Today I would like to discuss the level of furniture that can be found in shops and department stores. It is a sensitive issue that is rarely brought up in public but remains a hot subject in the architecture and design communities. I have heard people describe it as ordinary, mediocre, poorly made, and less inspiring and innovative than it has been at any other time in history. It should not be forgotten that furniture design has always had a tremendous impact on the taste of the time.

In the 20th century, manufacturers were motivated in producing avant-garde furniture, and this why it became available to consumers. The Primavera department store in Paris, for example, was the source for high end Art Deco furnishings in the 1920s. American department stores Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, and Abraham Strauss offered the American public the most up to date and daring furniture available. 

During the mid-century years, it was Herman Miller and Knoll that were famously investing and responsible for the some of the iconic furniture of the century. 

The Japanese department store Takashimaya was the source for art furniture in the 1950s, and it is particularly memorable for the benchmark exhibition of French design curated by Charlotte Perriand. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, it was Bloomingdales that became the lead tastemaker by exhibiting chic, fantastical space age furniture, brilliantly curated.

What really happened to furniture design and why the best of it is found only in galleries and museums, but not in shops?
For this discussion I invited Sami Reiss. He writes the bestselling newsletter Snake, covering auctions, design, vintage furniture and fashion. Sami’s articles have been published in GQ, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN and the New York Times.