after “objectified”
There’s a lot of discussion, in “Objectified,” about how people love things that are well-made and a pleasure to use, and how designers delight in making things that are well-made and a pleasure to use. Unfortunately ‘well-made’ is usually synonymous with heavy, lasting materials, the sorts of materials against which the entire banner of ‘sustainability now’ rails. It’s also clear that planned obsolescence will continue to thwart the most well-intentioned, beautiful designs (here I cast a wistful glance at my glass-and-steel, virtually heirloom-quality first-generation iPhone, artificially handicapped with inferior network capabilities).
So: is it possible to make objects with easily biodegradable materials that inspire the same love or lust as their landfill counterparts? I once saw an awfully nice Nokia concept phone, the Remade, pieced together entirely made out of recycled materials, but it was no iPhone, and anyway it was never produced. I’ve admired ornate cardboard gift boxes, and even collected interesting shopping bags when I was younger, but eventually they were all thrown away. Paper collectibles like comic books and baseball cards are valued because of their fragility, but nobody would claim it’s a benefit that Action Heroes #1 is recyclable.
I suppose the larger question is, do we love things more when we think they may outlive us? If that’s the mark of a truly well-made, well-designed, lovable object, should we start faking it with disposable items? Should biodegradable plastics be weighted to give the feel of metal, and finishes strengthened to avoid scratching? Should we start investing in growing very heavy woods and other natural materials? I can think of a million ways to fake quality, but at some point, one supposes, we’d reach a singularity of quality product design.
—Timoni
