bill83042

I love the personality given to the box lid. Makes Art vs. Craft.

I am a professional Industrial Designer. I have done silversmithing, sculpture, watercolors as fine art also. My opinion: The key word is Evolution. All art or design is an evolving thing. That is why we have "periods" of painting or furniture. Then something in our environment causes or forces or injects a new direction. Sometimes the changes are subtle over a long period of time. The first few years, homes built by settlers on this continent where very different that their european homes. They used what was here, possibly influenced by the Indians, definitely influenced by time and climate. As they passed through the survival issues they returned to their european traditions and adapted to new materials and evolved into some now classic periods of almost everything, not just furniture.
There have been some interesting discussions in FWW on experimental design many done by students. Searching for newness at any expense including it's commercial potential. This is fine art at it's best. It will evolve over time and begin to influence all of us. In the mean time, especially if earning a living is important, we all work within acceptable norms that our spouses or clients allow. Reality.