Thesis Research: The Good Goods Catalogue by Philippe Stark

Philippe Stark saw the turn of the millennium as a symbolic date, a chance for us to reflect on consumer culture: our lives, our society and about the world in which we live. He believes that, at this point we need to ask ourselves if we are really happy? Do we like what we see and can we see room for improvements in our society?

He is concerned about the curious lack of action from our ‘so-called’ leaders, questioning the quiet nature in which many sit with no suggestions for improving our lives, and believes that we need to say what we think and take more responsibility, because we can’t just wait for our leaders to take initiative.

Philippe Stark’s vision:

Man found himself many a time a slave to the tools he created to serve him. Although there are a few rare objects whose integrity, practicality and sense of purpose have remained intact, a plethora of others exist only for themselves, without humour, love or fancy. Farewell dreams of happiness, I therefore tried to find, collect, correct, or create (when necessary) objects which are honest, responsible and respectful to people. Not necessarily beautiful objects, but good object.

Today, I am able to offer you a catalogue of these objects, a compendium I would like to call a catalogue of "non-products for non-consumers". The non-consumer is an individual who is alert and wary, but also open, creative, enthusiastic and finally extremely upstream and modern.

www.philippe-stark.com

My criticism of projects like this one is that it seems like the whole thing functions more as a marketing ploy, as just another way to keep up with / create new trends. I looked through the catalogue and found myself quite disappointed when I saw the reasons why these goods were ‘good’. I was particularly disappointed after reading about his vision first, it outlined such and ideal, but some of the weakest ideas that were materialised included a range of ‘fun’ colours for a satisfied customer. Sure, the customer needs to be satisfied with their new purchase so that they value it and maintain it well for a long life, but it’s a pretty weak approach. It also weakens the whole vision altogether.