The very last home design post (for awhile), I swear
After receiving my Bar results, I soon acquired a vintage, purple Eames rocking chair.
Then I blinked.
Now, the Eames chair juggernaut is unstoppable. In 6 months time, they’ll be everywhere. Herman Miller re-introduced the rocking chair in January (it took until this month to fully trickle into stores) and Modernica has a knock-off custom-option,
that yields hundreds of possible combinations. Both companies
just launched extensive advertising campaigns for the chairs and they
are at the right price point to qualify as an “affordable luxury.”
Now, part of me wonders, if there is some larger viral marketing ploy
out there. Did the the companies pick up on the big second-hand
market for the chairs? Or is it the other way around? Did
they place the vintage chairs on eBay and in the “right” used
contemporary design shops to get the meme out there right before the
large-scale re-introduction of the chairs? (At the very least,
Herman Miller probably studied the eBay/secondary seller pricing data
because the new and vintage chairs have the same price point.)
badxmaru
March 28, 2005 @ 5:03 pm
dammit GC
whenever I read about this stuff, I have a sudden urge to bolt out and buy new furniture.
which would be bad, considering all my furniture revolves around the tech in my house…
frank novak
April 25, 2005 @ 6:32 pm
Actually, I’ve made the chair for 15 years, so I guess I set the price, which is based on my costs. Ther Herman Miller one is made out of Polypropolyne, similar to a Rubbermade bucket. Ours is made out of fiberglass by the original manufacturer We have greatly expanded the product line in the last few years with many more base and color hoices.
Frank
Saheli
April 26, 2005 @ 12:35 am
Fiberglass sounds more appealing to me than Polypropylene, but I have to say, I don’t get the demand at all. It looks uncomfortable! 🙂