A New Market for Good Design?
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The media reports make it seem as though there's a growing awareness of the problems with cheap, outsourced home goods (lead paint on toys, collapsing cribs). I wonder, does this have the potential to lead to more people of means placing a higher value on well-designed, locally produced products? It doesn't seem so far-fetched when you think about the success of organics in general, and the Slow Food movement in particular. At the risk of sounding crass and/or cynical, does anyone else think there's an opportunity here?
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For two years (Nov. 2002 to Dec 2004) I was in the market of making and selling "well-designed, locally produced products". Living in my upper middle class, 2 story 3600 square foot house in a planned community, I starved.
If I would have been living in a cardboard lean-to, I might have done very well for myself.
I learned during that time that people wanted their "thing" fast. Cheap "solid goods" can usually be produced faster than non-cheap solid goods. I would get at least 50 calls a month for things. 49 out of 50 potential clients would start their sentence with "I'm looking for something 'simple'". I quickly learned that 'simple' was their diplomatic way saying 'cheap'. In other works, they didn't want to me to expend a lot of design thought, or to put a product through too many engineering or QA processes - just get it done, don't spend a lot of time on it, I don't care what materials you use, or why, I just want it now, and cheap. However, that 50th call did care about these things.
So, in answer to your question - there is a market for "well-designed, locally produced products" today, but the much bigger market is the other one.
Todd
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I'm not denying that at all, Todd- all it takes is a drive by the Wal-Mart parking lot on Saturday and you'll know where priorities lie for most folks.
What I'm wondering is if a marketing opportunity is showing itself for, say, upper-middle buyers? As I meet more and more tradespeople in my area (cabinetmakers, furnituremakers, etc.) I'm learning that while you'll never have someone saying "hm, local craftsman or IKEA," the price point on a lot of locally made furniture (at least around here) isn't that far off from Ethan Allen and those higher-end consumer galleries.
I just wonder if it's something that could parallel the growth of the organic food movement, with the right approach. Or, I could just be naively optimistic
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without sounding like a conspiracy theorist i must say it is ironic that recently we have been hearing about all these defective products we import, from toys to clothes. Also recently we are hearing about the downward spiral of our dollar...hmmm. It is also maybe just a coincident that our imports and dependancy on foriegn goods is the number one reason for declining 'greenback'. Me sees another 'Made in america' movement on the horizon.
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