Violent By Design

"Whether it is fear or rage that lurks in the heart of design's new infatuation with killer style is hard to call.

What is clear is that design and decor are – despite popular assumption – far from removed from the struggles of contemporary politics and culture.

They are, in fact, responding in an expressive, even pointed way to the violence that is all too visible in today's headlines.

In a recent interview with the European e-zine designboom, Starck described his guns collection as a sign of the times.

“After just a short period of enlightenment, the shadows return, fast, dense and menacing,” he lamented. “Nowadays we kill – religiously, militarily, civilly … out of ambition, out of greed, for the fun of it or the show.

“We get,” he concluded prophetically, “the symbols we deserve.”"

GlobeandMail: Violent By Design by Karen von Hahn, April 5, 2008

Art: Tears of a Clown, 2007, Martin Lea Brown