Trends 
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| Trends & Trade | |
| Saturday, 10 September 2005 | |
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Great American Interiors? When I first subscribed to Metropolitan Home in 1996, nobody was obsessing with foreign interior design products. Viking and Thermador ranges, Dacor cooktops, Sub-Zero refrigerators, Ethan Allen, national antiques and custom-designed cabinets and shelving defined status. When I moved to Italy, I began buying Case da Abitare, branched out to World of Interiors, Elle Decoration UK/Italy/France, Marie Claire Maison, Living Etc., House & Garden UK, Homes & Gardens UK, Diseño Interior…ok, I branched out into every current interior design periodical on the newsstand. But I kept my subscription to Metropolitan Home as my quick fix when I needed to see home, like those Americans who look for McDonald’s when they’re abroad. I’m not sure at what point Americans went foreign-brand bonkers for their interiors in the three years between when I decided I no longer needed Metropolitan Home and when I started to miss the magazine. I was, however, shocked at the way ‘foreign design’ dominated interiors. I remember being quite annoyed and writing a letter to the editors—here you had arguably the best U.S. equivalent to the world’s leading interior design magazines, and they couldn’t get off their duffs to scout out American furniture that could coexist and compete in the interiors sector alongside B&B Italia and Cappellini, kitchens to rival Boffi, Ernestomeda, and Schiffini? The editors wrote me back to ask my permission to print the letter. I said SURE, BUT DON’T JUST SIT THERE LIKE BUMPS ON A LOG, DO SOMETHING! (Other leaders in this category, including American titles, have no problems featuring their own national designers, and a few of ours!) Occasionally I check back on Metropolitan Home to see if they’ve discovered any great 21st century American furniture producers, but not surprisingly, status, as they redefined it, is still determined by a house full of mostly Italian furniture. I wonder if they realize that a good percentage of their advertisers are considered low-middle/middle-middle tier in their native Italian market. Even worse, I wonder if those readers who think they are buying a slice of the high-life because they saw it in Metropolitan Home realize it. Admittedly, my house is full of mostly high-end Italian furniture (a spot on MetHome interior), with the exception of my dog-chewed IKEA bookshelves. But I have what I consider a legitimate excuse. I was living in Italy when I purchased the furniture, the $/Lira exchange rate was very favorable, through friendship I had secured a 25% discount on whatever I bought, and my employment status exempt me from paying the whopping 20% sales tax that can kill your enthusiasm for buying just about anything in Italy. And when the Euro came around and the dollar was still ripping its face off, before inflation and the increased popularity of these brands fuelled by the U.S. market drove the prices through the roof, I kept buying. Even though Americans with outrageous amounts of disposable income (or obscene indiscretion or indifference in recognizing reasonable quality:price ratios) continue to fill their homes with what they think represents some sort of Eurochic quality, their interiors are still very easily identified as American. Are they looking for the 'Eurochic' look, or the American look with European, mostly Italian furniture? (European is synonymous with modern in the U.S., right?) Maybe that’s what Metropolitan Home is getting at? It’s obvious that I don’t get it. But in sharp contrast with the offerings of top-rate American kitchen appliances, for Metropolitan Home in the rest of the house “good American interior design” is definitely a foreign concept. |
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