Section Text

Design for a Well-Lived Life

In Design for the Well-Lived Life, Chang asks how the objects we fill our houses with create a home. How do they reveal our identities? How might they hide them? Anti-depressant pills, palm trees, tennis rackets, diamond engagement rings, luxury brands, children’s toys, and chandeliers repeat, converge, separate, and collide. Chang’s parents emigrated from China to Orange County, where they pursued “the suburban American Dream,” which for them included a large ranch-style home decorated with elaborate wallpapers and chandeliers. According to Chang, these decorative items were both “aspirational objects” and a way to “camouflage” her parents’ immigrant status by filling their rooms with what an American interior decorator told them to buy.

-Sarah Sentilles