They Dont Make Them Like They Used To

You know the idiom. It's a phrase that compliments makers past while simultaneously offering a back-handed slap to today's manufacturers. It indicates that sometime in the not-too-distant-good-old-days there was a golden era when folks cared about quality, about doing things properly.

While it is a nice thought I believe our collective memory has glossed over some of the less plesant bits of the past. There have always been schlock-houses churning out products of inferior quality. Perhaps it is the simple fact that the good things remain that causes us to believe everything behind us was high quality.

Whatever the reason this phrase came to mind as I was perusing a vintage design store a few weeks back. Slipping quietly between an Eames Aluminum Group and a Brno chair I thought - "Yes! they DO make things like they used to!" The chairs in this shop had been well used, but still had quite a bit of life left in them. Both chairs were made by the same manufacturers that make them today - Herman Miller and Knoll. And both chairs were made in essentially the same manner, and with the same materials then as they are now.

Further on in the back of the shop I stumbled onto another form that was strikingly familiar. I stared at the wooden frame for a full minute before I recognized it as a vintage example of the 1946 chair Jens Risom had designed for the Caribe Hilton Hotel (and later re-released for Design Within Reach under the name of the Jens Chair). The vintage chair was missing the upholstery allowing me the opportunity to carefully inspect the frame. As I looked I had another thought - "Aha! Sometimes they DON'T make them like they used to!"

You see, when Design Within Reach partnered with Jens Risom to re-launch the Jens Chair we wanted to make use not only of his design, but of his extensive experience as a designer. Over the course of a career a person gathers things that cannot be taught, things that can only be learned by experience. Jens' career was no different. Beginning with his first collection for Knoll and continuing through today he has been a consummate woodworker. In 1941, when other designers were experimenting with fiberglass, plywood, and metals Jens stayed true to his Scandinavian roots in terms of material: wood, upholstery, and the occasional bit of surplus parachute webbing. So when discussions began about the Jens chair in 2008 we shouldn't have been surprised that Jens wanted to make slight changes to the design. He had stayed abreast of manufacturing techniques and suggested that we change the attachment of the seat to the front leg. Instead of having the seat simply abut the leg (as in the photo above) he suggested creating a dado joint. Such a change would be stronger and longer lasting. (even though these vintage chairs were in great shape!)

While it's reassuring that Herman Miller and Knoll are staying true to the exacting designs of Eames and Mies Van der Rohe it's also refreshing to see an experienced designer still striving to make things better. Sometimes they still do make 'em like they used to. And sometimes they dont - and we're better off for it.