009's Profile

Shirley - Your gallantry is a delight. It's just a shame you don't understand the way comparisons work. In likening the look of this living room to a dentist's office, I made a perfectly clear criticism. Or perhaps I need to explain to you the defining characteristics of a typical dentist's office, circa 1980. It's not that dentist’s offices weren't “perfectly nice”; it's that they were/are bland. And if a thing is bland, it really doesn’t matter if it features a Herman Miller sofa or a Marimekko print. Perhaps you’re one of these in-the-know types who wouldn’t dare question the real aesthetic appeal of a product bearing the name Herman Miller, but these red Chiclet sofas looked every bit as bad in 1980 as they do today. And I’m sure we agree that those bentwood dining chairs are the ugliest things in the world. So the furniture is boring AND it’s ugly! You’ll dismiss this as my own taste, and you’ll be correct. But this part is simply true: we would be smart to save such big applause for those whose achievement reflects true vision rather than a few nifty purchases.

I think I saw the very same table at Nordiska Kompaniet department store in Stockholm, though this image does not quite do it justice. The table I saw was really beautiful, the wood top radiant, and while it does seem unlikely that it was a single solid slab I examined it closely and it did in fact appear to be solid. No doubt the eager chorus of DIYers are inspired by the table's apparent simplicity, but while the basic design is simple enough the trick will be finding such beautiful teak. Anyone can slap some casters on a board, sure, but then there is the matter of standards.