The whole article is a thinly veiled plug for a new book on Factory - who does Sawyer know/shag who's been involved in the production of the book? - and another chance for someone to whine about album sleeve art 'not being as good as it used to be' (well Yes Miranda - because now so much album art is a pale imitation of old Factory sleevework) And FFS, she's demonstrating the classic half-informed view that graphic and interior/product/furniture design are the same thing. Factory may well have 'revolutionsied' albuim covers, but the movement toward steel, concrete and glass minimalism was underway for YEARS before this and had it's roots in the work of Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe et al - to say that Factory records album covers have had more influence than modernity or even Ikea in modern design (and this is what she means by 'designer lifestyle' - that 'design' is everywhere now)
Of course she UTTERLY misses the point that glass, steel and concrete and the 'industrial' look (i.e. exposed a/c ducting, brickwork) is as hackneyed and clichéd now as putting 3 ducks on flock wallpaper is twee. Just as this article has missed it's right time by about 10 years - if this had been written in 96 she'd have a point but now? I still love DR style scribings, but that's because I'm an old fucker stuck in the 90s aesthetic who finds the current clash between sk8r style graffitti and manga a bit hard to take.
