"This Is the Complex Legacy of Modernism"

"Of course, some might say that Mari had it all wrong and Kamprad had it right: that, practically speaking, designers have to dance to capitalism's tune, so they may as well learn to like it. There is certainly variation across the discipline. Graphic design in particular lends itself to gestures of protest, from punk album covers to handmade banners. But architecture and product design, where the big money is, have always been service businesses. And what they serve is profitability. Mari himself was sustained by commissions from Danese and other companies. He did try to infuse every one of his products with humanistic values and make them affordable. But he was still making commodities, and it pained him. In the above-quoted interview, he mused, 'My wife, who is an intelligent woman, totally despises all design. Even what I did.' But what other option did he have?"

Glenn Adamson in The Nation tells the story of "[t]he Communist Designer, the Fascist Furniture Dealer, and the Politics of Design."