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. With Of merch, murketing and money
So I saw the chair above on Coolhunting the other day (as did plenty of other observers), and I was interested. A chair made to look blood-splattered — I would almost like to have that. But it’s pretty expensive — $5,000.
I had to read the item again to figure out the inspiration for the chair. I don’t have Showtime, and don’t know much about the show Dexter, which is about a serial killer. But that’s the inspiration.
According to this official site, Showtime and Metropolitan Home have revamped a townhouse in Gramercy Park into The Showtime House, “a beacon of modernism inspired by six Showtime original series.” That is, it’s sort of a big walk-in ad for Dexter and The L Word and Californication — you go in and just sort of bask in this aesthetic manifestation of those programs.
And if you like what you see in the Dexter Dining Room And Kitchen, well, you can buy it!
Somehow to me this stuff becomes way less interesting when I realize it’s essentially a high-end brand extension. But maybe I’d feel differently if I were a Dexter fan. Or maybe it doesn’t matter at all — if I had the money, I might enjoy looking at that chair, or using some of the other products (the plate at left, for instance), and the Dexter factor would just fade into the background. What difference does it really make? I’m not actually sure.
Anyway, I also learned from the official Showtime House site that there’s actually collateral merch for all its shows, designed by Savannah College of Art and Design Students — here’s a link to the Showtime SCAD collection, but be warned that a video pops up. (I think this is separate from SCAD’s Working Class Studio). This stuff is somewhat more affordable, and some of it seems like straightforward buyable expressions fandom: T-shirts and the like.
Other items are more ambiguous, in that (like the chairs) they might be appealing to people who don’t care about the show — the $75 Dexter pillow, for instance. (I did say somewhat more affordable; up to you whether $75 pillows are part of your budget.)
Anyway I think this is murkily fascinating — sort of an elevation of the promotional object into a high-design piece.
I wonder if people are buying? And how much their decision is tied to the shows that “inspired” this stuff?
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Kim Fellner's book 
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Reader Comments
It’s like Flintstones vitamins for yuppies!
This reminds me of some of the trans-toying and brand extension examples Schor gives in Born To Buy, but applied to the interior decor market vs. the tween market.
Here’s a review of the house from people who are fans of the show:
http://videogum.com/archives/bad-idea-jeans/fuck-you-showtime-house_035171.html
I feel like this isnt brand extension. It is art and a way for a company to make money through using pop culture. The only way people would know that this stems from a show is if they do what you did and look up the story behind it, and honestly how many people take the time to do something like that, especially if theyre willing to pay $5,000 for a chair.