The appetite of western consumers for home furnishings has reached its peak – according to Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer.
The Swedish company’s head of sustainability told a Guardian conference that consumption of many familiar goods was at its limit.
“If we look on a global basis, in the west we have probably hit peak stuff. We talk about peak oil. I’d say we’ve hit peak red meat, peak sugar, peak stuff … peak home furnishings,” Steve Howard said [...]
— the Guardian
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ha - head of sustainability at ikea, what a joke -
ikea produces garbage - resource to manufacturing to landfill - only question is how long somebody is going to hold on to a 100 gauge aluminum saucepan or piece of shit particle board furniture.
There is an absolute glut of everything. We are awash in cars, televisions, clothes, phones, furniture, food, books, movies - name a product and not only can you have it delivered overnight you can search globally for the lowest price with free delivery. Producers of raw materials are compensating for falling prices by increasing production, hoping to maintain profit margins. Manufacturers seek new products (self-driving cars) and obsolete recent tech (iPhones, etc.) to stand apart in oversaturated markets.
We hit the peak alright
depressing.
bullshit. i'm not done buying.
I know I've hit peak stuff. Except for boots and cashmere sweaters. I'm always, always on the lookout for more of those.
Everything from pork bellies, orange juice concentrate, oil, metals, food and housing - has been commoditized: speculated, leveraged, manipulated, shorted, insured and repackaged as investment vehicles for resale to hungry "investors". Prices have very little to do with cost and everything to do with options and futures. For example, a barrel of light sweet crude oil costs about a dollar, not including the steel drum that holds it.
Even bankers are worried that ongoing political malfeasance (what's not stated here but is implicitly clear is that such political action has been entirely on the bankers' behalf) has led to destabilizing global turmoil that threatens profit.
Until we begin valuing those things that have intrinsic value (health, environment, etc.) we will continue the ever-accelerated descent into chaos. Black Elk said "The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it." It's not that he doesn't know how, it's that the stuff has more value as a tool of control.
It's a crisis of values. As Buddha says, everything is connected.
Architecture has intrinsic value! Good arch that is.
*waves hand to crowd*
Unfortunately the media is trying its hardest to turn arch into "stuff" ... From celebrity designed gadget architecture to prefab ikea junk to tweet able diagram logo design garb. It's no wonder why Brutalism is being demo-ed. It's not easily branded and doesn't give that quick fix.
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