Subjectivity in Self-Historicization: Design and Mediation of a “New Danish Modern” Living Room Set

ABSTRACT

The article looks into the flexible and strategically motivated “subjective” selection of historical references in the design and mediation of Camping—a set of living room furniture designed by Jesper K. Thomsen and launched by the retailer Normann Copenhagen in 2009 under the heading “New Danish Modern.” Thus, the case is an example of how design history constitutes a discursive and material reservoir that design actors can employ and engage with for their own purposes. Starting out in a formal description of the design, the article analyzes how Camping in its design and mediation deliberately plays on the consumption of meaning and in this bypasses the stated cultural frame and symbolic meaning of Danish Modern. Camping entails a meaning structure and self-conscious meaning reflection that can be regarded as a discrete and downplayed version of the experimental design that, for example, can be seen in the Dutch Droog design.

KEYWORDS:

• design history
• Danish Modern
• symbolic meaning
• mediation
• self-reflective design
• Droog design