Howdy y’all, I chatted with my friend Bianca Stilwell:
for the second episode of SAMI REISS RADIO, now with improved audio quality, about the diminishing state of new D2C furniture lately, as reported on in the Wall St. Journal recently and in the Washington Post in the fall.
Episode: We know couches like those by Joybird aren’t well made. But why is it like this? From a production standpoint and a market standpoint?
Bianca, who used to produce leather, gives insight to the 30-year slide of furniture production… and talks about aesthetics and taste. Unlike the scam Beanie Baby situation, there is a way out. It is buying used furniture and being creative.
Show notes:
1:00: Intro (with opera music)
3:00: Arne Jacobsen, D2C and Instagram
5:00 How the pandemic exploded the furniture market
6:00: The post-NAFTA age of fake leather
10:00: Everything in thrifts is bad quality because it’s mostly less than 20 years old
13:00: IKEA not ass?
15:00 Vintage is all that is left for the middle class?
17:00: Glory day lore re: thrifts 15 years ago
23:00: Folk art, customization
29:00: Danish people don’t know what video games are
29:07: Show is over
Selected reading:
My newsletter about how to win furniture on LiveAuctioneers
Selected Early Week Quick Hits:
Colombo Spider lamp for Oluce, Ct., $50 ends Tues… (this is the 4th best lamp ever made)
Vico Magistretti Maralunga settee, Ct., $80 (insane deal)
FLW Philip wax cigar lighter in Ultraman colors, Mn., $400 (what can’t he do)
Bertoia bench, NJ, $550 ends Wed… (simple, easy, a bit too wide, still good)
Codan flatware service, $400, Phila. (real good detail with the spotting)
This episode was edited by Anonymous Snake Intern 007.
Thanks for listening.
Snake
SAMI REISS RADIO 002: THE BLEAK QUALITY OF NEW/D2C FURNITURE AND HOW TO OVERCOME IT (WITH BIANCA STILWELL/MONTE VISION)