Architecture, furniture and the modern world

[[WU...]]

@[Ju...] just following up on something you posted elsewhere and @[re...] might also be interested ?

 "literally whole entire communities full of people working in conjunction with each other to build an Empire for the hierarchy leaders."

This set up continued in Europe and still exists where manufacturing hasn't been switched to China. I know a bit about modern high-end European furniture. Whole towns in Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Italy  etc.. had the same name as the brand and literally the whole town worked there.  Everyone seemed happy about it as it was everyone's livelihoods and family life was at stake so they were loyal and stayed in their jobs forever.

I'm wondering if this is what happened with those huge monumental cathedrals and such like, so the workers were not slaves exactly but all part of a bigger plan to create something for future generations, and of course they got fed and housed which would have been another motivation.  It has always bothered me that "slaves" could be so skilled in masonry and glass and wood carving etc.  So it must have been organised and everyone accepted it and became a part of it. 

It is disappointing that so many of the best furniture brands went the same way as the fashion companies and sent their manufacturing to China so even if you are rich you are buying an inferior product, quite flimsy in comparison to the original item which gives off a certain atmosphere or resonance  when made in Europe, quite different from something made in China.  It certainly explains why the original mid-century modern items of furniture fetch such high prices at auction.

 

[[re...]]

Oh god YES!!!!!!!!! I could not believe the cathedrals in France when I briefly resided there for a music project. The care that went into it and even all the furniture in the houses was like so freaking heavy looking and strong with such detail.  I remember when IKEA came on the scene in Burbank when I lived in LA . Oh man was that place odd. But I, like many suburbanites came to dig it unfortunately. But when I went to Europe that all changed and I got a lesson in art in everything. Everything then (2009) was about art and expression and music. What different audiences than America. They just have this appreciation of music regardless of genre. If it is good it is good and they welcome you. 

If you watch the movie fight club Edward Norton's character talks all about the buying stuff we can't afford so we keep working to keep buying and his whole house is this IKEA museum kind of. 

They cared so much back then about the purpose of what they were building and it was built to me with divine intervention and or at least some kind of inspiration from the soul over commerce. Now it's so utter soulless the architecture. When I lived in Phoenix it was such an ugly strip mall with some nice Frank Lloyd Wright stuff in between. I do feel we are in a dystopian movie with how bad everything looks the same and has such a blah feeling. j

[[WU...]]

1 hour ago, [[r...] said:

some kind of inspiration from the soul

That's exactly how they appear to me, as though our spirit built them, not our everyday survival mode brain. All our senses are fully engaged when we step inside these cathedrals. The choir, the bells ringing, incense, the light from the stained glass windows, the way voices vibrate, everything becomes super natural. 

Surprising to find the etymology of the word cathedral is seat, chair, bench, so we are back to furniture again !  How bland is that. I wonder what these buildings were called originally, I doubt they were called cathedrals at all, it was only when the bishops moved in and realised the power these buildings had......I do think we are missing something valuable from our history

[[Pa...]]

I don't know if this topic is sustainable but if you're interested, or there is enough interest you could start a Group, here are some others. Groups - Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Support (benzobuddies.org)

[[WU...]]

Thanks @[Pa...] for the suggestion. I started this because we went way off topic before but if its already under the Off topic section then we wouldn't go off topic again ! 😀

Edited March 6 by [WU...]

[[Pa...]]

Its fine to discuss this here, I was just making you aware of another resource this software has to offer.  

[[Ju...]]

I was a little confused as to why it was off topic in the first place, it was my topic. I still get confused by the rules on this website.

[[Ju...]]

19 hours ago, [[W...] said:

@[Ju...] just following up on something you posted elsewhere and @[re...] might also be interested ?

 "literally whole entire communities full of people working in conjunction with each other to build an Empire for the hierarchy leaders."

This set up continued in Europe and still exists where manufacturing hasn't been switched to China. I know a bit about modern high-end European furniture. Whole towns in Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Italy  etc.. had the same name as the brand and literally the whole town worked there.  Everyone seemed happy about it as it was everyone's livelihoods and family life was at stake so they were loyal and stayed in their jobs forever.

I'm wondering if this is what happened with those huge monumental cathedrals and such like, so the workers were not slaves exactly but all part of a bigger plan to create something for future generations, and of course they got fed and housed which would have been another motivation.  It has always bothered me that "slaves" could be so skilled in masonry and glass and wood carving etc.  So it must have been organised and everyone accepted it and became a part of it. 

It is disappointing that so many of the best furniture brands went the same way as the fashion companies and sent their manufacturing to China so even if you are rich you are buying an inferior product, quite flimsy in comparison to the original item which gives off a certain atmosphere or resonance  when made in Europe, quite different from something made in China.  It certainly explains why the original mid-century modern items of furniture fetch such high prices at auction.

I'm not sure about Europe, but I know that the massive mansions that were built in the Americas, had a lot of slave labor, particularly in the South with the railroads being built. They used to have chain labor that would build huge structures for the Vanderbilt family, along with the railroads that funded the structures.

There were also several neighborhoods outside of these massive houses, that became small towns and turned into cities, it wouldn't have been possible without the hierarchy. I guess it's kind of similar to modern day times, we have Amazon and Walmart and the people sitting at the top with the huge luxury mansions, employing all the "regular" people. But are we grateful for Jeff Bezos and the Walton family? That's a whole different story.

Things have changed a lot as well though, modern days are not the same. We are so far detached from nature, and so far detached from tribes. We're even far detached from family these days. I'm assuming that's part of the problem with the world, everything is technology and work and government bureaucracy and materialism these days for the most part.

I completely understand what you guys mean about the quality of furniture too. It goes with housing these days as well, things used to be built with a real "solid thud" when closed, and it was thick and durable. Now everything is quickly manufactured flimsy unreliable cheap wood with sharp edges, that rattles or vibrates, or doesn't even close properly.

Think about cars even. Most new cars are in the shop every few months for a recalled part. Back in the day they were built like tanks, you could even swap parts from multiple different cars and it would still work fine. It would run for years and years, even if you beat it to sh*t.

Same thing happened to food though. Food used to be nutritious and grown naturally. Now look, huge modified Farms grown in synthetic materials. Lacking a good majority of its nutrients and vitamins, apparently not even doing our bodies much good anymore. It sucks, everything went downhill.

I guess you could still make the argument that some people are living really well and Sotheby's mansions and Hall and Hall ranches and Berkshire Hathaway homes with the top notch foods to go along with it, and most expensive cars. But those aren't the average people, and everyone else is living sub average. It seems like it's a new age gilded era on steroids.

[[WU...]]

Everything that gets built today seems temporary. OK we are temporary ourselves but previous generations gave some thought to the people who would follow. Why don't we do this anymore?  The spirit side of our nature must be furious with us for building such ugliness all over the place. A travel guy I watch who recently visited Lulea at the top of Sweden showed us the most hideous new town they are building, could have been Dubai or some other soulless place. It really is a total global meltdown when it comes to new buildings. Can you think of anywhere new that is truly impressive? I'm scratching my head......

Talking of The Guilded Age buildings I was looking at one called The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. Its incredible a building that huge could have been built in two years from 1893 to 1895. No big machinery plant, no power tools. Where did all the stone come from? Wiki doesn't give much info, but we would be hard pushed to build that now in a similar time frame. Imagine all the skilled people needed. So many other of those Gilded Age buildings have impossible construction time frames. There are some alternative theories out there which sound wacky at first but I am starting to wonder.......