4 ms·

Gramophone records. Audiophile speaker cables. Many (if not most) branded luxury goods ($2145 IKEA shopping bag, anyone?) [1][2]. These products are not made t

Gramophone records. Audiophile speaker cables. Many (if not most) branded luxury goods ($2145 IKEA shopping bag, anyone?) [1][2]. These products are not made to be functional, any functionality they have is secondary to their prime purpose: to be used as props in a ritual. What ritual they serve varies, from the mundane 'I can afford to spend a lot of money on non-essential goods' affluence signalling (most branded luxury goods fit in this category) to something resembling the Japanese tea ceremony in the sense that they turn a common event into a highly ritualised happening (I'd fit gramophone records in here). Some are just ways for unscrupulous actors to extract the maximum amount of money from an easily duped audience ($21.000 for a 3m short speaker cable [3], anyone? Don't forget to buy that $11.000 mains cable [4] while you're at it, you would not want your $144,481.80 turntable [5] to be without it). Cold pressed juice itself is probably partly ceremonial, partly affluence signalling. Where overpriced, waste-generating Rube Goldberg juice delivery devices with vendor lock-in fit in I'll leave for you to decide. [1] http://www.barneys.com/product/balenciaga-arena-extra-large-shopper-tote-bag-504889384.html http://www.barneys.com/product/balenciaga-arena-extra-large-... [2] http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/17228340/ http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/17228340/ [3] http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2008/11/most-expensive-speaker-cable-world-audioquest-audiophile/ http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2008/11/most-expensive-speaker-c... [4] http://www.analogueseduction.net/nordost-mains-cables/ndvalic[1][2][3].html?currency=3 http://www.analogueseduction.net/nordost-mains-cables/ndvali... [5] http://www.analogueseduction.net/clearaudio-turntables/clearaudio-statement-turntable.html http://www.analogueseduction.net/clearaudio-turntables/clear...

unwind 10y ago
I'm sooo not in the market, and even at 1/10th the price I'd find it expensive, but still: it's not fair to call that Balenciaga bag an "IKEA shopping bag". It's made in Italy, from actual leather, with fabric lining, a zip pocket and keyring lanyard. That's a lot of features that are all way nicer than what FRAKTA brings, of course. It's obviously still a luxury product, but leather isn't cheap like polypropylene.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Nothing to do with the leather - everyone has nice leather now, even Chinese no-brand brands you get for $80 on Amazon. "Balenciaga" means almost all the price is in the name - not only is it designer, but there's a hierarchy of designers in which it's far from the bottom; to pick another name off the top, this'll make anyone with a Coach bag turn green, even if it's a lot closer to the top of that line than this is to this. Also, blue leather's tough to pull off in general, and you have to be both confident and daring to even try it. So it makes you the one to beat stylewise, and makes that hard to do, both at the same time.
throwanem 10y ago
Ever feel like maybe you're in the wrong line of work? The market's tiny, but at eleven grand a throw, the profit margin's got to be nosebleed-worthy. I wonder if I can make something like this work as a sideline? I mean it's snake oil, it just has to look fancy and have a story around it, and hell, that can't be too hard.

unwind 10y ago

I'm sooo not in the market, and even at 1/10th the price I'd find it expensive, but still: it's not fair to call that Balenciaga bag an "IKEA shopping bag". It's made in Italy, from actual leather, with fabric lining, a zip pocket and keyring lanyard. That's a lot of features that are all way nicer than what FRAKTA brings, of course. It's obviously still a luxury product, but leather isn't cheap like polypropylene.

throwanem 10y ago
Nothing to do with the leather - everyone has nice leather now, even Chinese no-brand brands you get for $80 on Amazon. "Balenciaga" means almost all the price is in the name - not only is it designer, but there's a hierarchy of designers in which it's far from the bottom; to pick another name off the top, this'll make anyone with a Coach bag turn green, even if it's a lot closer to the top of that line than this is to this. Also, blue leather's tough to pull off in general, and you have to be both confident and daring to even try it. So it makes you the one to beat stylewise, and makes that hard to do, both at the same time.

throwanem 10y ago

Ever feel like maybe you're in the wrong line of work? The market's tiny, but at eleven grand a throw, the profit margin's got to be nosebleed-worthy. I wonder if I can make something like this work as a sideline? I mean it's snake oil, it just has to look fancy and have a story around it, and hell, that can't be too hard.