7 thoughts on “awesome vacuum cleaner”

  1. Bleh, its handheld. Sucks little and a lot at the same time.

    Why in the hell is the white one $10 more than the others? Thats vacuum racism right there.

    Its cool that its not overpriced like 99% of things that fall under “designer” stuff. 400 bucks for a desklamp? Probably cost 5 bucks to make.

  2. diny, if you wanna pay for things based on how much they cost, you can easily have a $5 lamp consisting of a lightbulb and an on/off switch mounted on a wooden stick. designer stuff is overpriced because the creativity, thought, education and aesthetic qualities that are contained within a designer item have a cost thats quite a bit more than the physical materials. why am i telling this to a FRIGGIN DESIGN MAJOR? :P

    an easier answer would be ‘400 dollar lamps exist because people who want to buy 400 dollar lamps exist.’

  3. “designer stuff is overpriced because the creativity, thought, education and aesthetic qualities that are contained within a designer item have a cost thats quite a bit more than the physical materials.”

    As a FRIGGIN DESIGN MAJOR, im gonna tell you that it made no sense. If you involve the creativity, thought, education, and aesthetic qualities, then it wouldnt be overpriced in the first place. Lets not forget that we’re talking about lamps here, not rocket science.

    And your analogy isnt exactly accurate. I wasnt talking about a wooden stick, i was talking about something that looks exactly the same and serves the same purpose, sans the “designer” label.

    Look at Ferraris. How much do you think they cost to develop and build? A hell of a lot. Do they cost a hell of a lot? You bet your ass they do.

    But lamps? As a design major, they are some of the most insanely priced things I’ve seen around when it comes to “designer” household items.

    The real deal is that, as you said, not only there are people who want to buy 400 dollar lamps, but people who buy a “designer lamp” putting a hell of a lot more weight on the word “designer” than on the word (and item) “lamp.”

    But even with all that, they are still overpriced to me.

    TRIVIA: It was actually a genius idea by the Italians to invest in the lampshade business after WW2 in order to help rebuild the country: Cheap to make, sell for lots.

  4. ‘something that looks exactly the same and serves the same purpose, sans the “designer” label’ – but then it wouldn’t serve exactly the same purpose, because a designer lamp serves the purpose of being a designer product, which is an end in itself. it can be comparable to art – a painting that looks like a pollock, but actually isnt, is worth $5 (there was a story a while ago about a woman who bought one of those at a hock shop, and later it turned out to be an authentic pollock worth $1+ million). so a lamp that looks good, but isnt designer, will not make the owner feel good about owning a real piece of art.

    does a painting cost a lot to develop and make? then why do people pay so much money for them? because it is a designer decoration. if you look at lamps as an expression of the art of design, the high price tag makes more sense. i’m not saying i would pay 400 bucks for a lamp, but i can see myself paying premium for a designer product, if it makes me feel better about owning it. i dont think i’m being materialistic as much as being aware of good design in everyday objects and appreciating it.

  5. I think she bought the painting at a garage sale, then a history professor of hers dropped by her house after she told him of such painting, and it ended up being an authentic pollock worth 15 million bucks….American :P

    And yes, I do know that the “purpose” of “designer” stuff can be tosomehow make the buyer feel better (thats enough material for 4 essays right there), but since we’re getting backtracked here, I’ll slingshot back to where we started:

    I said that, unlike most “designer” products, the vacuum was not overpriced (in my sense, at least). This meant that a vacuum cleaner that looks hella cool and has a nice design costs about the same (if not less) as your average handheld vacuum. This is rare (or so it hit me as such), and i compared it to lamps because they are the first thing that comes to mind when i think of overpriced design material.

  6. i agree with scarf.

    ALWAYS

    except about … something, that i currently forgot.

    :P

    that was supposed to be wittier.

  7. olya – work/job search stuff ;-) your comment thing doesnt want to remember my name! how rude.

    diny – right, the vacuum is reasonably priced, but i was arguing the fact that most designer things are overpriced, because i dont think they are. or maybe they are, but there is a reason behind it, its not like the $120 t-shirt that just says ‘prada’ on it.

Comments are closed.