good eye, barbie

kenergy

originally posted: 2023

This delight of a Barbiecore-meets-space-age interior is an ad for Good Eye, a Washington, D.C.-based furniture store that specialized in midcentury modern; I'd guess it dates to the early-to-mid 2000s.

The vibe here is somewhat like an upscale-hotel take on Richard Hamilton's famous collage "Just What is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?." The two rooms share a sauciness: Ken broadcasts his Kenergy to an unspecified city, while Barbie lounges by a restrained shag rug. Regardless of whether this is your personal dream home, I think we can all agree it's an absolute dream.

As for Good Eye itself, various versions of its website live on the Wayback Machine's halls. Not everything on the site survives to its day, but a surprising amount of photos do survive of the furnishings it had for sale, both designer and flea-market rescues. There's also a What's New section with brief updates on the designers' burgeoning design partnerships (nightclub interiors, Nancy Sinatra concerts), as well as this li'l aside:

"Are we the only ones that understand the social, technological and aesthetic importance of Captain Scarlet?. We love you Captain!" - Good Eye's website, archived February 5, 2003

The store's general purview was mid-century modern furnishings -- I'm not a designer, so I'm not the person to put an exact timeframe to this, but we can assume this was before the time when the phrase "mid-century modern" passed into semi-common awareness with the new definition of "stuff you'd buy for your all-gray apartment from Wayfair." The postcard is full of space-age orange; designer Travis Smith featured in this Kardiel blog post of rooms suffused with pastels.

In addition to design, Smith's since written a couple books, including Kitschmasland, about Christmas memorabilia, and Guide for the Modern Bear, a bear-lifestyle taxonomy. As for his dream home? Linked in the news section is a Washington Post magazine article. You'll need to find a way around the paywall to read the whole thing and learn more about the home's "underdog furniture," but in the meantime, please enjoy this dispatch:

"Smith, owner of Good Eye, a vintage modern furnishings shop on Wisconsin Avenue, could fill his District apartment with serious furniture by mid-century design greats such as George Nelson or Charles and Ray Eames. Instead he and graphic designer Skip Przywara have created what they like to think of as the ultimate mod bachelor pad. They have a boomerang-shaped Tiki bar, a terrace lush with plastic bamboo, and a harvest gold "fireplace" with electric logs that crackle and whoosh. Very ski bunny." - April Witt, The Washington Post, September 30, 2000

footnotes

1. I would absolutely live here. 🔼
2. Up as of the time of writing. 🔼
3. The association with millennnials at that link seems to be a thinkpiece invention; I've generally seen it associated with landlords and house flippers, though obviously there's overlap. 🔼
4. other phrases considered: "Christmas merch" 🔼
5. note: much like The Washington Post, I cannot give any endorsement of this 🔼