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#79 Modern Furniture

When white people envision their dream home, a key part of the fantasy involves a least one piece of furniture designed by a famous architect from the 1930s.

Architects like Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier designed iconic modern furniture that has inspired virtually everything made by Ikea and Design Within Reach, both of which are key suppliers of furniture to white people.

But as with all things, white people will do whatever it takes to secure authenticity including paying thousands of dollars for a small piece of furniture.

If they are able to acquire this prized furniture, they will forever refer to it only by the designers name. “I spend hours in the van der Rohe, just looking through these beautiful books of his work.”

Referring to a white person’s expensive chair as a ‘chair’ is considered poor form and will likely result in a loss of trust and/or respect.

The best strategy  for avoiding this faux pas is to look for the most uncomfortable chair in a white person’s home and ask “who designed that?” If they say “Ikea” or “Design within Reach” you can call it a chair, otherwise refer to it only by the name they give you.

It should also be noted that many white people are unable to acquire this furniture, but that does not mean you cannot use this information to your advantage.

In situations where you need to improve your connection with a white person, just mention how you hope to be successful enough to one day afford an original piece of furniture by <insert obscurely named architect>. If they have heard of the designer they will nod in agreement, if they have not, they will also nod in agreement and make a note to look it up later.

In either case, your status will rise.


405 Responses to “#79 Modern Furniture”

my white mom does the same exact crap with her furniture


Hahha… I think you give white people too much credit. You should say educated, designers, or the elite. Cause not all white people are created equal if you know what I mean.


 
 

I’ve been on this site since the beginning.


 

White people *love* being in on things since the beginning.


 

Great f*cking observation!


 

I think they actually pointed that out here multiple times. None the less, that was a nice call out.


 
 

That’s my whole house right there.

Funny how so many of these things apply to me… :)


 

It’s true. McDonalds in Europe was actually recently caught with deploying counterfeit designer chairs, such as the Egg, in its stores. Take that, respect for intellectual property!


 

What if I designed them myself will my status rise or will my status “be hood”?

http://www.IGotUGGs.com
http://www.BehindtheApprovalMatrix.com


 
I love Black Star on March 2, 2008 at 7:45 am

ZA must be white as hell.

This post is so true. And don’t call it the Mies van der Rohe chair or the Chalres Eames chair (which will lose you big time cred) but call it the van der Rohe or the Eames.


white white baby on March 27, 2008 at 8:42 pm

Heavens, no. You don’t call it “the Eames.” You call it “the LCW” or “the 670.” Otherwise you’re just name-dropping. White people can smell name-dropping.


 

That’s not an accurate statement, as Mies is not his first name, it’s part of his last name. His first name is Ludwig, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In fact, his real name was Ludwig Mies, and he later added the ‘van der Rohe’ to emphasize his Dutch heritage in an effort to give him more cred in the popular de Stijl movement at the time (of which, Piet Mondrian was also a prominent voice). If you are going to use elitist slang in referring to the piece by it’s designer’s last name (say, a chair by Charles Eames, and referring to it as ‘the Eames’), along those lines, when referring to a chair designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, you needn’t shorten his last name from Mies van der Rohe to ‘van der rohe.’ That just doesn’t make sense, it’s like referring to a Pollock as a ‘llock.


 

Real white people would find out what the name of the chair is. For example, the chair pictured is called the Barcelona Chair, because Mies designed it to go in the German Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Barcelona in 1929. Everybody knows that white people who want to be architects ALWAYS refer to him as “Mies.” Anyone who just says “van der Rohe” looks like an idiot, and people that say “Mies van der Rohe” look like they are trying too hard.


I have always wanted a Barcelona chair! I got such a thrill when I saw one in the Conran Shop last weekend (such a white store here in the UK).

Yet again, I am so white.


 
 
 

You should get a book deal. Sharp wit!


 

I don’t know, I’m pretty white (but not an Arts major, so who knows) and my dream furniture is probably stuff that looks older. I doesn’t actually have to be old, but it has to match my imaginary roaring fireplace!

…Maybe that falls under the ‘antiques’ post anyway.


all my furniture is from the dump. silly white people throw out the most amazing stuff and when their designer made crap falls apart, which weall know it does, they go to pieces,, literally.


 

At least you don’t like both antiques AND modern furniture. I have seen people try to combine the two to make the ugliest room/house. The sad part is that if they stuck with just one, it would have looked extremely nice.


Hello Micheal,

Do you live in a cave where all the rocks match up?

Get a life and welcome to the 21st century.

Asmauwi


 

Hello Micheal,

Do you live in a cave where all the rocks match up?

Get a life and welcome to the 21st century.

Asmauwi


 
 
 

You know, “white people” as described by this blog are actually a minority in this country, and furthermore they are endangered since their population grows more slowly than that of other minority groups, or the wrong kind of white people. So, have your fun chronicling their culture while it lasts!


 

White people loves Charles and Ray Eames (specially the lounge chair , and Molded plastic chairs)

They also must have an (Isamu) Noguchi Table, and they will refer to it as an sculpture, not a table.

They also cream their pants when they realize that there is a Vitra or Herman Miller store opening soon in their neighborhood……..


 

“It’s true. McDonalds in Europe was actually recently caught with deploying counterfeit designer chairs, such as the Egg, in its stores. Take that, respect for intellectual property!”

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

(Plus it’s not actually a violation of intellectual property … unless you’re the type that supports enforcing software patents.)


 

Ah, as usual, you do not let me down. Thanks for the laugh this morning :)


 

haqikah6,
that corporate “blog” BehindtheApprovalMatrix, should be called “Stuff Redneck People likes”.


 

You didn’t mention Crate and Barrel. I know of folks who live 2,000 miles away from the place and are willing to spend three times as much on shipping for that furniture than to go to the local La-Z-Boy for a recliner.

Then again, being a black girl who minored in art history in college who got a rush after touring the only Mies Van der Rohe-designed building in D.C., the Martin Luther King Library, I admit I would like to have some Barcelona chairs in my living room.


 

Does my race car bed count as modern furniture?


 
whiteartstudent on March 2, 2008 at 8:24 am

Hey, I’m a white art student (see name) and I HATE modern furniture! Thanks for writing this post exposing designer chairs for what they really are: LAME!


whitedesignstudent on March 30, 2008 at 8:18 am

Hating modern furniture is the new having modern furniture.


 
 

OK, I don’t know *that* sort of white person. All the ones I know are in love with Pottery Barn or Anthropologie and will buy any furniture that evokes lazy colonial bungalows from Indonesia or something.


They’re talking about upper-middle class white people


 

That are angst-riddern (Thanks Shades of Tan)


 
 
Shades of Tan on March 2, 2008 at 8:24 am

I’ve noticed that white people quite often want to be emotionally angst-ridden with all their possessions as well. The phrase, “Ugh, I just don’t know what to do, Mooky bit a hole in the side of the Eames and there just isn’t anyone here in the city I trust to do an authentic repair job. I’m so angst-ridden!” comes to mind. Actually this condition applies to children and pets as well. “Ugh, My little Skylar has already tested out of 6th and 7th grade science, so what do I do, send her to high school for science, even though she is only in the fifth grade? You’re SO lucky your Timmy is just, you know, normal. You have NO idea how hard it is having such a gifted child.” Yes, Yes, I know you did a post on gifted children, but it is the “demoralizing burden of being saddled with such complex and angst inducing issues” that is truly what separates the merely beige from the true WHITE.


 
Fish Noir Foul on March 2, 2008 at 8:26 am

I luv Meezes to pieces!

& i was on to this site before thum other knuckleheaded mouth-breathers…

dont they know how gauche they come off….?

idjits


 
White Archi on March 2, 2008 at 8:28 am

FYI - being a white person, architect and modern furniture officionando - It would be the “Mies” chair or perhaps that “Barcelona” chair. No one really refers to him as “van der Rohe”


 
White Archi on March 2, 2008 at 8:28 am

oh- and I am all over this blog - love it


 

Wow, you gave me a great idea. I’m going to make a totally offensive racial website like yours all about Mexicans and blacks. That will be friggin genious. Loser.


 

Once again, you nailed it! Owning an “Lazy Boy” chair will never be the same again.

http://www.jonesview.wordpress.com


 

This is scary.
I am a Hispanic Caucasian, which I don’t think counts as “white” in the context of your blog, but I can identify with most of the things white people like! (I am drinking my “rocket fuel” as I write this)
Not only that, but most of my friends and some of my relatives (also Hispanic) do too!
I even have friends who are already multi-lingual (Spanish, English) who are sending their daughter to a French Language immersion primary school, because they feel that speaking Spanish doesn’t count.

Scary scary!!


 

Bah! I just spit coffee out my nose and all over my Chair!!!
Thank God I don’t have a van der Rohe to devalue.


 

I am very white.


 

Also, in addition to the furniture, we whites like very fancy lamps.


 

My love to the people who created this blog!

Ikea furniture is considered the poor mans/students furniture here in Scandinavia. (I am poor and a student).
I always thought that Americans hated Ikea furniture, since its so “difficult” to assemble it. We grew up with Lego, so putting Ikea fruniture togheter is not even considered a task.

Wow , I sound so “white” =)

Again, my love to all you people who write here and enjoy this blog!


 

Absolutely brilliant!

My only regret is that you did not afford me to the opportunity to pay $29.95 for a hardcover version of this material.


 

#19 slays me with little Skylar…


 

Okay so this one doesn’t exactly apply to me. I could really care less what furniture I have in the house. I have too many kids who would just wreck whatever it was anyway and I don’t know the names of any famous architects either so I would just look stupid anyways. But, I do know people like that…and on the other end of the spectrum I know really wealthy “white” people who have had the same furniture for years, non architecturally famous furniture, that they just keep re doing over and over instead of spending money, that they have up the wazoo to buy new stuff….so this may be another topic for you to write about. The wealth white person who is too stingy to buy new furniture…LOL


 
BlackWhiteGuy on March 2, 2008 at 9:02 am

Considering that I own a couple pieces from Mies and one piece from Ngochi, I assure you we don’t buy them to sit on. They should speak to you and inspire you. They are masterpieces just to be looked at and fawned over. These are precious glimpses of human creativity and speaks to our ingenuity. I laud anyone who can’t appreciate profoundness, humility and transcendent nature of these simple austere objects. I hope and prayer that they may evolve into all that they could be and see the meaning in the most meaningless things!!


 

Every day I check the responses here, and every day some guy (I assume; womerns are a touch quieter with they prejudice) threatens to write a “funny” blog about what Blacks or Mexicans like. Followed by an ironic insult.
Every day.


totally agree with what you said, rockie, but i wish you had used grammatix (it’s “their prejudice”). it’s funny how people get angry about this site. a lot of visitors have the same reaction until they settle into it a bit. we all need to learn to laugh at ourselves. comics make their livings calling out racial stereotypes. and there are other blogs that poke fun at race. has anyone seen “ask a mexican?”


 
 

If you can’t afford any actual iconic furniture (is a $2,800 Eames chair really “design within reach”?), you can sort of make up for this by judicious use of the term “mid-century modern” in reference to any piece of furniture designed before 1990. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, it just matters that there’s molded plywood involved.


 

I thought Ikea was just some place to get crappy furniture on the cheap.


 

Yes, I agree with Rockie Bee (34). I find it funny that such people call this blog racist or insulting. I wish my people were only insulted for their tastes in furniture or their interest in expensive sandwiches.

Instead, the not-so-white folks are often treated to racism that calls them stupid, uneducated or criminal and unsuitable for good jobs.


i also agree with rockie’s comment. there will always be the one poster who’s all pissed off and gives the “let’s start another blog that does blah blah blah.” those touchy souls need to get a sense of humor. plus, there are other blogs that do poke fun at people of other races. has anyone heard of “ask a mexican?”


 
 

BlackWhiteGuy!
I just wish you had put your creative and philosophical talent to something useful!

Your logic is flawed, “I assure you we don’t buy them to sit on. They should speak to you and inspire you.”

You are trying to justify stupidity(high price etc) with esthetics.

“see the meaning in the most meaningless things!!”
Well, I hope that you can explain the meaning of this meaningless sentence.

If someone is wondering why I am being harsh, is because it does not take much to experience esthetics and beauty.
These simple sentences hold more beauty than any piece of furniture created:

a<b<c

c-a = (c-b) + (b-a)

Or a glimpse of sun rays while they are penetrating trough the clouds.


 
WhiteMexican on March 2, 2008 at 9:25 am

HAHAH! this is my grandmother in law!
she is very contemporary in all her looks and goes to fancy danish/swedish furniture stores (not ikea, she is above ikea) and calls it therapy.

LOL!


 

Your White fantasy is interesting. This one is so far off base it makes the rest of your stuff look rational.


 

“I thought Ikea was just some place to get crappy furniture on the cheap.”

Then you truly don’t know the wonder that is IKEA.

The IKEA in Singapore at least (established 1978, EIGHT YEARS BEFORE IT ARRIVED IN AMERICA), is filled with Asians (naturally) and every time you go in there, you’re packed like sardines — there’s actually a line where you wait to enter. Often, the food is sold next to the furniture. We’ve had celebrity cooks use the refrigerators and stovetop ranges in the store …


 

This is probably not such a white entry, since Asians, galosisien, are the ones more guilty of buying cheap, modern furniture. It goes with the “fung shui” theme. (Though “fung shui” itself is probably pretty white.)

Ikea, by the way, is crap. The stuff breaks scarcely a month after purchase.


i’ve bought a lot of stuff from ikea and none of it has broken. maybe you need a little more training with your allen wrench. :)


 
 

Whoops! Above comment was suppose to read “since Asians, as galosisien said”. Current version sounds slightly confrontational.


 

“Ikea, by the way, is crap. The stuff breaks scarcely a month after purchase.”

Maybe the American stores suck … the IKEA stuff we bought (porcelain cups at one Singaporean dollar each … ) have lasted our family quite a while.

Or maybe Asians take better care of their household objects. (I’m not being serious about this point, though I am about the first.)


 
Maine Event on March 2, 2008 at 9:59 am

All my furniture was free. As in, from random dumpsters and street corners. White people piss me off. Who cares who designed your chair? It’s a resting place for your ass. In olden times, this was called “dirt” or “grass” or, if you were really lucky, “smooth wide rock”. Jesus.


Could you be any whiter?


 
 

Many, many years ago, in a different incarnation, I had a pair of Eames (es?), the wire models. Actually, they were quite comfortable, but the wire on the seat broke where it was welded to the supports. But then those were cheapies — nothing like $2500. Not even $100. Today I shop the thrift shops, which might well be a Whiteperson thang, now that I think about it. I suspect you don’t realize just how long the Whiteperson characteristics you describe so well have been with us. I finished college in 1949 and your posts fit many of my acquaintances to a T.


 

#44 galoisien — Naw, I think Asians generally are lighter. :) (And I’m speaking as a much heavier Asian.)


 

“Ikea, by the way, is crap. The stuff breaks scarcely a month after purchase.”

You’ll get a good two months out of it, because the warranty is 45 days. Though, a 45 day warranty for anything less perishable than fresh shellfish is pretty ridiculous.


 

Can the blog owner ban this url please? This spam is getting annoying.


 

“You’ll get a good two months out of it, because the warranty is 45 days. Though, a 45 day warranty for anything less perishable than fresh shellfish is pretty ridiculous.”

Really? Mine was for 1 year …


 

granny J is my grandmother’s name - well, the name I call her.

also, i don’t like modern furniture - i like old vintage/antique furniture that looks like its about to fall apart.


 

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/87/ohfucken9.jpg

we’ve had that chair since i was a baby. fuck.

well, i guess it’s different because my dad’s mexican and an artist, so we’re in the clear


 
Lucius Vorenus on March 2, 2008 at 10:25 am

Nathan: You know, “white people” as described by this blog are actually a minority in this country, and furthermore they are endangered since their population grows more slowly than that of other minority groups, or the wrong kind of white people. So, have your fun chronicling their culture while it lasts!

Their population isn’t “growing” at all - it’s in demographic collapse.

Just like all the other populations in the civilized world:

IQ and the Wealth of Nations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations

List of countries and territories by fertility rate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_fertility_rate

The Baby Gap: Explaining Red and Blue
http://www.isteve.com/babygap.htm

Power and the evangelical womb