Tuscan and Trends
Fitzpatrick-A friend of mine recently moved into a new house and is busy removing all vestiges of the previous owners' penchant for Tuscan. I don’t know about where you all live, but this trend shows no signs of dying out here in the provinces. In major metropolitan areas, it’s been on the wane since the late '90s with advent of the mid-century modern revival.
Here’s the problem with all these looks. They’re trends. While I believe the modern aesthetic more accurately reflects the way most people live today, the retro-imitation furnishings and pink plastic is nearly as derivative as the faux-iron light sconces my friend pulled off her walls recently. E-bay will be full of listings of Eame’s knock-offs in ten years, when the next big thing comes along. How do I know? Here’s the clue; MID-CENTURY modern. Check the newspaper; it’s 2005.
It seems to be part of the human condition to avoid the life and materials that we’ve been given in the here and now. If we have straight hair, we perm, if it’s curly, we straighten. We want fantasy. People in California’s Central Valley want to believe they live in Italy, but without losing their beloved 24-hour shopping privileges or having to walk anywhere. While the landscape and climate are similar, the lifestyle here, thoroughly suburban-American and built around the automobile, is not. Pretending you live in Italy when you live in California is a bit like Mr. Jackson believing he’s in Neverland. Check your reality folks.
My friend with the new house, a devoted contemporary, asked, “So what is it about Tuscan?”
The impulse to Tuscan is great, like the impulse to Craftsman. People seek warm, hand-made spaces that have a sense of stability and history. Try asking yourself, what creates that kind of feeling, but belongs to the present moment? I’m reminded how many people love Impressionist art; Monet, Van Gogh, Degas. Yet those painters in their time were thrown out of the mainstream academies. They were so radical, they had to form their own movement. What is their equivalent today and why are we so afraid of it?
The Old World look comes out of centuries of traditional vernacular building and generations of craftsmen who spent their lives learning and perfecting one trade. That can’t be duplicated by production homebuilders using drywall, foam, stucco and non-union labor that crossed the border, unskilled, six months ago. You can’t create an Italian villa from those materials, or an English cottage or a French chateau. On an interesting note, no one does much Spanish around here; the one historical style that would actually be appropriate for California. Just goes to show the racism, ambivalence and discomfort California still exhibits in it’s relationship with Mexico.
Even if you are one of the many new millionaires born in the W. Bush era and can afford the best of materials and trades, why go backwards? What you make is a movie set that looks about as authentic as Dolly Parton. We all know Dolly’s a great lady, but do you want to live there? Fine. But if you do, I say you are one more reason why we believe we can go on consuming, polluting and desecrating as we are; because we’re not really living here.
As a designer, I honor the human instinct towards what is best in these styles, but I also honor the need for truth about what we are and how we live. Right here, where ever you are, and right now.
Here’s the problem with all these looks. They’re trends. While I believe the modern aesthetic more accurately reflects the way most people live today, the retro-imitation furnishings and pink plastic is nearly as derivative as the faux-iron light sconces my friend pulled off her walls recently. E-bay will be full of listings of Eame’s knock-offs in ten years, when the next big thing comes along. How do I know? Here’s the clue; MID-CENTURY modern. Check the newspaper; it’s 2005.
It seems to be part of the human condition to avoid the life and materials that we’ve been given in the here and now. If we have straight hair, we perm, if it’s curly, we straighten. We want fantasy. People in California’s Central Valley want to believe they live in Italy, but without losing their beloved 24-hour shopping privileges or having to walk anywhere. While the landscape and climate are similar, the lifestyle here, thoroughly suburban-American and built around the automobile, is not. Pretending you live in Italy when you live in California is a bit like Mr. Jackson believing he’s in Neverland. Check your reality folks.
My friend with the new house, a devoted contemporary, asked, “So what is it about Tuscan?”
The impulse to Tuscan is great, like the impulse to Craftsman. People seek warm, hand-made spaces that have a sense of stability and history. Try asking yourself, what creates that kind of feeling, but belongs to the present moment? I’m reminded how many people love Impressionist art; Monet, Van Gogh, Degas. Yet those painters in their time were thrown out of the mainstream academies. They were so radical, they had to form their own movement. What is their equivalent today and why are we so afraid of it?
The Old World look comes out of centuries of traditional vernacular building and generations of craftsmen who spent their lives learning and perfecting one trade. That can’t be duplicated by production homebuilders using drywall, foam, stucco and non-union labor that crossed the border, unskilled, six months ago. You can’t create an Italian villa from those materials, or an English cottage or a French chateau. On an interesting note, no one does much Spanish around here; the one historical style that would actually be appropriate for California. Just goes to show the racism, ambivalence and discomfort California still exhibits in it’s relationship with Mexico.
Even if you are one of the many new millionaires born in the W. Bush era and can afford the best of materials and trades, why go backwards? What you make is a movie set that looks about as authentic as Dolly Parton. We all know Dolly’s a great lady, but do you want to live there? Fine. But if you do, I say you are one more reason why we believe we can go on consuming, polluting and desecrating as we are; because we’re not really living here.
As a designer, I honor the human instinct towards what is best in these styles, but I also honor the need for truth about what we are and how we live. Right here, where ever you are, and right now.
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