PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

Why do we have to have named activities for the spaces in which we live? What would happen if we did not have labels for rooms? Would we be liberated and more comfortable in our homes if we did not dedicate rooms? Open plan living breaks down this oppressive hierarchy to some extent. Can we go further? What happens when you go beyond rooms? After all it is only the services that are the fixed elements. The extraction of smells and the need for containing water in a bath or shower within and beyond ablutions are all that needs to be provided in a house stripped down to the core service functions. On the emotional and psychological side it is a division between sociable and sanctuary spaces. Human beings crave company and solitude.

I had an overwhelming sense of relief when reading Lunch with the FT in this weekend’s edition (May 3rd) in Life and Arts. Grayson Perry was interviewed by Rebecca Rose. He talked about there being ‘too much slapdashery’ in Art. You could just replace the word art with design and experience the same feeling. Grayson talks about the importance of how things are made, about his slow, careful creations which is in contrast to the shallowness of quick purchase and without thought. He reckons people should be thinking about what they want and collaborating with people who care - commissioning an artist, designer or craftsperson to make something. He thinks modernist and minimalist interiors can be vacuous, lack content and technical mastery.