Baby + 191
A tale of two chairs.
We are now the proud owners of three smart chairs. The first was an intentional arrival. The second two were accidents. I will explain.
Ikea may be a very unpleasant place to visit, and an even worse place to shop, but it does sell well-designed products. I think this is true of Scandinavian design more generally. The wonderful wooden houses of Stockholm or Copenhagen are much to be preferred to the fussy architecture of Rome, Milan or Paris. Straightforward, modest lines are a good thing in this author's opinion. Spare me the fuss of a Baroque or Rococo building.
So, it was with some delight that I arrived home from work this week to find a wonderful gift from our daughter's grandparents: a Stokke high-chair.
From a distance this chair radiates solidity; it is a Volvo of chairs - it looks grave and weighty. I immediately imagined it being dropped from a passing Jumbo with no ill-effects to its structure. I speculated that a passing tank might cause but barely a scratch to the Stokke's brushwork. It is a chair in which a redoutable judge of Her Majesty's Courts Martial might pass sentence.
Our daughter approves the Stokke. It has made her an equal partner at the dining table, and it offers a vantage point that is excellent if one is intent - as she is - to grab any loose items. I hope it will be a long time before she is too big for her new throne.
I think that the Stokke has made a big impact on me too. I say this now that I am aware of its effects, but were you have to asked me this morning if the Stokke would change my life I might have eyed you quizzically. However, this was before a visit to Heal's (a swanky furniture shop [temple to Mammon] on the King's Road), and the discovery of two rather Stokke-esque (the esque is important) chairs.
The rest is history, or at least a longer credit card statement. I had no idea that a chair could command such a price!
A reflective reader might ask what business I have purchasing chairs whilst Donk Donk lies silent in the spare room. It is a good question. It is a question that could precipitate a moral crisis. Buyer's dissonance? What buyer's dissonance?
We are now the proud owners of three smart chairs. The first was an intentional arrival. The second two were accidents. I will explain.
Ikea may be a very unpleasant place to visit, and an even worse place to shop, but it does sell well-designed products. I think this is true of Scandinavian design more generally. The wonderful wooden houses of Stockholm or Copenhagen are much to be preferred to the fussy architecture of Rome, Milan or Paris. Straightforward, modest lines are a good thing in this author's opinion. Spare me the fuss of a Baroque or Rococo building.
So, it was with some delight that I arrived home from work this week to find a wonderful gift from our daughter's grandparents: a Stokke high-chair.
From a distance this chair radiates solidity; it is a Volvo of chairs - it looks grave and weighty. I immediately imagined it being dropped from a passing Jumbo with no ill-effects to its structure. I speculated that a passing tank might cause but barely a scratch to the Stokke's brushwork. It is a chair in which a redoutable judge of Her Majesty's Courts Martial might pass sentence.
Our daughter approves the Stokke. It has made her an equal partner at the dining table, and it offers a vantage point that is excellent if one is intent - as she is - to grab any loose items. I hope it will be a long time before she is too big for her new throne.
I think that the Stokke has made a big impact on me too. I say this now that I am aware of its effects, but were you have to asked me this morning if the Stokke would change my life I might have eyed you quizzically. However, this was before a visit to Heal's (a swanky furniture shop [temple to Mammon] on the King's Road), and the discovery of two rather Stokke-esque (the esque is important) chairs.
The rest is history, or at least a longer credit card statement. I had no idea that a chair could command such a price!
A reflective reader might ask what business I have purchasing chairs whilst Donk Donk lies silent in the spare room. It is a good question. It is a question that could precipitate a moral crisis. Buyer's dissonance? What buyer's dissonance?
posted by Jonathan McMahon at 9:36 PM
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