If it is a view to the past or a retrospective of perception of comfort through a grandma’s cozy room, then it is ok. As a retro. However, I am talking about imperfection, doing a sloppy job and cheapness. “Lowcost” versus “highend”. Lowcost as something cheap, superficial and fast. Highend as something perfect, thoughtfully designed and elegant. Highend as an overview of craftsmanship. A human skill. When you are able to perceive how much of manual work, brain activity and emotions is in this craftsmanship, you simply cannot look with love at a pallet table, roughly shaved and nailed somewhere in Ukraine. Pallet that is intended to “decorate” your interior or serve as a storage space for your grandma’s preciously kept English china.
What scares me the most though, is that this has become a repeating phenomenon. Each mistake is intentional. And this is pretty much beyond the normal. Beyond the borders of aesthetics, design or art. To elevate a mistake to intention. It is like if you wanted your hairdresser to cut your hair ends and he would dye your hair in green convincing you that it really suits you. It would definitely bother you. You were just naturally and without any fight pulled into the swirl of trendiness in Slovakia. Each mistake, let’s call it rather “imperfection” is uniqueness. And I mean it. Let’s say I am quite used to cafés filled with dusty chalks, basil and pallets. I categorize such places as “coffee to go” and I do not see them as places for inspiration, relax and contemplation. When I visited one anonymous restaurant in Bratislava last time, I started to ask myself: “How is this even possible?” How can someone cut the edge of the wall, plaster it and leave it to make it seem like “it will be the raw element of the interior”. And there were many of such things, much more. From unevenness and holes in facing to broken stairs, unpaired chairs or shelves with sickly herbs hung askew, which were probably supposed to be used as kitchen spices. There was so much of everything that I could not even look at it. I am asking myself: “Am I the only one bothered by it? Am I the only one who is irritated? Is anyone else in here who is bothered? Why are you then bothered by a crooked seam on your dress? By an imperfect cut of your fringe? Different shade of your car bumper when the guys in a car repair shop failed to match the paint?” You are mysteriously bothered by these. However, pictures hung askew, plastered brick wall, scrapped off bar or uneven edges are surprisingly perceived by everyone as a beauty of a raw detail. Ladies and gentlemen, this has nothing to do with beauty. It is not even a raw detail. Raw means natural, extracted from nature or production with no final surface treatment. Raw is a concrete construction, untreated solid wood with knots or even bark, raw is a steel chain. Shipping rope. This means raw. And everything is perfect in its principle. Raw does not mean to do a sloppy job and not to finish it. Raw does not mean lowcost. Raw means only roughness without its subsequent detail of craft skill. The craft skill which principle lies in sense and art. This adds grace and charm in the end. The value. The value of human labor. The value of a person who has learned for years, studied materials and tools, improved his/her craft and spent his/her time in processing to provide you with something perfect in the end. Perfect details, joints, surfaces with no cuts and imperfections. I believe that everybody deserves perfection. Its beauty. Indeed, unless one does not care.
Mistake is really not art. Nor it should become a trend. It is just a common human failure. Ordinary unskill. Do not call it art.