The Pottery Barn is currently promoting a new “Plantation Collection” of furniture. From the catalogue:
Ah, those were the days. The days when darkies brought us our drinks, washed our clothes, and harvested our crops. The days when the white man held proper dominion over the black-skinned races of the world.
And the furniture! Let me tell you. . .
Our new settee evokes the relaxed pace of life in the tropics. Crafted with a solid mahogany frame, it has turned feet and curved sides that give it a shapely profile. The sides are inset with bird’s-eye cane that is double walled for strength. Finish is applied by hand in many layers to create richness and depth. For extra comfort, top the settee with our thick cushion, which has a flax-colored linen cover that zips off for machine washing.
Life was easy back then. We were so relaxed. I speak of the colonists, of course. The slaves? Not so much. Why, I remember one night, a slave put down his pitchfork during planting season to take a rest.
I put that bird’s-eye cane on his back until it bled bright red, and left him for dead in the fields. One has to set a tone among the savages — give them an inch, and they’ll take an ell.
Thankfully, such exertions, on my part, were rare — the slaves obeyed commands most of the time, leaving me to luxuriate on my flax-colored linen cushions.
Those were the days . . .
(hat tips to C.H. and N.B. on my department’s American Studies listserve)
Update (7/31/06): It appears that Pottery Barn has changed the name of the collection — it’s now called the “Montego Furniture Collection.” Interesting . . .
7 Comments on "Plantation Style"
JLo:
“Day’s never finished, massa got me workin’… someday massa set me free…”
albert:
holy crap. i didn’t believe it was real until i saw their site with my own eyes. i just .pdf’d it just in case they bring it down.
acm:
no, they won’t bring it down — that kind of colonial/imperial-nostalgia furniture seems to be quite the rage in a number of catalogs, even if they don’t always invoke the stories quite so literally…
Stephanie:
They must have received the message. In my new catalog that just arrived, Plantation has been changed to Montego. Plantation is still the moniker for the line on the web site, but interestingly, if you search for Montego, Plantation comes up on a ww2. URL (perhaps they are converting the site.
No excuse for the lame attempt to romanticize slavery.
Matt:
That’s interesting news, Stephanie — thanks for the update. I wonder whether this post had anything to do with it (it comes up pretty high in a google search for “plantation style pottery barn”). I doubt it, but you never know…
Claire:
I think there should be more of an outcry over this. Really, who do they hire over there?
No one:
Puhleeeezzzz! It’s FURNITURE, people. Get over it. What they name it is of no consequence. I have furniture in my house named Calvary Ridge. So flippin’ what?!
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