hira.ware ISSUE 2025.10.12
CAN WE HAVE NICE THINGS?
A small incident has played out at the hiraware store. It’s provided us some perspective on the challenges behind creating nice spaces.
We placed a red sofa in the store for customers to enjoy.
It was a unique and rare piece – an original designed by Corbusier, produced in in the 1970s and brought to KL by the former Swiss ambassador to Malaysia.
Was it wise to put a piece like this in a store open to the public?
Some of our friends were skeptical, thinking it was foolish to expose it to damage. Others were optimistic, thinking we should trust Malaysians and make such unique pieces publicly available to be enjoyed.
We were sad to find one day that the sofa had been damaged.
Two discoloured patches with a purplish streak in the middle. It looked like someone had marked it with a Sharpie and then tried to remove it with a harsh cleaning liquid that further discoloured the leather.
What a shame.
It is what it is. We knew the risks.
But it made us wonder, from the perspective of running a store – we want to create beautiful spaces, and we want to trust people to enjoy them.
But what do you do when a minority damage rather than preserve the space?
Yours truly,
hiraware
hiraware