INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY picks that sing "DÉCOR"
Bringing new meaning to "DOMESTIC LABOR", we remind ourselves of the factory floor as décor
Dear Snoops,
Not ones to leave any critical décor movement in the dust, we are today flicking through the catalog of GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY. There are literally over ONE MILLION different things on offer – and where they may not (always) be dirt cheap, they offer a means of exploring a more work-with-your-hands side of life with greater authenticity than some concrete planter from CB2. This is “THE INDUSTRIAL AESTHETIC”.
And, we genuinely believe that industrial supply produces some EXCEPTIONAL décor designs, and that - as ever - you needn’t commit to FULL COMMITMENT of the aesthetic to appreciate and integrate some elements.
This is décor that was built to really be used and abused – and, for you, we isolate the most domestically intriguing results.
A LIKELY UNNECESSARY REMINDER THAT “HIGH-TECH” IS A BIBLE
Of course, there is always, always a seminal text. In this case, it is one that is very well known – and that is 1978’s “HIGH-TECH: THE INDUSTRIAL STYLE AND SOURCE BOOK FOR THE HOME” by Joan Kron and super-star author SUZANNE SLESIN.
If you imagine who you’d expect to be the authorities on “INDUSTRIAL”, do you picture this crew?:
But, that just goes to show that “INDUSTRIAL” is not just the territory of the Intense, “Alternative” (whatever that means!), cold domestic décorator.
Kron and Slesin’s book is introduced by former MoMA curator and arch*tect EMILIO AMBASZ, who talks about the industrial look in the same breath as THE RENAISSANCE, and then not the “REUTILIZATION” of industrial objects but their REBAPTIZING.
To clarify →
REUTILIZE /ˌriˈjuː.t̬əl.aɪz/ something made to operate in a different context while retaining most of its original functions
REBAPTIZE /ˌriːˈbæp.taɪz/ something granted aesthetic value and assigned philosophic meaning (← This is what’s going on in the INDUSTRIAL AESTHETIC)
The book is an absolute must. Here are some spreads, as a tease:
HERE ARE OUR FAVORITE THINGS FOR SALE ON GLOBALINDUSTRIAL.COM
You’ll have to make the references back to HIGH-TECH yourself, for the most part, for how these things had been ‘rebaptized’ by our foremothers Kron and Slesin, in 1978. (We make one.)
But we do reference USM x PIN-UP and also faves CONCORDE (from last week, remember?) so there is SOME very, very ideas ‘bout how INDUSTRIAL has clawed its way into TODAY.
