Unpacking IKEA by Pauline Garvey

Author:Pauline Garvey [Garvey, Pauline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9781317642961
Google: WN5CDwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 26535945
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

Everyday design

Unlike my impressions of design in Dublin, Swedish design is not relegated to impenetrable cultural capital and specialised knowledge but is attributed to common material culture and practice. This was brought home to me one summer’s day when I was dropping off my twin toddlers to their day care in Stockholm. A middle-aged staff member welcomed them and approached me: ‘Where did you get those sun hats?’ she asked me, nodding in their direction. ‘They are not Swedish kids’ hats’. She was correct. As it happened, I had purchased them while overseas but noted that she was the second person in a matter of weeks who had remarked on them. A neighbour who I used to meet at the local sandpit and whose children were about the same age as mine had admired the sun hats and again observed that they didn’t look like they had been purchased locally. Now, on this second occasion in an environment with so many children and varieties of outdoor wear, I was curious. When I inquired what didn’t look Swedish about them, she responded, ‘Oh … umm … the colour … the pattern and the form – or design’, she qualified. Of course, the popularity of certain types of toddler hats has more to do with the availability of inexpensive, mid-range children’s ware in large department stores than with anything essentially Scandinavian. When I arrived in Stockholm, other mothers had given me a choice of three such stores for kitting out my toddler twins: one for expensive brands, two for middle range in the centre of the city (Åhléns) and H&M for cheaper but equally good ware, and finally, the thriving second-hand market for items that can be thrashed with a clear conscience. Nevertheless the twinning of children’s clothing with ideas of design was less surprising to me as fieldwork continued.

Designed environments in one form or another are pretty ubiquitous as one moves through Stockholm. One encounters the word design as part of the nomenclature of high-end furniture retailers, clothing brands and canny knick-knacks for the home (Design House Stockholm).13 Equally, design features are far more pervasive, more ostentatiously present in everyday situations in Stockholm. In addition to the high-end design goods, Bruno Mathsson chairs or upmarket furniture stores such as Nordiska Galleriet and Svensk Tenn, there is also the utterly ordinary, everyday material culture through which daily life is facilitated. Attention to detail comes in discrete packages: ramps can be found on staircases in public areas to facilitate prams and buggies. A takeaway coffee might have a drinking spout that can be opened and closed to avoid spillages while walking. Fluorescent light switches are ubiquitous in public hallways, allowing them to be easily found on dark evenings. Student accommodation near the university possessed triple-glazed glass windows with internal blinds that can be turned to either white or black on the inside to allow more or less light in. There are gadgets in kindergartens to assist young children in removing shoes and boots or to prevent them injuring fingers in doors.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.