Today I leave myself open for a bit of ridicule and perhaps worse, but I can think of no better way to learn about our recent past than to wander around those pretend show rooms.
They offer you a vision of what your home would look like if you bought a heap of furniture, decorative kitchen utensils and that thing you can use to extract the core from an apple.
I wish I had kept all my old Habitat catalogues from the late 1960s and 70s, because at a glance they tell the story of what we thought were new, chic, and must have items.
I say we, but of course it was the designers and the companies who did the thinking and us, or at least me who did the buying and then tried fitting them into rooms full of hand me down furniture.
And in the same way I suspect the latest offerings will provide future historians much to write about.
But I wonder if they will be kind about the orange and brown 70s colour schemes and the uncomfortable chairs which were suspended from the ceiling along with bean bags and wine carafes.
Leaving me just to appeal for old Habitat catalogues.
Location; the past
Picture; John Lewis showrooms, Cheadle Royal, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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