It's my 7th Blog Anniversary

The month of January marks my 7th anniversary as a blogger. My first few blog posts were re-prints of articles I'd written for a now defunct website called Respond.com. You can view all my first year posts here, but there's a lot of dead links and missing photos. My very first post has gone missing, because I think I literally wrote something like - here's my new blog, ta-da! I deleted it at some point, maybe when I realized people had begun to find me and it seemed pretty lame.
 

Here is the evolution of my blog headers over the years. I can't find my original 2005 header, but it was much like the 2006 one, without the reference to ::Surroundings:: 

2006

2008

2010

2012

Printed below is a post I wrote on June 5th, 2005 in response to a June 2nd, 2005 article in the Boston Globe by Linda Matchan with the headline: Shoppers Are Increasingly Finding Guidance In Magazines About What to Buy. The article's first sentence was: "Remember simplicity?" and it went on to remind us how in our post 9/11/2001 mood, we were all really thinking about the basics. By 2005, we were back to spending, spending, spending which lead to the rise of consumer magazines that helped part us with our money. As a matter of fact, the article was published just a month after the launch of Domino magazine and was, in essence, a response to the type of publication Domino was. Ms. Matchan quoted Domino's self-description: ''The Shopping Magazine For Your Home". Funny, I never liked Domino and wondered what all the fuss was about.  I realize now that my opinion of the magazine was formed based on this article and while the magazine did mature editorially over time, I never took notice.

Of course, 2007/2008 proceeded to hit us all like a ton of bricks and many of the very publications mentioned in the article are now but distant memories. Funny how style, moods and what's important in life seems to come and go.

Anyway, I wanted to reprint my thoughts on the subject posed by the Boston Globe Article as I think it was one of my best posts out of the 1540 posts I've published on ::Surroundings:: since my "Ta-Da" moment. I'd love to know your thoughts.

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Consumer Culture Wars

Are we in the throes of rampant consumerism? Seems an odd thing for an interior designer to ponder. One would think that would be good for business. But is what's good for business always the right thing? Yes, if you want to stay in business. No, if that's all one is concerned about.

In the June 2nd BOSTON GLOBE, they ran a pair of articles on the boom of consumer magazines - Lucky and Dominoe to name two - which showcase products and how to get them. This isn't your Dad's "Consumer Reports" - which is about how to select the best dishwasher or microwave. These are about what's new and trendy - not about what's best or needed. The companion article is about the growth market in the storage facility industry - to house all the stuff we've bought but have no room for. Yikes...

It's about quantity, not quality, obviously.

Are we using shopping as a drug? Probably. And, given the market glut of off-price stores such as Target, Homegoods and Marshalls - we're not necessarily always looking to spend top-dollar. It's part of the thrill of the hunt - something pretty for a good price. Hence the DSW Shoes commercial which compares women shopping for off-price shoes to animals in the wilderness seeking their prey. I'm always slightly offeneded by the commercial - but probably because the truth stings.

We have to get back to a mind-set that quality trumps (no, not you-know-who) quantity. A single beautiful exotic flower is much more beautiful than dozens of mums and carnations. This quantity driven mind-set does nothing to help local businesses, artisans and craftsman, that's for sure. We hear in the news every day about the glut of Chinese textile imports - clothing, home textiles, etc. We worry about the trade imbalance. Yet we continue to shop at Walmart and Target. We cluck over jobs sent overseas - yet continue to purchase goods made "over there".

So, getting back to my business - yes, the "quantity consumer" mentality is bad for business. GIve me a client who wants quality and is willing to have less stuff to achieve it. Or who is willing to wait to save their money for it. These are people who will value the work of local seamstresses and decorative painters, sculpters and cabinet makers. They will value creativity and quality - timelessness and true beauty. And, they spend their money locally - with people who will then re-spend that money locally, and so on...

Something to ponder.

©2005 Linda Merrill, Chameleon Interiors

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