the weekly once-over
Observations, Perceptions, Remembrances, and Premonitions – the Good, the Bad, and the Grotesque
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated February 4th, 2022
An Open Letter to anyone willing to listen:
Forewarning: today's dispatch finds its genesis born out of utter frustration and unmitigated monotony begot by more of the "same old thing" again and again, day after day, not to mention the exhausting daily battle to overcome the banality of this country's prevailing DIY mentality.
No artistic person desires to toil away in obscurity fashioning only mundane things. As creatives, Brooke, Dakota, and I wish to leave our everlasting mark on the world of visionary and cutting-edge design by conjuring and orchestrating novelty. For us, more than anything, Raven Vanguard gives us true sense of purpose. And although we are undoubtedly a for-profit business, for us, Raven Vanguard is not about collecting a paycheck or monetary rewards, nor is it simply a means to an economic end. Instead, we long for projects that will test and call upon us to search out the outermost limits of our imagination and creative expression.
Raven Vanguard is a passion project conceived and built upon our collective need and all-eclipsing ambition to dream up, create, render, decipher, disentangle, and reawaken beauty in every conceivable form. After all, design should genuinely be about wonder, experimentation, mysteriousness, and possibility rather than some arbitrary set of numbers on an accountant's calculator.
Unfortunately, creativity, artistry, craft, and beauty are under attack in this world of ours.
Short-term thinking and lack of foresight and imagination on the part of project owners limits, if not destroys entirely, the artistic creativity of the outre and more unorthodox members of the global design community, like Raven Vanguard. What do I mean by this? Cost, and cost alone, has become the overriding criteria in almost every design project we encounter. When I say cost, I mean minimizing cost by all means available regardless of the aesthetic consequences to the designer's creative vision and artistic concepts. Sadly, penny-pinching and value engineering principles overshadow and take precedence over creativity, elegance, imaginativeness, matters of good taste, and delayed but longer-term and sustainable revenue generation.
Artistry cannot be measured by dollars and cents alone. Unfortunately, way too many project owners, developers, business owners, and homeowners repeatedly exercise this type of uninspired and short-sighted thinking. Decision-making that uses project cost as the sole deciding parameter ensures the cheapening, merchandising, and mass production of art and interior design while at the same time disincentivizing artistry and the skills of those in the artisan crafts and construction trades. This conventional thinking also succumbs to tentative half-measures, wasteful trends, overvalues the ordinary, conforms to the mundane, and surrenders to this problematic notion that less is somehow more. It also completely ignores the guaranteed long-term intrinsic value of incorporating a timeless interior design. Worse yet, cost-driven design choices result in the use of inferior products and materials that are not responsibly procured from environmentally sustainable sources.
In reality, and ultimately, value engineering decisions negatively affect the interior designer's reputation more than any other design team member. Invariably, every value engineering decision on a project deviates further and further from the interior designer's original aesthetic concepts, thus devaluing the designer's professional reputation. And when the end result and finished product fall far short of the designer's intention, the designer is denied both the inherent satisfaction that comes with the act of creation and a highly valued portfolio piece that they can take immense pride in having created. Instead, all that we are left with is just another paycheck.
And besides this matter of cost-driven thinking, we must also find ways to overcome a seeming absence of taste, a mind-numbing allegiance to that which is ordinary or minimal, and a debilitating fear of both refinement and nuance.
Why do so many people harbor an innate aversion to surrounding themselves with beauty and beautiful things? Regrettably, one's reluctance to embrace beauty is utterly endemic in this country, especially compared to Europe and most parts of Asia. But yet oddly enough, we all know intuitively that the spaces we occupy each day shape and influence our everyday experiences and enjoyment within our designed and built environment. From how a room is lit, to the materials, furnishings, one-of-kind objects, and artwork within, and the paint colors on the walls – no one can argue that the aesthetic design of a space does not significantly impact our mood, pleasure, how we think, or how we behave. Therefore, I will never understand wanting to be unexceptional or to inhabit an unmemorable space barren of beauty.
We find it shocking that so many people are willing to tolerate mediocrity within their designed environment and harbor such a singular preoccupation with "run-of-the-mill" and a desire to seek mainstream acceptance in the middle of ordinary. Since when did typical and monotonous become perfectly acceptable? And my observation applies equally to those among us who can very well afford to develop their spatial environment in any way they desire.
Over the past six years, I have studied most of the available research on empirical aesthetics and that which is currently being published in the emerging field of neuroaesthetics. Although I do not claim to be a neuroscientist, I am encouraged that the developing research in these areas supports and is consistent with my long-held belief that our brains respond naturally and positively to beauty in art, architecture, music, and interior design. And that interior spaces prioritizing aesthetic creativity, beauty, well-appointed design and decoration over functionality and minimalism reveal, once and for all, the full measure of what is possible in our otherworldly experience of being human.
America's fundamental antipathy of beauty is akin to giving solidity to the very air I breathe. In response, I shout, someone please let Raven Vanguard design something entirely uncommon that aspires to the sensuality of an 18th Century Parisienne bordello, but with the exaggerated grandeur of a 17th Century holy place. Someone, please step bravely forward; we know that you're out there somewhere just waiting to discover us.
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated December 8th, 2021
Today's post is not the promised Part III to my entry of November 12th. However, I will return with Part III before the month's end.
Instead, today, we seek to provide answers to that age-old question – what is it that makes something beautiful? And we ask each of you the correlative question – do you believe in surrounding yourself with beauty and beautiful things?
The answer to the first question and how it impacts the second question is fundamental to human existence, in that beauty's intrinsic nature is utterly transformative.
The word aesthetics revolves around the study, philosophy, perception, and appreciation of beauty. For humans, our senses spark our aesthetic emotions. The interplay of our senses of sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell are the ultimate arbiters of whether something is perceived to be beautiful.
As an interior design studio, Brooke, Dakota, and I use our creativity and artistry to make beauty a neverending part of our clients' aesthetic experience. For us, beauty is sacred, and it can be perceptible in something as simple as the patina of age on a velvet upholstered furnishing. But yet, we can also reveal it in the imaginative intermingling of the intricate details and finishing touches that complete the designed environment. Beauty is a multifaceted achievement arising from imagination unbound from the strictures of rigid practicality.
So, back to our initial question – what is it that makes something beautiful? From our perspective, beauty is utterly amorphous right up until the very moment it is transfigured into something tangible, timeless, and enticing to the senses. Beauty is the seductive awakening of the imperceptible made utterly perceptible. Beauty itself subsists as a coexistent duality. Meaning, it exists simultaneously together but in two different planes of actuality; it exists within the eye of the beholder as a genuinely subjective truth, but also, and synchronously within the essence of the object or thing itself, quite objectively.
In actuality, beauty is our gateway to the sublime, the transcendent, and the divine. Culturally, the impacts of beauty are of such consequence to human existence that its genuine value is utterly incalculable. In interior design, beauty is the amalgamation of shape, proportion, texture, pattern, tactile materials, color, lighting, sound, and atmosphere, coalescing into an experience of intimacy and eroticism.
In our world, artistry begets beauty. So, therefore, what is artistry? In simple measure, artistry is the mysterious act of creating incomparable beauty; it is the visionary or interpretive achievement of making something extraordinary out of nothingness via creative impulse. And it is the confluence of beauty and artistry that empowers Raven Vanguard to conjure the authentic nature of the aesthetic experience for our clientele.
Why then is creativity, artistry, and beauty under attack in our industry? Stay tuned, and I'll address this conundrum in an upcoming Once-Over.
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated November 12th, 2021
Today's post is the promised Part II to my November 8th entry.
In our business and personal lives, each of us must find ways to prioritize the health of our planet by choosing sustainability over and above exploitation and waste.
As Creative Director of Raven Vanguard, one of my responsibilities is to educate our clients on the relationship of superior craftsmanship and the use of eco-friendly materials to the sustainability of the environment. Likewise, I inform them of the destructive ecological impacts and consequences of rapid turnover and the avoidably premature transformation of furnishings and goods into landfill waste.
Globally speaking, we must increase real-world value in the production of all things and across all manufacturing disciplines. But, unfortunately, consumers and end-users are already all too familiar with the severe shortcomings of planned or programmed obsolescence in designing goods, products, and commodities, even in so-called durable goods like automobiles. When I talk about planned obsolescence, I mean the intended and deliberate shortening of a product's useful life by the manufacturer, both in the engineering and making of the product, to effectively increase the buyer's repeated consumption of the product over time. This practice is entirely wasteful, and its detrimental impacts are twofold. First, this practice is economically damaging to the consumer, and the consequent increase in waste materials is devastating to the environment.
Most people would not expect to see this deceptive practice in play in any service industry. But it exists as a well-guarded big little lie in the interior design industry. In fact, since the early 1980s, this practice has become so purposefully entrenched within the business and economic model of interior design that today it proliferates almost the entire industry and that of their bedfellows in the furnishings and home and hospitality goods industries. Interior designers practice planned obsolescence by promoting short-lived trends and the use of cheaply made, mass-produced goods. The designers and manufacturers who ask consumers, again and again, to follow trends are utterly manipulative, creating immediate profitability for themselves rather than long-term satisfaction for their clients or the protection of the environment.
Raven Vanguard rejects this planned obsolescence practice entirely, and it will never be part of our design philosophy. Instead, for us, conceptually, the design itself must be timeless and everlasting. And, of equal importance, the design elements must be composed of heirloom quality furnishings, fixtures, and materials, to guarantee that the aesthetic experience of the finished design is enduring and satisfies our client's expectations, and promotes and supports their wellbeing over a lifetime.
So then, why does this globally-destructive practice of planned obsolescence and irresponsible overconsumption continue unchecked within the interior design industry? More to the point, why do interior designers promote and facilitate this thoughtless way of doing things? Because the economic business model upon which the industry thrives and revolves around is markedly underhanded. The interiors industry feeds itself perpetually by incorporating planned obsolescence into project design, which means that obsolescence and premature aging are assured when the designer promotes and insists upon including trends and poorly made disposable furnishings and materials in the project's design.
Regrettably, most interior design in this country is grounded in this idea of obsolescence. As a result, short-lived design concepts incorporating poorly made furnishings and materials with a very short lifecycle have become standard practice. In the United States, designer intention and manufacturer intent ignore the environmental impacts of trends, non-eco-friendly materials, overconsumption, mass-produced and shoddy furnishings, fixtures, and goods, and the unchecked depletion of natural resources. In other words, durability and staying power are not ordinarily part of the design equation. Unfortunately, most designers have brainwashed Americans to believe that discarding short-lived furnishings and trend-based designs is acceptable. When, in fact, trend-based designs are the archetype of wastefulness.
We encourage everyone to have a heart-to-heart conversation with their interior designer and architect when planning their next design project. Either that or reach out to us directly for a whole lot of straight-talk and no bullshit.
Here at Raven Vanguard, we believe that there is a place in this world for an environmentally-minded company that is utterly committed to championing artistic integrity, uncompromising comfort, exclusivity in design, impeccable attention to detail, traditional craftsmanship, and global awareness.
Part III is upcoming and will get into examples of real-world value, ecolabels, and the lifecycle of handmade, heirloom-quality furnishings and goods.
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated November 8, 2021
We presently face a global environmental catastrophe because of the interior design industry's ongoing failure to implement and prioritize sustainability principles. Of course, I am not suggesting that interior designers are the only guilty party here. Still, our industry is a much more significant culprit than most of us within it are willing to acknowledge.
Responsively, ever since Raven Vanguard opened its doors in May 2017, we've offered a value proposition to our clientele that stems from our ability to design for a project's longevity and sustainability, with the least amount of environmental impact possible. Unfortunately, however, and regrettably, most interior design in this country is grounded in the idea of built-in or planned obsolescence; meaning, short-lived and "trendy" design concepts incorporating poorly made furnishings and materials with a very short lifecycle. We will return to this contradiction in our next Once-Over. But, for now, let's turn back to the original subject of this post.
Undeniable fact one – climate change is real.
Undeniable fact two – the unrelenting consumption of substandard and cheaply made mass-produced goods made of inorganic, synthetic, non-recyclable, or short-lived materials is destroying the environment and precipitating climate change.
By now, almost everyone is familiar with the phrase fast fashion. And most of us readily acknowledge that the fast fashion industry has a carbon footprint that compares with many other insidious forms of industrial production and profiteering. However, notwithstanding the interior design industry's thoughtless promotion of the fast furniture industry, one that it is undoubtedly in bed with, some consumers are finally starting to realize that fast furniture making is also based on an exploitative business model.
Most furnishings, fixtures, and materials sold worldwide are mass-produced, of inferior quality, and constructed of environment-damaging materials (e.g., plastics and toxic chemicals). Moreover, so much furniture produced nowadays is of the disposable flatpack variety. Manufacturers intentionally design these products such that the product's lifecycle moves from point-of-sale to prematurely gone and of no further use in a heartbeat, with gone in this case meaning headed straight to the landfill because the materials used are not entirely recyclable or biodegradable.
Over the past decade, fast furniture has become one of the fastest-growing categories of landfill waste across the globe. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in the United States, fast furniture is indeed the most rapidly growing landfill category. The EPA tracks the amount of furniture and furnishings disposed of in landfills. According to its data, furniture waste generated in this country in 2018 totaled more than 12.1 million tons, with more than 80% being buried in a landfill, less than 20% being combusted for energy, and less than 1% being recycled. And to make matters significantly worse, the EPA does not include large and small appliances or carpet and rugs in these numbers. Statistics for these categories of municipal waste are tracked separately.
Now imagine what those numbers might look like when calculated across the globe? Everyone should read this data - https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/durable-goods-product-specific-data#FurnitureandFurnishings. And be sure to ask your interior designer, architect, and contractor about this information; I guess that many of them are entirely unaware. And if they are unaware but perpetuate the underlying practice, perhaps you can now educate them.
Part II is upcoming.
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated November 2, 2021
Today, we discuss the anatomy of a well-made and designed upholstered furnishing. Upholstered furnishings are central to nearly every successful design project, whether residential, hotel, or restaurant. For us, the holy grail of interior design involves using beautifully designed, hand-built, heirloom-quality furnishings capable of lasting several lifetimes created and produced by environmentally-minded artisans and makers. Here at Raven Vanguard, we receive countless emails asking how to go about selecting upholstered furnishings.
For starters, you should never purchase upholstered furnishings without first asking questions, lots of them. I cannot overstate the importance of this recommendation. And this recommendation stands whether you are buying your furnishings in person, online, or through an interior designer or architect.
What then are the enduring hallmarks of well-designed, exceptionally made, handcrafted upholstered furnishings? First, these furnishings will be handmade by environmentally-predisposed artisans and producers. So always ask about the manufacturers' ecological and sustainability initiatives and certifications and their commitment to using materials having minimal impacts on the environment.
Please think twice (make that ten times) before buying that cheaply-made, poorly designed, mass-produced piece of furniture constructed of particleboard or fiberboard, plastics, synthetic materials, and covered in chemical toxins and emitting formaldehyde. The antithesis of heirloom quality involves using trendy and cheaply-made, second-rate, short-lived mass-produced goods predestined for the landfill.
This is why you must ask questions about all of the materials used in constructing the piece of furniture that has caught your eye. First, ensure that all raw materials come from natural and renewable sources and that all hardwoods come from forests harvested sustainably. Look for nature-made solid woods like beech and birch, jute vegetable fibers, and innards like cotton, feathers, boar bristle, and horsehair. If any of the innards are treated, make sure they are treated with natural latex instead of human-made chemicals. If you are looking for a plant-based alternative to boar bristle, horsehair, or feathers, ask about coir or coconut fiber. Finally, make absolutely sure formaldehyde was not used in any of the materials utilized in constructing the furniture. (If the product contains any engineered, composite, or laminated wood, formaldehyde was probably used in the manufacturing process, so ask to see the product's CARB2 compliance certification).
When it comes to the construction techniques used, handmade always trumps machine-made. One significant concession to this rule is the limited use of CNC machines (Computer Numerical Control). So, if any machine making was involved, make sure it was a CNC machine only. Make certain the frame's construction is of solid kiln-dried hardwoods, hand-jointed and triple doweled to precise tolerances, and glued with natural adhesives.
Ask questions about the product's internal components and assembly. Look for the use of heavy, double cone steel springs that have been hand-tied into place for weight distribution and comfort rather than zigzag or lightweight spiral springs or an even cheaper alternative. Make sure the frame is augmented with broad bands of jute webbing rather than synthetic materials. Finally, ask if the frame's construction uses reinforcing or supporting linear support rails, corner blocks, or cleats.
Ask about all of the finishing details. Ask about the coverings used under the finishing fabric. Look for the inclusion of boar bristle or horsehair, feathers, cotton stuffing, and natural hessian, calico, felt, and muslin cloths. Make sure the finishing fabric is a durable natural fabric over a synthetic one. Ask about the durability and color-fastness of all surface materials. When asking about the fabric's durability, ask about its Martindale or Wyzenbeek abrasion ratings. Make sure your finishing fabric is precisely pattern matched before it is hand-sewn into place. If the furnishing includes finishing details like deep buttoning, pleats, tufts, ruching, gathering, piping, tape trim, and exposed nailheads or tacks, make sure that all of these details are done by hand, not a machine.
And by all means, ask about the product warranty, especially the duration of its frame guarantee. Also, try to get as much information about the product as you can in writing. At a minimum, you should obtain written confirmation of all warranty terms and any potential exclusions.
Lastly, make every effort to avoid furnishings covered in polyester fabrics or filled with polyester or other synthetic materials. Don't let anyone tell you that polyester-based materials are natural or environmentally-minded. This is nonsense. Polyester is a human-made, synthetic petroleum-based fiber, which means it comes from a non-renewable carbon-intensive resource and is made using toxic chemicals containing carcinogens.
Well then, when all is said and done, where does that leave you if you followed our advice? First, suppose the furnishing in question was chosen well and comes with a ten or more years warranty. In that case, you'll likely find yourself in possession of heirloom-quality furnishing that can be passed down from generation to generation as long as it is appropriately cared for and maintained. After all, consumption should be about responsibly choosing those things that truly matter to you, the production of which does not irreversibly harm the planet.
Raven Vanguard specializes in the selection and specification of heirloom-quality upholstered furnishings, and we have filled our showrooms at Raven Vanguard House with many of the finest examples. So, if you want to learn more about the art of upholstery, please get in touch with us to set up an appointment to discuss your options. Tom@ravenvanguard.com
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated October 31, 2021
The experience of one's home should be singular, meaning that it should be uniquely yours. Moreover, amidst this ongoing pandemic, we have come to a point in human history where the concept and the experience of home are more important now than ever before to ward off loneliness and foster a sense of togetherness.
When it comes to the artistic craft of residential interior design, what matters most to Raven Vanguard? Intimately connecting our clients to their space in ways they never imagined or thought possible.
Interior design should, first and foremost, tap into, ignite, and connect with the client's passions. After all, it is their living space, not ours. Interior design should never be the designer's vanity project at the expense of their client's individuality and needs. As designers, we believe that ours is a responsibility of dream fulfillment. Domicile is more than a roof over one's head; we conceive it as a place of unfolding discovery, a haven for the enjoyment of comfort and nuance, a refuge from the daily grind, and a wellspring of lasting memories.
Our clientele hires us because they see something in us that resonates with them. Yet, more often than not, our clients do not precisely know how to translate their imagination into reality. And, sometimes, our clients have absolutely no idea how to transform their living environment into their sanctuary. Consequently, we see ourselves in the role of creative and aesthetic guide, mentor, pathfinder, and confidante. The relationship between Raven Vanguard and our client is inviolable in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, when designers are unable or unwilling to reach a point of consanguinity with their clients, the final design inevitably fails.
Egos, we all have them. Accordingly, one of our Ten Raven Vanguard Commandments requires us to check our egos at your door because designers should never disregard their client's intent, objectives, or well-being.
Words according to Thomas, Co-Founder and Creative and Visual Director of Raven Vanguard
Entry dated October 20, 2021
Today’s altogether unpremeditated reflection is inspired by an email I received from our good friends at House of Hackney (www.houseofhackney.com ) in the UK.
I am not a minimalist. That spartan-like aesthetic has never worked for me. So, what is it about today’s pervasiveness of minimalism that I find so offputting? Lifelessness and austerity, for starters.
For me, being in a minimalistic space is utterly and excruciatingly soul-deadening. Rooms awash entirely in white, gray, beige, or any other similar neutral shade can most kindly be described as anodyne or innocuous. So, without fail, my first inclination when entering such a space is to do an immediate about-face and leave. And in leaving, I feel no sense of regret whatsoever, only a certainty that I am escaping an uninteresting and monotonous sensorial experience.
I design interior spaces guided by my notions of beauty, emotion, comfort, ever-present detail, singularity, sustainability, and the concept of lingering, all infused with an overarching sense of intimacy. So, yes, I am a romanticist at heart.
By contrast, the minimalist aesthetic results either from a lack of creativity (perhaps even borne out of the designer’s lack of confidence) or the exercise of unbridled restraint run amok; no matter the cause, the outcome is entirely barren, devoid of humanity and imagination. What else can I say? Minimalism is not my cup of tea.