when is a chair not a chair? The answer is probably,
point of view a product communicates with its environment
‘When it’s a piece of “design art”, the somewhat nebulous
and imbues its owner with an identity’. So perhaps design
term that seems to have been tossed around more than a
art is simply a means by which society’s wealthy elite can
Scotsman’s caber over the last couple of years. So what
advertise the fact that they are part of a cultural elite.
exactly is this design art? Is it art you can sit on? Or is it
That’s probably so, because everyone knows that
design upon which you cannot? Or could it be – somewhat
where there’s art, there’s money. But British designer Ross
incredibly, it has to be said – both? Or is it something more
Lovegrove, whose specially designed and manufactured
simple: merely design that aspires to achieve the inflated
Endurance collection of sculpture and furniture was
prices that are normally commanded by major artworks?
exhibited by Phillips in New York in March this year, sees
You could say that debates about this kind of
what others might call design art as a crucial space in which
categorisation are all rather silly – who cares what
designers can experiment with new form, new materials
something’s called? An architect like Frank Gehry
and new technology, without the pressures exerted by
frequently talks about his work in terms of sculpture, but
manufacturers. ‘Such speculation is vital to all ages’, he
no one thinks that what he produces is actually anything
writes in a forthcoming publication, ‘because what man
other than buildings (unless, of course, it’s one of his chairs
thinks, ultimately becomes reality; in most cases it’s often
or lampshades). There’s no such thing as ‘artchitecture’. It’s
simply a matter of time. It is to be part of a seamless transfer
what something is that matters, rather than what it’s called.
of consciousness that creates a fertile river of innovation
Right? MoMA’s design collection, for example, includes
funding a broader vision of civilisation.
everything from rubberbands to one-off prototypes, but no
‘It exists in all creative fields – from literature to
one really worries about whether or not any of it should be
architecture to sculpture to philosophy – separating out
reclassified as design art.
those who wish to conform to established concepts, theories
But the fact is that stuff tagged as design art is
or hypotheses, basing their ideas on what is known from
everywhere right now – whether orbiting around this year’s
those individuals who are floating on another plane of non-
Frieze Art Fair in the form of the Covent Garden Super
conformity, seeing the world differently and believing in it.’
Design exhibition and the eponymously titled Design Art
In an age in which new materials and (largely digital)
Fair, or in the expanding design fairs that accompany Art
technologies are pushing the potential of design and its
Basel and Art Basel Miami
manufacture further and
Beach, or in the form of
faster than ever before (there
Marc Newson’s exhibition
Surely vocaliSing a
are people who use Stealth
at the New York branch of
fighter plane technology
Gagosian Gallery (on whose boundary iS Simply a
to produce coffee sets),
website the Australian-born
perhaps design art provides
designer – who among other
Slightly underhand way
a valuable testing ground in
things is Creative Director of
which to experiment with
Qantas Airways, and whose
aluminium Lockheed Lounge,
of admitting that the
new forms and techniques
without worrying too much
1986, chaise lounge sold
about whether or not you’re
for $1.5 million, an auction
boundary exiStS providing the masses with
record for a living designer,
a better, more comfortable
at Christie’s Post-War and
seating arrangement. And
Contemporary Art sale in London this October – is listed
if there are people who want to support this kind of
among ‘artists exhibited’) – making it rather hard to ignore.
experimentation by buying, say, a strange shape designed
Which, of course, brings us to the auctions. Launching
by Zaha Hadid, then that’s surely a good thing.
the first Design Art sale at Phillips de Pury & Company
But perhaps we should leave the (almost) final words
New York in 2001, Alexander Payne, the auction house’s
to British designer Jasper Morrison, a man renowned for
Worldwide Director of Design, described the category as
his dedication to simplicty and elegance: ‘There are many
‘design that aggressively leans towards form and vocalises
possible futures of design’, he writes ‘but let’s imagine an
the boundaries within their respective movements’. Surely
ideal one first. Design (the real thing) gradually saturates all
vocalising a boundary is simply a slightly underhand way
areas of industry, bringing exceptional aesthetic and material
of admitting that that boundary exists. And given that
quality to products which can be marketed at affordable
‘function’ is the notable omission from this definition, we
levels, enriching our daily lives beyond imagination. And
seem to have been brought right back to chairs you can’t
now a less desirable future: marketing people take over the
sit on.
industry and saturate it with their idea of design (not the real
At London’s Design Art Fair this October, where one
one), flooding the world with useless articles that nobody
of the exhibitors, New York gallery Sebastian + Barquet,
needs, which can only be bought as gifts for others. As
have recently had a prototype of the Lockheed Lounge on
usual, the future lies somewhere between these extremes.’
sale for $2.5m, the emphasis was, according to their press
So design art merely represents one extreme – the
statements, on objects that were ‘rare and aesthetically
polar opposite of the products you find in a pound shop. Or
beautiful’. The suggestion, then, is that design art is about
perhaps, as Ron Arad, whose work was exhibited at Jablonka
rarity and scarcity and the elite end of the market (as
Galerie in this year’s Frieze Art Fair, pointed out, we simply
opposed, presumably, to the regular kind of product design
live in an age in which the art–design distinction is pretty
that is aimed at the masses). It’s a type of design that’s not
irrelevant, save for the purposes of sales and marketing, and
designed to work better, but to cater to a rarefied audience.
we should all free our minds and simply accept that people
The Dutch designer Hella Jongerius once said that ‘from my
just do what ever it is they do.
Collecting_Design.indd 3 7/11/07 13:00:54
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