A Collective Blind Spot

Hidden in plain sight. In every town I visit, I find discarded furniture. I’m never looking for it. I’m just not blind to it in the way others are. No matter how much a piece stands out, once absorbed into the local rhythms, life dances around it like it’s not even there.

It’s one of our collective blind spots. Why does every community seem to suffer from this same affliction? What does this mean locally, and at scale? More dump trucks? More startups? How did we get here? While it may be easy and popular to blame fast furniture, the situation is deeper, more complex. Who has benefited most from the current status quo? Least? Who’s shaping our furniture future? Do we care?

And p.s., can we find a way to make it financially feasible and not cost prohibitive to use local skilled labor to make big, beautiful desks that no one seems to want anymore into something relevant already? Landfilling this because it’s primary shape and form is outdated is a tragedy.