With the London design festival and fashion week both descending simultaneously on the capital this week, you'd imagine there could be a certain amount of hysteria setting in. However if any city is going to handle two such forces, you've got to hand it to London. Spread out, literally over the four corners of the city are shows, installations, parties and events. And while some are bound to be a hotter ticket than others, you get the sense that even the smaller, more obscure and off beat ones still pull their own crowds. Even during this media-heavy, and, let's face it, most haughty of weeks, London never ceases in its ability to be all things to all people.
All of which goes some way to explaining why rather than follow my nose for champagne and canapes (which by the way I heard hit a high at the party for Conversational Spanish in the Noel Hennessy Shop) I opted for the far drier option of heading to a talk at the Apple store. The topic being discussed was entitled ‘Do we need another Chair?’ and while I was fascinated by this issue, I also loved the irony of discussing the idea of over-consumption not just during London fashion and design week but also at the Apple Store – the very temple for craving more and more beautiful things.
The panel consisted of Chris Sanderson from The Future Laboratory, David Begg of Artek and Suzanne Imre editor of Living Etc., all three of whom were eloquent, diplomatic and very knowledgable speakers. Each started by admitting that we clearly have a problem in that the amount people are consuming is far outstripping the resources of our environment but that the topic is one huge Pandora’s box. ‘We all consume and while the current amount may have issues, if the alternative is to stagnate then the outcome is far, far worse,’ said Suzanne. David spoke of the problem of products loosing their soul, with people no longer caring where things come from which led on to all sorts of issues about fixing things, recycling, are things too cheap and what are the moral issues of mass manufacturing for the Third World.
Needless to say, no revolutionary solutions were found nor miraculous conclusions drawn, but, like so many of Pandora’s tempting and confusing boxes, this is one that I, in some sadistic way, enjoyed opening – it certainly adds another layer as I run around looking at all that new stuff.
Alex Bagner, September 19th, 2007
