Arriviste?

I remember briefly alluding to the house replete with Da Vinci furniture in a previous post. While it's easy to label a look that is so obviously passe, i'm pretty sure the arriviste tag can be equally applied to houses/apartments where the owner boasts of the furniture procured from Space, the top of the line (modern) kitchen equipment, the Starck paraphernalia, the black Baccarat chandelier and the bathtub in the master bathroom 'that was designed by some architect who designed (insert name of iconic building).

And while we wonder in awe(and envy) at the clever,slick packaging and the enviable lifestyle choices, the ethos behind these genre of 'designer-everything' residences and the Da Vinci fanatic is too similar.

Guz Wilkinson(the architect whom I credit as the progenitor of the rooftop swimming pool), when interviewed by the Business Times in the wake of his nomination as one of the best architects in the country by design guide Wallpaper, showed his residence to be almost completely devoid of any iconic design pieces. There were no clever juxtapositions of an iconic mid-century modern piece with asian stuff, no Roy Lichtenstein prints, chandelier or water feature. In the interview he (unpretentiously) remarked how it was more satisfying to be surrounded by nature- or something to that effect.

Too often, I feel, the creation of design icons lead to the parody of design itself(think the Crate by Jasper Morrison) or that ridiculous starck-in-your-face plastered on a flyswat. And while I cannot be more fond of pieces that are ideological in its underpinnings like Maarten Baas' smoke chair, I cannot be more skeptical of pieces that are controversial simply because the designer is famous.

Whether it's the intellectual paucity of some designer accoutrements or the arriviste mentality of the starck-everything residence, the all too-human hubris, whether manifesting itself in the established designer or your rich neighbour, seems to be a constant factor that manifests itself whatever the prevailing mood is. It's disturbing to note that, despite the 'gold taps and expensive antiques' having been thrown out, the spirit of flaunting one's wealth has been replaced by something equally aspirational. I hate to think that the appreciation of design and good architecture- which i first imagined to be largely ideological has devolved into the same crass name-dropping(noticed my clever pairing of my Eames Chair and that salvaged dining table? or worse- how my never-used salif juicer complements my obscenely expensive kitchen)...