Theory #7: Pauline Garvey on Practicality

We can understand practicality, that ubiquitous justification for consumption and decoration choices, as "an idiom through which an acceptable image of individual priorities is projected." 

How to Have a 'Good Home': The Practical Aesthetic and Normativity in Norway. 2003.  Journal of Design History, 16(3).

Announcement #1

The editors of this blogodrome, Practical Aesthetics, are unabashedly dames.  Our advice is designed for our own consumption.  

If you're butch or masculine or a dude or what-have-you, use our advice at your own risk.  Despite our abiding interest in gender piracy, we are only really experienced in the art of feminine gender performance.  From what we can tell masculine gender performance requires lots of props and words we don't understand.  

Bros?

Children Prepare for Their Divergent Destinies

I like the microcosmic effect of a doll's house or architectural model displayed as wall or coffee table decoration.

Two Images of Queen Mary's Doll House

Derelict Doll House

Modern Mid-Century Inspired Doll House

Mexican Doll House

Lundby Doll House

Panorama Doll House

Heather Benning's Life-Sized Doll House

Can insensate life forms really be held accountable for their tastefulness?

The answer is yes. This specimen of Philodendron scadens, also known as "Sweetheart Plant" or "Parlor Ivy" is an especially egregious offender. Seduced by the facility with which Philodendron scadens can be grown from cutting, many an unsuspecting home decorator is victimized by this cliched citizen of the vegetable kingdom. Other unfortunate choices include the Asparagus fern, Dumb cane, Peace lily, Schefflera, Ficus benjamina, Spider plant, and Table fern.