Flexibility in design has become more difficult
to achieve, forcing designers to settle more and more—settle for something
close enough, rather than just right. Behind the “why” are a lot of reasons,
but one is that most manufacturers depend on imports that only come one way,
making it harder for designers to stick with an original design scheme; even
forcing a mid-stream change in color schemes to accommodate pieces that are
available, instead of maintaining the original design integrity.
There are vast choices
on the Internet—or are there? Web shopping offers a lot of sources. But those
choices are really just sites picking up on the same “what you see is what you
get” merchandise. Sure, there is more, but it’s more of the same rather than
more choice—or at least flexibility in choice.
More of anything does
not necessarily give you more choice just more. Flexibility of choice is the
key to a good design. And furniture needs the same flexibility as any other
aspect of the design job, the perfect color, the right fabrics, and ideal
lighting. They work together, not separately.
So what does that mean
to you. Well, we all know things in the design business are constantly going in
and out of style. So I’ve developed an interest in creating pieces that should
exist, but don’t for whatever reason. One such piece is an executive chair that
needed to have a mesh seat and back for the comfort of the user, yet needed to
function in a very traditional design scheme. The challenge was to take an
ultra contemporary chair and soften it into a more transitional feel.
This same process can be used all kinds of products, from chairs to floor screens. Products can be fine-tuned to the needs of the design, instead of making the design conform to the product at hand. But this can only be done when you have real choices for pieces, available in various grades and offerings of fabric, trim, and finish.
