1/ I predict Islamic-inspired design will be one of the most influential design trends of the 2020s
I spent yesterday at the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur and encountered many incredible pieces that demonstrate why
2/ Scandinavian-style utilitarian minimalism has been so dominant for so long it’s inevitable we’ll now go in the opposite direction
Islamic design is baroque, daring, intricate, while also remaining highly functional
3/ There is a willingness to question forms so common in the West that we don’t think to question them. These objects come from such a different environment and culture that their evolution has taken a different path
4/ There is a love of detail work as a kind of devotion, dedicating obscene amounts of human time and attention to the cause of beauty in a way you rarely see in the modern West
6/ The architecture is especially amazing of course. Every element has a meaning, and references the others like a latticework holding the worshipper (which everyone is assumed to be)
I’ll take that long bet. I think you’re wrong here. That kind of Islamic art comes from peak imperial periods and a particular pattern of unaccountable high elitism. It’s a mark of economic surplus and inequality in a low-tech age.
The west will go far more rustic and rough hewn. Elites have better Veblen goods with which to signal wealth than high labor intricate art. Like private jets.