When Designers are Idiots

Well at least these guys can admit to it. Afke Golsteijn and Floris Bakker make up the bizarre design duo Idiots, and whilst I admire their modesty and self-deprecation, I'm not too sure about their actual designs.

According to their website...

Their art is characterized by the use of animal material that is carefully patched up and put into significant positions, combined with rich materials such as embroidery, pearls and gold. A contemporary touch is given to the classical memento mori concept, questioning the way the world nowadays seems to be determined by nothing else than just marketing. In a constantly twisting play between fantasy and reality Idiots emphasizes the borderline between life and death. The striking beauty and the vividness of the animals that figure in the works provoke an immediate attraction, but directly after the first glance one starts wondering what is going on exactly, thrilled by the perspective of transience that is brought forward. Animals are reborn to remind people of the life they lived, but also to suggest an alternative history, in which they rule the world. The resemblance to the archetypes known from fables and fairy tales is obvious. From a similar moral perspective Idiots criticizes the contemporary way of life, athough the representation of these famous stories is not the duo’s main aspiration. If one can speak of a certain objective in Idiots’ art it is to bring people closer to an honest perception of reality pictured through a lens of critical fantasy.

Kind of interesting, but incredibly self important. Frankly, I think they just enjoy playing with stuffed animals and precious gems.