I can be a bit sheepish when I try to describe Furniture For All. Interior design lives in the Lifestyle section of most bookshops, and in broadsheets, where it’s sandwiched between fast-fashion news and credulous coverage of micro-trends in online dating. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t take myself seriously, but I do take my work seriously. Still, I understand why I’m sometimes dismissed as unserious – domesticities and the people who care for them often are.
Earlier this week, I was reading a piece by Alicia Kennedy, a food and drink writer in Puerto Rico, in which she reviews the role of lifestyle journalism in politics, and vice versa. She observes that deep, systemic change cannot come without smaller-scale decisions – “People decided to bring their own reusable bags to supermarkets, for example, and now states and municipalities have instituted single-use plastic bag bans” – and that lifestyle journalism is relatively risk averse when it comes to encouraging people to make these decisions on any meaningful scale. One thing I’ve always admired about Alicia’s writing is that when she names personal responsibility as a catalyst of change, it’s more galvanizing than weighed down with shame (if you’re unfamiliar with her work, her newsletter is a great start). She refers to this personal responsibility as a form of public participation, and argues that the accumulation of our individual choices lays the groundwork for new models of living with the responsibility we have to care for one another.
We have a term for this accumulation of personal choices: A lifestyle, of course. Though they cover a range of topics (food! fashion! dating! homes and interiors!), discussions pertaining to our lifestyles are easy to dismiss because they’re more often seen as matters of style than matters of life. But the choices we make do accrue meaning over a lifetime. This meaning can be personal (what you wear, or how you eat) or political (what you eat, and where you shop), but the outcome is the same: The choices we make can effect real change and, as Alicia points out, “these changes can occur through shifting norms and habits that will thus influence broader policy”.
Within the home, critical discussions of how we live are often limited by the rules within which we have to live as renters, as subletters, as neighbors and as community members. There’s no real reason for this: The choices we make can be much bolder and more potent than what we hang on our walls, or how we organize our bookshelves. The role of the home cannot be overstated: Even before the pandemic, the home was inextricably bound to our relationships, our work, our families and the choices we felt that we could and couldn’t make. If we think critically about what we’d like to ask of our homes, we can start to understand that the limitations in which we live expand past the walls of our flats.
As you review the next few finds, imagine that they are yours: Where will you put them, and how will they be used? What choices would you make, and what’s stopping you from making them right now? Feel out the limitations of your home, and try to trace them to their roots. Name the borders between what seems possible and impossible, then see how you might navigate around them. When it comes to the home, it’s easy to feel at a loss for choice, but finding new choices to make is easier than you’d think.
When I was in college, my friends’ shared house had a Chippendale sofa like this one (available for 90€ in Berlin), and we thought it was true luxury. The reason was simple: It was so far from the dorm-issued single beds and IKEA couches we’d grown accustomed to living with (and around, and on) for four years. I’m particularly beholden to intricate upholstery on the back, but the condition’s not bad, either, and the price point is a unparalleled.
I’m a sucker for ceramics, and this 60s lamp is no exception. In every product shot, the light pools in reflections so clean and smooth that it looks like a Lichtenstein painting. It’s available on Etsy for 149€ plus shipping costs from the Netherlands, but bear in mind it comes with an EU cord and plug – if you’re in the UK or US, you might speak to an electrician about rewiring it completely.
I’m not a DJ, but I do take requests: I’m always happy to help find furniture, so let me know what you’re looking for. Reply to this email or send me a message on Twitter what you want, where you are (generally! don’t send me your address – I don’t want it!), and what price point fits your budget, and I’ll see what I can do.
I’ll be honest here: I found these while searching for a Kim Jong Un-themed edition of “Steal His Look” for Furniture For All (here’s what I went with instead). This pair of chairs is a head turner, for sure. I think people often associate mid-century modern furniture with a thousand shades of brown, but the colors here are bold and bright, and the chairs are in immaculate condition. Pick them up for £145 in West Yorkshire.