Get Fortified.

Source: Design Boom

The home art recreation trend for people looking for creative things to do during quarantine is still very popular, as Rivergirl has reminded me, but you may be asking, what’s the next big trend? And if you are then please stop. There’s so much more to life than chasing trends, even when you can’t get out, and chasing trends really isn’t very good exercise. It’s much better to chase your kids or chase your pets or go chase yourself and if you cut to the chase please be careful or you could end up with a nasty injury, but that’s another story.

And while I wasn’t actively looking for new trends when I read the article How To Build A Fort I thought, hey, building home forts might be the next big thing. None other than Ikea has put out design ideas leading to a sudden worldwide shortage of umlauts.

Home forts are a fun thing to do and you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy it. As the above article notes, “If life feels dangerous and unmoored, a space built largely of bedding materials might calm someone of any age.” That is, of course, as long as you don’t think too much about that creepy scene in The Sixth Sense. Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have brought that up.

Still the home fort is a fun thing to do and a good way to take your mind off the troubles of world, a safe space and, even though most people might not think of them this way, they’re even an art form. They’re naturally personal and ephemeral but think about this: if you draw a picture and never show it to anyone it’s still a creative expression. Lots of famous artists did works that were completely personal and never meant to be seen by anyone but themselves and I’m having trouble thinking of an example because most of those works were never meant to be seen by anyone.

Maybe everybody everywhere is building their own home forts and it’s just not being talked about, and that’s okay. Not every big trend has to be talked about.

 

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6 Comments

  1. Ann Koplow

    If life feels dangerous and unmoored, a space built by Christopher calms somebody of my age. Thanks for making things seem safer, my friend.
    Ann Koplow recently posted…Day 2728: News you can useMy Profile

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      It’s good friends that make a safe space, and I’m glad you could be here to make this a fun space as well.

      Reply
  2. Tom Cummings

    I don’t know if I’ll build a fort for the boys this summer, but I have promised them we’ll pitch a tent in the backyard and have a campout at some point. It’s like a fort in a bag, right?

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      The way I see it a tent is just a fort you build outside. I wouldn’t even get hung up on the terminology, or, as they call it at Ikea, tërminØlüiji.

      Reply
  3. mydangblog

    Kafka wanted all his work destroyed after his death. Luckily his publisher decided not to honour his last wishes!
    mydangblog recently posted…If You Build It…My Profile

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      We’re so lucky Max Brod saved most of Kafka’s work–and Virgil on his deathbed wanted The Aeneid destroyed, but his friend Varius kept it. I know a lot of Latin students who would have preferred it gone.

      Reply

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