On Doing Bad Things Well

Over the years the work of Philip K Dick has altered position within our culture. He wrote science fiction. A genre usually derided as trashy and formulaic. Yet within this literary back alley he created some of the greatest writing of the 1960s. Nowadays I often hear people who read no other sci fi claiming fan hood. Heavy metal. Looking at goths one can be fooled in to thinking they all dress badly. I am no great fan of tattoos. Yet within these obscure avenues of creativity and self expression there are odd people who do it really well. Comic books. Another much derided creative field has gems to be found. It is clear that it is not the genre you choose to show off in but how you do it. Colleges attract students on to courses through previous work carried out in that zone. Thinking art fab students apply thinking a cool subject will makek their work good. It is far better seeing a genius in an unusual field. Tattoos have gone from being rare beauty to something nearly everyone has and often similar choices. Yet within this the odd person does it really well. I think this is one reason I opted to do furniture. It seems dull. Mundane. I would never go straight to the furniture section in a library. In design you often see the obvious rendered poor. The steel, led lamp. Designer maker furniture is very much like this. When the first generation began they took the uncool field of woodwork and made it sing. Now, seeing a field of good wooden furniture students moved in making derivative work in response. It may take a big cultural shift for fresh work to follow. Fine craft as a whole maybe considered tasteful yet less and less is so. At the beginning it was ironic to find excitement and extreme beauty in woodwork. Now it is expected. I saw a boy racers car meet on the telly the other day. It was pointed out the displays were like sculpture. Within this odd field of creativity function was bent beyond all reason. These cars were never raced. They were to look at. A similar thing has happened to the designer makers. Cheltenham is a place to show off your furniture and look at other peoples. The name designer maker does not suggest a style but say what those involved do. It is about themselves presented to themselves. It is a self sealed loop of participants with little thought given to outsides or customers.