Vintage view: Pre-Pack

The word ‘design’ comes up everywhere in antiques, collecting, art, and interiors, and the idea of appreciating ‘design’ terrifies most of us.

It’s seems to be this rarefied state of understanding, something apart from everyday mortals that must be interpreted, distilled, and explained.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Look around your house at attractive things that do their job — every one of them is a piece of successful design. Every tea tin, stool, light fitting, and fabric was on the board of an industrial designer, some creating the colour and pattern to be applied, others the way the packaging flipped opened or how that table extended.