy/imitate/benefit from and mass produce to consumers. Pottery Barn really set us down that path - remember the Friends ep where Rachel thinks Phoebe's great finds are one of a kind. It all comes down to selecting items that actually mean something to you. And using moderation - don't oversaturate or the effect becomes a blur.

I think if you still like things handmade by people you know -- including you -- you'll not be shopping in the mass-market places anyway. I do like that people with etsy shops have helped regenerate cottage industry. I am inspired everyday -- not to buy things but to make them myself. The recession has pushed me forward creatively, and I love that.

I agree with Polly S. The article was kind of off-base. There is a big difference between having something handmade that means something to you because someone you know made it, or you bought it on a trip, or it just spoke to you and going to Marshall's and buying something that was made in China to look like one of the things listed above. The point is that if you decorate with things that you love, which mean something to you, you probably won't tire of them as easily as things you put up because you think you should or you saw it in a magazine.For instance, in my house we proudly display both paintings from my husband's art school days, crafts (a crewel work pin cushion and batiked mermaid picture) that I made in high school art class, and paintings and pillows that close friends created and gave to us as gifts. A crazy-colored striped afghan crocheted by my husband's grandmother is at the end of our bed. We love all these things. They are beautiful and remind us of people and places in our lives. (Full confession, not everything made by a loved one deserves display: an absolutely hideous needlepointed clock done by my grandmother lives in the garage.) But some things do stand the test of time and warm up an environment, which may be miles and years away from the people and places in our past.

This kind of reminds me of the "I'm alternative, just like everyone else" school of thought in the 1990s. Honestly, I think fashion and decorating are really about showcasing what you love, whether it's a handmade piece found in an antique store or a vase from Target. Our world is smaller than it has ever been, so it makes sense that we're seeing trends and patterns in decorating. Just do what you love, and you'll be fine.

One of my biggest problems with the article was that I don't understand what Sklar's alternative to authentic pieces would be. I don't think minimalism is the opposite of authentic. Mass-produced big-box store items are the antithesis of authentic, in my mind. However, I don't think Sklar is arguing for the Wal-Marts and Ikeas of the world, he's only arguing against the artists. You can have few, streamlined items which are completely unique. The lack of an alternative to "authenticity" made the whole piece seem very poorly thought out.

Phoebe's apothecary table! (@mandala123). I think about the apothecary table a lot, including during some house tours on AT.

And I agree with everybody else's comments about how the article doesn't know what is the opposite of what and what is in reaction to what.

The last person quoted in the article implies that the opposite (which I guess would likely be the next new trend if 'authentic' is over...( is:

- clean, modern lines
- not trying to express your personality and your total individuality with every single thing in your house
- a very unornamental aesthetic

Not decorating for decorating's sake or trying to fill empty spaces.

Being "authentic" is not a trend, it's being true to who you are. Obviously some people have a hard time figuring that out.

I agree the article seems a little confused. Surely filling your house with 'stuff', whether handmade or mass-produced, is the problem? !
I've never been an ornament person, for instance. And, although my tastes are moving from modern to something more quirky, I can't imagine I'll be filling my house with clutter.

And many 'clean-line', modern homes are full of technological clutter - just because it has a lithium battery doesn't mean it's useful or necessary!

I don't think that 'authenticity' in itself is a trend, but I do think that quite a few of the hallmarks of the style have become a bit tired and cliched.

Antlers (both cardboard and vintage) - check.
Birds and owls on everything - check.
Union jack pillows and furniture - check.

Unless you really do have a particular affinity for woodland creatures, or a special fondness for Britain, these things end up lacking 'authenticity' because the meaning is lost, not because of how/where they're made.

Everything is a trend--everything. Midcentury modern is a trend, "going green" is a trend (not the act--I hope--but the worn words, much like thinking "out of the box"), hipsters--as authentic as they try to be--are a trend, just like grunge in the last wave. We collectively ooh and ahh over the same design photos, which, if they were published in 1980, would have us collectively horrified.
If we love the handmade, the green, the ecologically friendly, why do we love those Lucite ghost chairs at the same time? Because they are trendy.

Now see, I disagree, I think the article has some merit. Its true that trends tend to come full circle - when we reach maximum overload, many times the trend goes 360 degrees in the opposite direction. So if what the article is saying (IMO) is that we'll all reach burnout with "authenticity" at some point, which in this case the author is using that word to describe the antique/unique/crafty/over-decorated aesthetic, then we'll all want simple, uncluttered, slick & shiny new stuff again with minimum decorations. It makes sense to me. Its just like when skirts get as short as they can get, the next season its all about the long, floor sweeping skirt. Same with heels.

I thought it was refreshingly honest.

"As Dmitri Siegel put it: 'When you pile Etsy on top of Etsy, it gets really cacophonous: ‘Everything in here is totally unique!’ It starts canceling itself out.'"

And the quote about the bird pillows? YES.

Sure, it's great to know what you LOVE, and then to have enough faith in your personal aesthetic to believe that you'll still love it in 30 years, but what are the odds that in 10 years we'll look back on all the vintage suitcases and brass candlesticks and graphic posters and crewel pillows and cringe?

Maybe I'm just cynical, but I feel like it's a bit silly to take our trends so seriously.

I thought the article was completely erroneous on many levels. Who is to tell the general population what in authentic or what is deemed inauthentic at any given moment? You are attracted to large glass vintage jars, then why not buy them and enjoy them. You prefer hand made to manufactured...the horror! I think what they are confusing two separate issues. Once a product becomes mainstream and gets manufactured in billions of multiples in China, then it does loose it authenticity. But man to drag the poor artistic folks on Etsy through the mud is just not right. How could they not be authentic creating what they love? What it comes down to is that it was a poorly executed article with out much depth or soul. If they dived into the whys of over-consumption and the greed of many retailers, they would come up with a truly authentic article. For example, why should we look to West Elm or CB2 to dictate our tastes? West Elm tells me I need a glass bottle in my bedroom and therefore I should get one...I don't think so. But if I grew up with a mother who collected vintage glass bottles or had an aunt who filled hers with vintage buttons, then why shouldn't I be proud of sharing that in my home. Commercialism is what is no longer authentic and they guy who sold his soul to West Elm should get back in his shop and create for his hometown again.

This is just about the peak of yet another trend really, isn't it?

That the NYT is opining on something is a sure sign that a trend has gone beyond that point of being alternative and is now simply mainstream. Which means the people who created the trend have already moved onto something else that the mainstream press won't be onto for at least 2 years.

I agree with the voices above that see the references to 'authenticity' as a catch all reference to this curio shop aesthetic that has been the trend for the last few years, not to actual authenticity, which is not a trend and so cannot go in and out of fashion per se.

Authentic is whatever you truly like and works for you. It makes no difference where is came from or how much it costs. Ikea, Costco, Marshalls, garage sales, homemade, the 99 cent store, the dumpter - it's all good if it speaks to you. The spaces I enjoy most are not usually because of an individual item, but the sum of all the parts. There's infinite combinations for even the most mass produced items. Throw your favorite color combinations into the mix and it's unique and authentic whether anyone else likes it or not.