Wow, for minimalists we sure make a lot of noise. Search the web and you’ll find all kind of minimalists spouting off about the virtues of "less is more" and how "form follows function." Why, even big corporations are putting out minimalist ads in the big glossy rags.
So why, do you ask, do we need another article on the subject? We minimalists have nothing left in our houses and have driven off all our friends, so we have nothing else to do but extol the virtues of minimalism. No really, the real reason is because of something profound that happened to us recently.
We were talking to some twenty-something-year-old friends about minimalist music, art, and design. (Actually that's not really true; we were talking about something completely different, but we always look for ways to change the theme of any conversation to minimalist design.) Then I mentioned something about Andy Warhol. When we saw the blank look of confusion on their faces, we realized these poor underprivileged girls had no idea who we were talking about.
It was even worse than we initially thought. We mentioned other names to see if any brain synapses were connecting: The Velvet Underground: nothing. American Music Club: zip. Mies Van Der Rohe, Jennifer Sterling: oh my, this is bad. The Latin Playboys: nada. What do they teach in schools these days?
We could see we had our work cut out for us. How do you go about helping a couple of young, impressionable minds to appreciate the virtues of minimalist design? Handbags. Yes, you read correctly, handbags - and other women's accessories.
I recently stumbled upon the website of designer Marc Jacobs, which is a beautiful presentation of minimalist web design. Okay granted, too much Flash (no, not the glittery kind, go ask a computer nerd then come back), but oh so very clean (also, not very functional, but who cares; he's rich and famous).
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