Parsons the New School for Design | beanj@newschool.edu
Bean is a postdoctoral fellow at Parsons the New School for Design in
New York City, where he is helping to start a new program in Design
Studies. His work is interdisciplinary and deals with domesticity,
technology, and consumer culture.
Click a Bird on It
In a piece published in Fast
Company last December, design
thinker Bruce Nussbaum described
a phenomenon he branded indie
capitalism [ 1]. We’ve all seen its
manifestations: that new yarn shop
down the street, the craft brew
suddenly in every hot restaurant,
that guy at the farmer’s market
with the killer tomatoes. According
to Nussbaum, four characteristics
distinguish this softer, gentler,
and infinitely more hip version of
capitalism. First is a focus on local
rather than global processes; sec-
ond is a belief in person-to-person
connections, both face-to-face and
technologically mediated; third is
a relentless focus on innovation
and making; fourth is the height-
ened importance of meaning. As
Nussbaum explains, “authenticity
is the ‘brand’ in many cases.”
Having spent considerable time
in Portland, Oregon, and New York
City—the two places Nussbaum
identifies as hotbeds of indie capi-
talism—I consider myself something
of an expert on the subject. A few
months ago, I was at a bar with my
partner and an old friend. We sipped
craft brews out of mason jars under
the warm glow of an antler chan-
delier. We contemplated ordering
tater tots from our server, who had
a punk-rock hairdo, a flannel shirt,
and tattoos. And then an odd sense
of placelessness set in: Where were
we, anyway? Portland or New York?
