Issue 02 — Reinventing the Past
Reinventing the Past
On why design keeps returning to objects it already knows how to make.
Today I’m publishing Issue 02 of A Small Future, Reinventing the Past.
It begins with a simple problem: the furniture industry knows how to reproduce an object, but not the conditions that once made it matter. We can reproduce the dimensions, but we cannot reproduce the moment.
The text considers three false starts: digging up dead chairs, sustainability-maxxing and collectible design. Each recognises something real. None offers a complete route into the future.
It then asks whether design might begin somewhere else—not with another chair, table or sofa, but with a change in how life is lived, and the difficult question of what form, if any, should follow.
Issue 02 takes about 20 minutes. Make yourself a coffee and dive in.
The story so far
A Small Future remains a small project, shared with a select group of readers. Issue 01, When the Zeitgeist Becomes an Object, was very well received. Some of you even read all 6,600 words and wrote back:
“I can’t remember the last time a piece of writing resonated so much with me.”
“Well put, and much needed. The culture of optimization slowly kills culture, one rational decision at a time.”
If you haven’t read Issue 01 yet, start here. It takes about 30 minutes, but it is worth beginning at the beginning: the issues form an argument over time.
Conversation 01
I have also recorded the first A Small Future Conversation with designer, writer and Knoll Creative Director Jonathan Olivares. We discuss why great design has to look risky at first, what happens when a brand becomes an asset inside a larger portfolio, and whether a legacy company can become culturally alive again.
Watch or listen to Conversation 01 →
Thank you for following the journey. Thoughts, praise and pushback are welcome. If you would rather not continue, just hit unsubscribe below—no hard feelings.
Petrus
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