What to say about this 1985 edition of the Habitat Catalogue that I haven't said before? It's probably not the worse, I suppose. From what I've seen of it the 1982/3 edition is maybe a contender for that award, although 1988 is a strong runner. Like the 1981/2 catalogue, which I reviewed last year, there does seem to a general aesthetic falling off. This 1985 edition, I should point out, is the edition I mentioned in my post on 'English Style' by Suzanne Slesin & Stafford Cliff.
As usual there are several Habitats on display. To begin with there are the six templates, or looks, to be found in the introduction of Terence Conran's 'The House Book' of 1972. For the uninitiated these six templates are: 'Country House', 'Farm House', 'Town House', 'Mediterranean', 'International', and 'Eclectic'. That final category is, I suspect, less easy to define, or find. It could, I suppose, be what you couldn't buy in Habitat. The sort of things that made it seem that bit more liveable and interesting, and are that bit less prominent in this edition than hitherto.
Secondly there is the matter of style, for instance in this catalogue there is High Tec and 'Chic Graphique', and 'Neo-Victorian', but Art Deco, once prominent in the 1970s catalogues, has gone completely.
Finally there is a third (as it were) typology at work in this catalogue. Let me explain. The major change - a major conceptual change, I think - was the introduction of the 'Habitat Country' range; furniture, fabrics and kitchenware, etc. Some of it good some of it less so. In many respects it was nothing new - it was, essentially, the 'Country House' and 'Farm House' templates combined and repackaged. A victory, then, of style over substance? Perhaps, yes. However, it is the first time in the Habitat catalogue when these categories have been made so explicitly distinct. The contrast between 'Country' and the rest never so heightened. It would be reductionist of me to present this as a simple choice between the bland and the rebarbative (see the Viby range below), simply because the aesthetics of the 1970s catalogues remains in places, but it wouldn't be wide of the mark.
Finally there is a third (as it were) typology at work in this catalogue. Let me explain. The major change - a major conceptual change, I think - was the introduction of the 'Habitat Country' range; furniture, fabrics and kitchenware, etc. Some of it good some of it less so. In many respects it was nothing new - it was, essentially, the 'Country House' and 'Farm House' templates combined and repackaged. A victory, then, of style over substance? Perhaps, yes. However, it is the first time in the Habitat catalogue when these categories have been made so explicitly distinct. The contrast between 'Country' and the rest never so heightened. It would be reductionist of me to present this as a simple choice between the bland and the rebarbative (see the Viby range below), simply because the aesthetics of the 1970s catalogues remains in places, but it wouldn't be wide of the mark.
On to 'things', and the deeply covetable Habitat Chesterfield was then still available. As always seems to be the case the fabrics are particularly hit-and-miss. The best all seem to be designed by Collier Campbell; of the others the best are Fleurs des Champs and Jardin.
Crockery is also hit-and-miss. There are some excellent designs: Bianca, Petit Fleur, Kristina, Blue Copenhagen (also then available in pink) and 'Asiatic Pheasant' by Burleigh of Stoke-on-Trent; and there are some terrible ones: Quadra, Ribbon, Cerise, and Sandie. Interestingly Old Colonial, a design from the 1950s produced by Adams, also of Stoke-on-Trent, was still available. As always the glassware and kitchenware are pretty much spot on.
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