Saturday, January 22, 2011

Finally a Voice for the White Upper Class



Although reading about "objects" seems about as mundane as reading about "stuff", or even "things", Heskett manages to make it pretty interesting. For me, Heskett's most thought-provoking idea came at the very beginning: "Objects are a crucial expression of ideas of how we could or should live, put into tangible form."

It really made me look at the objects in my life from a new perspective, and made me realize how much the objects in our lives shape the ways in which we live, how they define what we are able to do and how we do it. Not only that, but the objects in our lives also can express much about us; our interests, our beliefs, our social class, etc.

Keeping that in mind, I was a bit peeved to learn about the "Juicy Salif". After reading about Phillipe Starck's distinguished "lemon squeezer", I did a bit of research on him, and while many of his other designs appear to be both functional and aesthetically-pleasing, this particular design rubs me in all the wrong ways. While it is indeed pretty cool looking, it seems like it exists more to stroke the egos of all those involved (the designer, the manufacturer, and the consumers), rather than to actually juice lemons.

Despite my rather utilitarian viewpoints towards consumer products, I am no Gradgrind; I can appreciate art and understand the importance of aesthetics, but it seems a bit disingenuous to sell a $96 conversation piece as a lemon squeezer. And considering the previously noted communicative powers of objects, this particular object communicates a few ideas that I find irritating, namely "appearance is more important than function or utility", and in regards to the owner: less " I have a lemon tree in my backyard and I like to make fresh lemonade on hot days" and more "I have lots of money and good taste and I like to laugh watching my personal chef try to figure out how to use this thing to extract the juice needed for the beurre blanc that goes with my dinner party's sous-vide organic squab entrée".

Given that I have already written more about a lemon squeezer than I ever thought possible, I'll close with what Amazon.com customer Harris Elleberg of Astoria NY had to say about the Juicy Salif:

"What I like best about this juicer is how streamlined and, well, basically perfect it is. There is no distinction between form and function in this stunning piece: What makes it work is what makes it beautiful. I like to bring it out on the piazza when I brunch, so that the early sun sparkles on the chrome while I squeeze just a few drops of blood orange juice into a flute of champagne. There's nothing better than sitting around a table laden with delicacies with a group of friends who admire the beauty of simple objects like this juicer.

In addition to being visually stunning, this juicer is also a tremendous time saver. When guests see it in my kitchen, it saves me a lot of time that might otherwise be spent explaining that I am a gigantic, pretentious douche."



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