Conversation

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
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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
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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
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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
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5/ There is a concern for the quality of things, for color and light that can only happen when it diffuses through many overlapping layers
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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)
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7/ And contrary to popular belief, there are many different Islamic architecture styles, stretching from Siberia to Cape Town, Dakar to Mindanao
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Replying to
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.
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