Michael Graves Fire Sale!

Shiny new teapot

Some years back I bought several Michael Graves items for my home. If you are unaware Michael Graves is a brilliant architect and designer. Most of the items were not terribly expensive, but I wrongly assumed they were functional. I looked online and found a couple of my items for sale on ebay and they all seem to be like mine - non operational.

The singing teapot was such a cute item when we first bought it. My daughter loved to make tea but unfortunately it lasted about ten heat ups and the bird whistle actually melted. This was the first of the failures. I also bought the egg timer above which never seemed to keep time. Below is a photograph of my toaster- the plastic white front melted from the heating coil ( thank God it didn't burn the house down) and the handle that pops the toast down never seemed to remain intact or engaged. Also below is a garlic press note it is missing half of an arm. The metal used to create the handles was so brittle and soft it snapped off and is broken. We threw away the handle some time ago. Also the little battery powered clock is made of the same metal aggregate material- the hands of the clock fell off.

Target stopped making these cool housewares objects I believe in 2013. All of them were made in China. In retrospect I wonder does Michael Graves ever feel embarrassed that these items that he thought were bringing creative design to American homes were junk and maybe even dangerous? 

In my work I see this with homes. Buyers are still looking for deals in REO's but the danger is they have no idea what condition the home is in. The house might look nice from the curb, might even be polished up and painted over by some flipper but the bones inside are junk. 

I know of a couple people who bought a Flip house without knowing it was:

1. a meth house three years back

2. had leaks and mold

or 3. the plumbing froze and every pipe in the walls was brittle or removed

These houses all ended up needing major repairs to make them inhabitable

Like myself buying a new toaster, tea pot and housewares thinking they all looked

great - and enjoying the fun of the outside appearance- in the end quality is

what really lasts.

Buyer beware I guess.

Anyone want to buy six Micheal Graves things all soon to become museum pieces

that by the by don't work? Only $3.99 for all six. Fire sale!

my graveyard of Michael Graves home appliances

Broken house hold items that seemed nice on the outside