Feeling Useful

Anyone who is a collector can see that the desirability of goods are in a constant state of change. Hence, the Beanie Babies that everyone and their brother (sister, mostly) had to have are worthless now. Or how about Southwest decor? French country curtains? And how many American Girl dolls do you own?

What causes these shifts in taste and value? What we may not realize is that many, many societal factors affect our decor decisions. Look at how the black leather couches and chrome barstools matched the high-tech mood of music in the 1980s, at the same time as the rise of computer use and the Internet. If you look closely, you can see that what we observe with our eyes and ears and experience all seem to dovetail. As well as what we wear.

While working at the California Mart in the '80s I interviewed a number of fashion designers, often asking about the inspiration for the shapes, fabrics and lines of their collections. Their answers usually coincided with something related to the direction of pop culture. Either the designer was vacationing somewhere trendy and popular (at the time, Rio de Janeiro and parts of Europe were hot), or the designer was making a political statement (dresses made out of trash, or creating the same look for males as females). We would have to look closely to see what's shaping our shapes and sizes and colors that we are wearing and surrounding ourselves with.

Then sometimes it's obvious. Like these days. Everyone who shops, collects, crafts and sells knows ITES: it's the economy, stupid. It really is.

People want items that are useful. If it doesn't chop, divide, contain or somehow make life easier, people don't want (more of) it. Out: vases. In: pitchers. Out: knickknacks. In: furniture.

Customers at The Living Room Emporium have responded similarly. When everyone's belts are tightened, there isn't extra money for fine china or paying top dollar for depression glass, for instance. The most popular purchases are items with purpose: jewelry, purses, sugar/creamer sets, etc.

It's not really a bad thing, nor a shock to one's system. After all, how many more Victorian vases can we fit in one house?