In 1985 architect Michael Graves designed a flat-bottomed stainless steel teapot for Alessi, with a powder blue plastic handle and a sweet, red, bird-shaped stopper. The design is handsome, whimsical, and entirely functional. The teapot is one of those objects that seems both indelibly of its time – a postmodern icon – and timeless – as if it has been around, in our imaginations and in our homes, forever.

It seemed special then that an architect was designing a teapot that someone could go into a department store and buy. That same object, I think, would not have the same power now.  Because consumers are more design-savvy, less awed by the status of an architect-designed object (or an architect-designed building, for that matter), and also because retailers like IKEA and Target consistently offer high quality design at low prices.  The relationship between retail and architecture, a fascinating, symbiotic one, is something I explored recently in AIArchitect.  The only thing for certain is that the entanglement of these two spheres is strengthening a popular design culture, which is good for everyone involved.