Selling Time: Multiple Temporalities in the Promotion of Danish Design Classics

Abstract

Abstract The promotion of design classics was established in Denmark in the 1960s, turning Danish Modern into a tradition, and today it is carried out through institutionalized discourses and multiple temporalities, as we show in the cases of the Wishbone Chair and the Vipp brand. There has been much critique of the canonization of design classics, but little research literature on the concept itself, compared to related concepts such as icons or retro. Drawing on theories from design historiography, sociology, material culture studies and the hermeneutic philosophy of history to examine ageing objects, temporal values and non-synchronicity, these cases sketch multiple layers of temporality, offering very different experiences and values depending on how much engagement, knowledge and time the consumer might be able to invest. That classics are mainly praised as timeless objects stands against a promotion loaded with temporal layers of age, memory and history.