Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Campaign furniture in the modern world

Looking at Christopher Schwarz's post about his new Douro Chair this morning, I started thinking about campaign furniture.  I admit that I like the style, but I hadn't really thought it was practical.  I mean, really, how often are you going to need to strap your office furniture to a mule and move it to a new battleground?

But I started re-thinking this morning.  Imagine a sophomore in college, knowing that he'll be able to take his own desk, bureau, and comfortable chair with him in his economy sedan.  Or the PhD candidate being moved to her third office in two semesters, being able to fold up her desk, chair, and couch and move them into her new space, ready to go in a few hours instead of a few days.

And it goes further.  Most of my friends live in apartments, and many of them move every year.  It gets to be a pain, but if you want good furniture -- something solid, reliable, and comfortable -- it's just not practical to buy things that are easy to move.  A really solid bureau weighs a ton, and it's just not possible to move it without taking your clothes out first.  Bookcases are heavy and awkward on their own.  What if they didn't need to move their clothes into cardboard boxes to move, but could just unstack their bureau and carry each layer separately, and do the same with book cases?  Sure, it might take two people to carry, but still.  Fewer boxes means fewer trips and fewer cars, as well as fewer cardboard boxes to deal with when you're done.

So perhaps I have a good reason to start building some campaign furniture.  And maybe there are good reasons for going with that style, above and beyond "it looks cool", which is valid, but possibly not sufficient.