Sad News:
(A selection of “sad businessmen” from iStock.)
<media rant>
As we all know, I had been very excited about Hunker’s next chapter. Next comes the obvious: Hunker’s remaining staff (the two of us who were left, ha) was laid off earlier this month. It wasn’t exactly a surprise; layoffs in this industry have been happening en mass for the past year, and most media business are struggling to keep up with the complete erosion of the digital publishing landscape due to algorithm changes, economic pressures, and AI upending everyone’s concept of how the Internet works. I don’t feel very positive about where publishers stand in this evolution. People sometimes say that when there’s a media recession or “media die-off,” that things eventually come back, but…this time the issue is generational. Will Gen Z or Gen Alpha actually want to read anything or even embrace the concept of a publication? Will they ever dive into a longread from the New Yorker or pick up a cool, indie mag? Because it seems to me that their “magazines” and “newspapers” are just TikTok. (Of course the other issue, for media and startups, is just venture capital lavishly overspending based on fake numbers and grandiose ideas that either can’t be delivered or will be delivered with diminished value through trickery…and now all those VCs are like, “Now listen here, sonny, you’ve failed to graduate for 10 years in a row, and I’m not paying your tuition anymore.”)
My hope for the future is that maybe Millennials can help usher in a return to print, to smaller audiences, to real life. Only problem is that none of this — as it stands now — is a recipe for a successful business. Unless you are wealthy and can pursue an independent project without risk. (That said, if you are a millionaire who wishes to be my benefactor, I will gladly start a new magazine/website for you.)
Anyhow. Hunker. It’s a very sad thing for me. I worked on this project from its inception (some six-plus years). It was my baby. Yet I always felt that we were like three steps away from being the Best Hunker; the Grim Googler (GG) was always upon us, and the fact is, most media brands are powerless against the GG. With our relaunch, we were going back to the basics of OG publishing: concentrating on making great shit for real people and not for algorithms or platforms. This is the premise that my media guru, Brian Morrissey, has been talking about for ages, and literally everything I’ve explained is reflected in his brilliant newsletter, The Rebooting.
</media rant>
Anyhow. As a final goodbye to Hunker, I’d love to shout out some of my favorite content. Content that, because of the state of the Internets, was mostly unseen and under-appreciated. Read these while you can before the site is no more:
Our Architect of Impact series, which highlighted people, movements, and organizations driving social change through design. This piece, about a blind architect who designs with smell in mind, is one of my favorites.
Here’s the Thing was our series on the history of objects. These installments were both hilarious (see the origins of the Murphy Bed) and illuminating.
We also published a lot of great real estate journalism.
Our home tours were fun.
Finally, some favorites that I wrote over the years: Rediscovering My Inner ‘90s Girl With the Garnet Hill Catalog, design secrets from The Flight Attendant set, The Untold History of The Haunted Mansion’s Wallpaper.
There are dozens of ex-Hunker people who are responsible for producing all of this greatness but not enough space to thank them all. They are all incredible humans and many are out of work, so look them up on LinkedIn. As for me, I also need a J-O-B, so if you know of someone I should talk to, please get in touch. Here’s my LinkedIn and my website/portfolio.
Plaid News:
We love plaid: It’s giving everything from classic-Ralph Lauren-Americana to cold-British-castle to ugly-’80s-WASP living room. Plaid always has a cozy-meets-sexy vibe — maybe because we unconsciously associate it with kilts and their proximity to genitalia? Although, I take that back, seeing as a commando male penis is never sexy, with the one exception being within an Outlander context.
It is my current belief that living rooms should have plaid rugs. And yes, we are using the term “plaid” with some liberty in these picks, top left to right:
Maharam’s Multitone rug from DWR has been on my mind for about a year and I desperately want one. I enjoy the product description which describes it as having a “lavish use of color.”
Schoolhouse’s plaid wool rugs have been making the rounds. The colors (also available in blue/orange) are a bit tricky — very esprit de jeunesse, which mostly makes them great for playrooms or kids’ rooms. See: Chalkwhite Arrow’s playroom.
An Etsy find: MetroFlooringAndRugs, handcrafted in India. They can do custom colors. And if decor snobs love anything, it’s saying, “Oh, this? It’s cussssstommmm.”
EQ3’s tartan rug. EQ3, a Canadian company, is a truly slept-on source for Americans.
A Swedish collab between Layered x Evelina Kroon. Price is not as outrageous as you would think.
A random Wayfair find with a cool pink/navy/mustard color combo.