It’s been a while coming but here is the wrap up from our latest edition of Design Futures held at Decoration+Design.  The theme this season was The Collector, The Creator & The Connoisseur and looked at our voyeuristic nature and the individual’s relationship to design…

The opportunity to see behind closed doors is incredibly seductive.

Countless blogs, magazines, television shows and books are now offering us glimpses into the real, lived-in spaces of interesting people.  What we find once we are inside is often a striking reminder of how close our similarities and vast our differences can be.

The way we create a sense of place and the way we relate to the objects around us reveals more than a list of material possessions.  As one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, the way that we assign value to an object says as much about us as it does about the piece itself.

The Collector, The Creator and The Connoisseur presents three distinctive ways of relating to design and demonstrates how individual aesthetics are becoming design profiles and influencing trends for 2012/13.

 

The Collector

“The Collector’s home is an ever-growing shrine to their personal obsessions.  As guardians of the by gone and champions of the bizarre, The Collector protects the rights of the countless objects that pass through our lives be they treasured or unnoticed.

Whether it’s Faberge eggs or old toothbrushes, the value of objects to The Collector is emotional and obsessive.  Monetary value is inconsequential in the quest to acquire the desired piece.

Though the main thrill is in possession, the art of ordering, arranging, compartmentalizing and storing pieces can also be a ritualistic pleasure.  As this process spreads to the virtual realm via blogs and social media, private shrines become a public celebration of the curious and the wonderful.

Regardless of subject, value, or method of display, The Collector represents our passion for the unique and desire to cultivate the differences that distinguish us.”

 

The Creator

“The patina of the creative process is revealed as ideas, furnishings and textures are built up and stripped back.

The Creator has a clear desire for everything to be useful and ready at hand resulting in an honest and low-fi design appeal. Valued objects are well made, function with integrity and grow more precious and beautiful with time and use.

Craftsmanship and references to process are highly respected.  Vintage, salvage and up-cycled furnishings find their place amongst the delicately handmade.  Decorative items are a source of inspiration, evoking memories and triggering the creative flow.

The Creator’s space is a well-loved sketchbook of trials and treasures where a clear table beckons like a blank sheet of paper.”

 

The Connoisseur

“The Connoisseur is a critic by nature.  While the functionality or aesthetic beauty of an object may be appreciated, its true value is in its significance to a much broader cultural and design context.

Boundaries between art, architecture and design blur, as all things are considered open to analysis and scrutiny as cultural icons.

Attention to the new does not result in a rigorous following of seasonal trends.  Far from it.  When it comes to values, taste is variable and The Connoisseur has no need to appease other people’s aesthetic interests.

The passion is in the acquisition of the worthy as homage to its creator.  The joy is in the juxtaposition and orientation of objects as a statement or means of expression.”

Thank you to our sponsors, Gerflor and NCS

And to the following Design Futures participants:

Armadillo & Co, Bisque Interiors, Boyd Blue, Chunk Design, Country House Manuka, Craft Enterprises, Crowley & Grouch, Emily Ziz Style Studio, Hermon & Hermon, Inside Africa, Like Butter, Luminous Space, Mark Cody Design, Mosarte, Mud Australia, Orient House, Orson & Blake, Room Agencies, Safari Living, Spence & Lyda, Tigger Hall, Villa Inde