UnBeige logo design by Angela Voulangas and Doug Clouse, as part of our regular <i>design our logo</i> feature
UnBeige logo by Angela Voulangas and Doug Clouse, as part of our regular design our logo feature

Friday Mar 07, 2008

Is It Design or Is It Art? Or Does Your Checkbook Even Care?

0307designfurniture.jpg

A couple of weeks back, we were reporting on the hot new trend of skipping all that painted and sculpted junk and instead collecting pieces of design by people like Zaha Hadid. Now Helen Kirwan-Taylor over at The Wall Street Journal has jumped into the game, raising the question in the title of her piece, "Is This Art? Or Just Really Expensive Furniture?" Turns out, the answer is just as muddled as anything that comes when you start wondering what makes something "art." In the end, like currency values and elections, it boils down to "because enough people start believing it." Here's a bit:

Architect David Chipperfield, winner of the Stirling Prize last year, dismissed the label. "Design art is neither fish nor fowl. Everyone is looking to cash in."

Others add that the "art" label isn't necessary to justify high prices for ground-breaking design. "There is no reason why a piece of design that took a great deal of time and money to be made and cannot be manufactured industrially should not command a hefty price," said Ms. Levete, the designer. "What I don't like is when designers try and pass something off as art. Art is different, the sensitivity of an artist is different to that of a designer's, and I don't think something called design is interesting unless it can be used."




new on mediabistro.com

The Future of Social Media with Chris Anderson

The editor of Wired explains how to create a social network that works.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, Is It Design or Is It Art? Or Does Your Checkbook Even Care?, to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on UnBeige >

Where Designers Read Design
UnBeige in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Interested in advertising on UnBeige?
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

PRNewser

TVNewser

MediaJobsDaily

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

AgencySpy

GalleyCat

MobileContentToday

UnBeige

UnBeige Editors
Steve Delahoyde

Stephanie Murg

Email UnBeige

About UnBeige


• Check out UnBeige
in The New York Times

  UnBeige twitter feed loading...

View twitter directly

Follow UnBeige on Twitter
Anonymous Tips
Topics

7 Questions

about

About Us - Logo Module

About Us - Modules

About Us - Subheader Module

ads/mktg

AIGA NEXT

animation

architecture

art

art basel design miami

aspen design summit

awards + competitions

beta

blogs

books

branding + identity

business

collaboration

compostmodern

conferences

consume

contests

crafty

dwell on design

education

events

exhibitions

fashion

feedback

field trip

film + video

friday photo

funny

furniture

gaming

general

graphic design

HOW 2006

icff

ideas

illustration

interiors

jobs

lexicon

magazines

mark your calendar

museums

music

news

off topic

parks + public spaces

parties

people

photo

popularity contest

preservation + restoration

print

product design

professional associations

quote of note

radical craft

rumors

stimulation

sxsw

technique

teevee

The Revolving Door

tools

typography

urbanity

web

y conference

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...

Links

Sites of Interest

A Brief Message

Adaptive Path

Adrants

Ads of the World

Airbag Industries

A List Apart

Andy Rutledge

Apartment Therapy

Archinect

ArchNewsNow

Be A Design Group

BLDGBLOG

Bluelines

Boxes and Arrows

Core77

Cool Hunting

Coudal

CR Blog

Creative Bits

CRIT

The Curated Object

Curbed

Daily Heller

Design Addict

Designboom

Design Is Kinky

Design Matters

Design Observer

DesignSessions

design*sponge

Design Your Life

Design Writing Research

The Designers' Lunchbox

Dexinger

Good Experience

Graphic Design Forum

Graphics.com

Homebodies

ideasonideas

IDFuel

Inhabitat

Jason Kottke

Land+Living

Liquid Treat

LVHRD

MoCoLoCO

murketing

NOTCOT

Poynter (Design & Graphics)

Reluct

Remodelista

Signal vs. Noise

Speedbird

Subtraction

SwissMiss

The Moment

Things Magazine

Typographica

Speak Up

Viewers Like You

Voice AIGA

W Editors' Blog


Magazines

The Architect's Newspaper

Architecture Week

BusinessWeek

Communication Arts

Creative Review

Dwell

Dynamic Graphics

Eye

ID

Interview

HOW

Metropolis

Ping

Print

ReadyMade

STEP Inside Design

W

Job Listings

Featured Listings

Graphic Designer
TouchTunes Interactive Networks
New York, NY

Art Director
Avalere Health
Washington, DC

Marketing & Advertising Manager
Marketing Firm
New York, NY

Print/Web Designer
Health Care Magazine
Glen Rock, NJ

ADVERTISEMENT


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers