apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

awesome! let's pretend we're homeless!

pic #1 = ugly and tasteless.

I don't get the bookself one?

The world needs more designers like Vanessa Su and Egbert Jan Lam interested not in designing beautiful, useful objects... but creating useless visual gags, sure to reap mentions in design mags and blogs.

I wonder-- are many of these designs ever produced? Or, is the prototype an end in and of itself, available to be photographed and added to the designer's portfolio?

If you're going to have a picture of a bookcase, at least make the fake contents look neat and stylish. Hey, you could have the fake books sorted by color!

i think the fold out table and chairs is very clever and great for a small apartment kitchen/di9ning area.

I've hardly ever seen Trompe-l'œil done successfully... and then when it is, usually it makes me sick, since my eyes mess with my brain and I get seasick. :(

Even better than pretending we're homeless - lets pretend we're superior enough to fire off a snarky comment before we have all the facts.

If either Ana or Millerica had actually followed the link they would have discovered that the Sidewalk Sheet and Cardboard Box Duvet cover are not, in fact, tasteless gags - but are a fundraiser that donates money to providing shelter for homeless people.

From the website: "30% of the gross profits go to Centrepoint, the UK charity for homeless young people aged 16-25 (charity number 292411). Every night Centrepoint provides support and housing for 800 vulnerable homeless young people."

In Ana & Millerica's defense:

A. clicking on the Dutch by Design link says nothing of the fundraising thing-- how were they expected to "have all the facts"?

B. businesses donate partial-profits to charitable causes all the time, but it doesn't mean they're obligated to design something that could reasonably seem as if they're glamorizing poverty, or whatever their cause is. Wouldn't it be tasteless for a company to sell sheets & duvets with syringes and drug paraphanalia if proceeds benefit drug addicts? Pantyhose with a bruise print to benefit battered women?

C. When all is said and done, why shouldn't one judge a design on its merits alone, regardless of how the profits are used? All business profits are used in all sorts of beneficial ways-- the employment of staff, support of family, sometimes even making anonymous donations to worthwhile charities. Why should this comapany be given special consideration because they advertise their good deeds?

If you're going to solicit a cash donation for a cause, you're appealing to would-be donors sense of altruism. If you're selling duvet covers to raise funds, seems to me that the intelligent, efficient way to go about it is to appeal to people's sense of beauty. Otherwise, why not just ask for cash donations?

I knew that there were donations going from the sale of these. I still think they're ugly and tasteless.