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Lasting Impressions:
Design pieces that stand the test of time
Many a designer will proudly state that their latest
creation is timeless. We roll our eyes because claiming
longevity before time has had its say is highfalutin.
Beauty may belong in the eye of the beholder, but
timelessness is born in the sands of, well, time.
Defining timelessness in design is rather futile. It
asks us to suspend subjective feelings and subscribe
instead to a universal set of principles that underscore
‘good design’, defying time, technology, trend or
taste. Timelessness is, by its nature, elusive. As an
overused descriptor, it teeters on the brink of
obsoletion, heading down the same rubbish chute
as iconic, sustainable, classic and authentic.
Hold the lid though. Beyond the hollow bombast
of the word ‘timelessness’, the qualities of designing
for the long-term are precisely what we need to
strive for and celebrate. Call us pedantic about
semantics, but if we replaced the offending word
with some of its adjacent terms – circular, renewable,
repairable, dismountable, adaptable, regenerative –
then timelessness becomes literal, laudable and
perhaps even accurate. The longer we spend grappling
with the impossibility of design being anything
other than extractive, the more we settle on endurance
as its only viable claim of responsibility. With this
in mind, timeless should describe the process and
the system of design, not the product.
What follows here is our selection of furniture,
lighting, objects and materials that in their own
ways demonstrate a commitment to longevity. Some
are defiantly innovative; some are reissued; some
have in-built lifetime repair guarantees from their
manufacturers; some are eternally adaptable or
reconfigurable. Old or new, we feel confident claiming
that each has and will stand up to the test of time.
Though time itself will be the judge of that.
