Herman Miller Collection

This article brought up a few points which genuinely surprised me. I thought it was a type when I read that Herman Miller does no market research. Consumers are becoming more and more intelligent and picky about the products we purchase. And the more money spent on a product the more cautious we become. But how does Herman Miller remain a market leader without knowing what consumers want? Well, actually HM does know what consumers want, good design. If HM's mission is to provide authentic, innovative design then that is all they have to do. Good design will sell because today's consumers are so intelligent about the purchases we make. And because HM provides "true" furniture which pushes the boundaries of production, then there will always be a market of intelligent consumers to purchase their furniture.

Loos and Foster

Loos seems to be ranting in this article. He views ornament as something which is unnecessary, and that because nobody will even design any new ornamental patterns that we should stop ornamenting things. I am going to straddle the fence a bit on this article as I agree with his point of view in some aspects and disagree in others. It would be ridiculous to just stop ornamenting, the world would be a cold, bland, hospital hallway if there were no ornament. Decoration brings a sense of vitality to both products and spaces. On the other hand, I find over-decorating something is more of a foul than under-decorating. There should be deep thought put into ornamentation. How does the ornament describe function? Does it compliment the form? Is it necessary? I would rather see an object with a few well thought out ornaments, than an object that was just ornamented for ornaments sake.