Cycles

A story about trends

One thing I appreciate about my work as a homebuilder is the tangibility. At the end of the day, I have something which wasn’t there in the morning, and if everything goes to plan, will be there for a long time to come. Though the reality of residential construction is that building a new house often means tearing down an old one, which presents the opportunity to examine other eras of design memorialized through that same tangibility.

I could talk about the usual suspects: shag carpet, floral wallpaper, popcorn ceilings. However, the trend du jour aside, I find myself more interested in why things come in and out of fashion—why one generation falls in love with something, only for the next to turn their backs on it altogether—and what that might tell us about the things we’re doing today.

To stick with construction for one more example, a friend of mine used to remodel adobe homes in Santa Fe. Picture them: dusty pink exterior, exposed timbers passing to the inside, plastered walls . . . basic construction for thousands of years. Then comes the invention of drywall, 2x4s shipped from Canada, fiberglass insulation. At first, this is only for rich people (relegating adobe to the “economic” method of building), meaning a lot of adobe timbers got covered up. Now, jump to the present and this has entirely reversed. Framed / drywalled homes are cheap. Adobe is expensive (read: back in). And so—in an analogue to the suburban practice of pulling carpet from hardwood floors—my friend spent a lot of time ripping drywall off beams.

And this exposes the push-and-pull of which all popular culture is subject: timely vs timeless.

Anything popular must, by definition, be timely—of the moment, that is, capturing the vibe of the times—TikTok challenges, social outrage, footwear. But time moves fast, evermore so with technology, and if the popularity of these things seems fleeting it’s because of the inherent exploitation. When a trend is bandwagoned by every creative on social media, it loses its luster; then it is onto whatever’s next, like a cultural hamster wheel taking us nowhere.

But, occasionally, something popular persists long enough to become timeless. As the flow of culture moves onward, it gains meaning, becoming more interesting, especially if it falls in-and-out of favor a couple of times along the way. Timelessness is about respect: respecting a material, a craft, a subject, even an era. It’s the simplicity of cooking with quality ingredients and a pinch of salt. It’s the minimal finish on a figured piece of walnut. It’s the quiet, considered take, not sensationalism.

However, truly great pieces of culture are both timely and timeless. Like this (my absolute favorite video on the internet):

The pursuit of popularity is neither timely nor timeless. Both are intrinsic to a given thing itself and only, well, time will tell if it’s got the goods or not. But I think this line from Maya Angelou sums up the chances:

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

That goes for people—but I’d say it goes for trends, too.

-Martin

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