Hey, did you notice that we were in the New York Times today? They quoted our own papa bear Andrew Wagner on a story about “Butch Craft.” It’s an article about an exhibition at Moss featuring furniture and objects (and design in general) that has been somehow manhandled or roughhoused in the name of artisanship before landing in a home. Andrew gets it spot-on when he says it’s super brilliant marketing.

Butch—something hyper-masculine so that it almost parodies itself, or a masculine veneer applied to something inherently feminine—is one of those slippery concepts that lubricates itself with confusion the more you try to define it. I wear dresses, heels, makeup, but prefer to hold the door open, fix the doorjamb, change the tire. What makes something less girl than boy? Are these terms relevant anymore? Are we being sexist for even talking about it? And do you really want a gender and queer theory discussion hovering around your accent table?

In Moss’s own PR, they say they “accept that addressing a prosaic function doesn’t lead necessarily to a prosaic object.” By this definition, just about anything in ReadyMade is “Butch Craft.” The main difference is we don’t have a bouncer with a clipboard checking to see if your name’s on the list before you’re allowed to see it.

[image of Oscar Magnus Narud's Keel side table]

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