I think Artek’s 2nd Cycle is a fantastic idea. It just hits the right notes with a beautiful tone. While part of it celebrates the cult of authenticity the other part of it denies it and highlights the utilitarian everyday aspects of these wonderful products. 2nd Cycle is a romantic ode to our memories and without a memory there isn’t anything to build on.

This short piece was written in the early hours of Finnish Independence Day. 90 today. Finland or Finnish culture wouldn’t exist without our 19th century national philosopher J.V. Snellman. Snellman was a man with a mission to put Hegel’s grand narratives into the service of Finnish identity and culture.

My favourite Snellman quote – taking out of context, of course – is not very grand but it has the Hegelian structure of three stages. It’s something like “first you have to learn your craft, then you have to become someone and only after that you enter the stage in your life where you can possess something.” As this is not an academic study I will not even try to trace the original context of this quote and simply take the freedom to apply it for this short piece.

Look at any of Artek’s 2nd Cycle chairs and you should be able to see the pattern. Perfection of craft – achieved. Worldwide recognition – achieved. The possession of something – provenance, dignity, memory, lifeline… it just couldn’t be better articulated. I’m simply proud to be a member of Artek Community.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 12:47 and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.