Design Line: 26 August - 1 September
Designers are taking matters into their own hands in this week’s Design Line. Tremaine Emory quits Supreme after allegations of “systematic racism”, the Architecture Workers Union reports Snøhetta for alleged union busting, and iFixit appeals to Congress to fix the McFlurry machine. Plus a guide for spotting proper vintage Eames and the end of Space 10.
An expert guide to shopping for your dream Eames (image: Catherine Potvin, courtesy Eames Institute).
Gotta collect them all
Owning an original Eames piece is a dream many design nerds share, but navigating the collectors market can be tricky for a novice. To help would-be aficionados, the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has put together an initiative called An Eames of Your Own. Spearheaded by the institute’s head of acquisition Daniel Ostroff, the guide released this week is full of useful tips for assessing whether you have a gem or a dud on your hands. For example, Ostroff recommends keeping a small UV torch handy for inspecting the screws of your potential purchase. Any screw that is too shiny against a uniform glow suggests you may have an unscrupulous repair on your hands, where different models have been grafted together, ultimately reducing the piece’s value. Genuine vintage Eames, meanwhile, should have a record to help trace its history. Per Ostroff: “All Eames chairs were and still are made to order, and all had an original date of manufacture specific to that owner.” Once you have your coveted piece in your collection, he advises that you have a light touch when it comes to maintenance. Charles and Ray Eames designed their furniture to age well, so don’t scrub or re-varnish anything. If there’s a small hole in the upholstery, Ostroff suggests you simply patch it with a piece of tape in a similar colour. A delightfully make-do-and- mend approach that would resonate with the designers’ intentions.
The technology behind your McFlurry (image: iFixit).
You scream I scream for iFixit ice cream
There is nothing more disappointing than arriving at a McDonald's counter only to find that the ice cream machine is broken yet again. Determined to address any McFlurry-based disappointments, right to repair action group iFixit has taken on the challenge of finding a fix. After purchasing the same model used by franchise branches, iFixit engineers found the problem can often be traced back to hard-to-parse error codes. Even though the parts themselves are easy to source and replace, the machine’s manufacturer Taylor insists that only its qualified technicians can undertake repairs. The solution put forward by iFixit is simple - create a device that can interpret error codes and distribute it - but butts up against several legal barriers around copyright. The non-profit Public Knowledge and iFixit have already filed for an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to allow them to legally get around the digital locks to copyrighted work. Even then, it would be illegal to distribute the tool, hence why iFixit is appealing to Congress in the US to bring in the Freedom to Repair Act, which would restore the ability to tinker with proprietary software outlawed by the DMCA. It’s not just ice cream machines that are impacted, iFixit states, but everything from Xbox’s to tractors. Let’s hope lawmakers listen and deliver power - and ice cream - to the people.
So long, Space 10 (image: Space 10).
Space 10 (2015-2023)
Pour one out for Space 10, Ikea’s Copenhagen-based research and design laboratory that suddenly closed its doors this week. The news has come as a shock to the design industry; just two months ago Space 10 debuted a conceptual ultra lightweight flat pack sofa made of recycled and compostable materials (see The Crit #29). “Space 10 was never meant to last and – after a decade working with Ikea – we have achieved what we initially set out to accomplish,” said Space 10’s co-founder Kaave Pour. “Space 10 will only close as a company, while the mission lives on.” The move has been framed as one of quitting whilst they are ahead, but it is strange for Ikea to let go of its innovation arm that bought the historic brand fresh ideas - and plenty of press. Space 10 was behind the much-vaunted Ikea Place augmented app, as well as the infamous Meatless Meatballs made out of bugs. Is Ikea tightening its belt during economic headwinds? We already know the furniture behemoth is swapping out wood veneer for contact paper and hollowing out solid wood legs in an effort to keep costs down as material supply chains struggle. Or has the industry grown tired of the solutionism proffered by idealistic labs promising you can make social and environmental change if only you make more stuff? All is not completely lost, however, as all the templates, guidelines and handbooks from the lab are being uploaded to a new website to serve as an open source resource for everyone.
Tremaine Emory quits Supreme calling out “systematic racism” (image: Instagram).
Emory takes a stand
Black fashion designer Tremaine Emory has resigned as creative director of streetwear brand Supreme following the alleged cancellation of a collaboration with Black artist and filmmaker Arthur Jafa. “This has caused me a great amount of distress as well as the belief that systematic racism was at play within the structure of Supreme,” Emory wrote in his resignation letter, as seen by Business of Fashion. In a statement Supreme denied Emory’s view and claimed the project has not been cancelled – something Emory has branded “a lie” in an Instagram post filled with screenshots of texts between himself and Supreme founder James Jebbis. Emory was appointed to the role of creative director at the cult brand in 2022 and has produced two highly regarded collections for Supreme. However, he said his experience at the company has been one of being told he was “racially charged, emotional, and using the wrong forum by bringing up systemic racism in a meeting”. It’s a disappointing but all too common tale of racial minorities being elevated to high profile positions in the design industry only to be undermined by the white supremacist logics that underpin institutions and businesses. Earlier this year top stylist Law Roach retired early after becoming increasingly exhausted by racism in fashion.
Will Google Duet be a beautiful harmony or a terrible cacophony (image: Google).
Sing along with AI
This week, Google rolled out its AI assistant Duet. Available to anyone with a spare $30 to throw at the platform’s Workspace apps, Duet is pretty much a direct competitor of Microsoft’s AI assistant for its Office apps, Copilot. So far, Duet appears to be a blend of productivity tools that aims to help users automate annoying tasks or wade through digital backlogs created by, uh, other so-called productivity tools. On Google Meets, Duet can automatically fiddle with the lighting and produce a summary of the discussion. Likewise in Google Chat you can ask it to summarise long threads to supposedly save time. Some features do sound pretty helpful, like one that can turn a Google Doc into a Slide presentation with a few clicks. Sure, it’s less expensive than hiring an actual human assistant, but no-one seems to be able to fix the issue of AI hallucinating facts that aren’t there - and no one wants a tool that introduces errors into their work. Duet may claim to work alongside you in harmony, but whether it actually frees up enough time for workers to claw back some actual leisure activity, or simply creates more busywork, remains to be seen.
Architects keep fighting for their rights (image: Jango Jim).
Sending a fighting message
The Snøhetta union drive may have stumbled, but Architectural Workers United (AWU) is not giving up the fight. The union has lodged an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the architecture practice has violated its employees rights and unfairly discriminated against union organisers at the firm. Workers at two of the US offices of the Norwegian practice filed a petition to form a union in May this year, and in response Snøhetta brought in anti-union law firm Stinson LLP. The vote to unionise was lost 35-29 in July. Until recently there has been little concerted effort to unionise in architecture, but as working conditions continue to degrade the tide is turning (see ‘United by Design’ in Disegno #34). “[This] filing sends a message to the architecture industry that they are no different from any other industry,” said David Sullivan, vice president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Eastern Territory. “If employers use illegal tactics to obstruct their employees from organizing, they will be held accountable.”