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broader context, such as a certain recognisable style). The second part of the
analysis had to do with the household’s account (interpreted through interviews
and photographs) of how much time they were investing in their dwelling
conditions through renovation projects, tuning or, for example, researching
new possibilities and options.
This analysis is sensitised to see differences where, on the surface, the households
appear similar and similarities where one would not assume to find them.
One would not think that the design-intensive dwelling activities of, for example,
the Ylinen family, Asta, Kalle & Emma, Anniina and Tiina (who all appropriate
design with autonomous ease) would have much in common, while it
would be easy to assume that the designers in our sample would share similar
kinds of approaches, for example that they would be awfully meticulous with
their interior decorations; however, such an assumption does not hold true, not
even in my small sample. Dwelling with design is not a very straightforward
enterprise.
It was not self-evident that the interpretation would emphasise a household’s
style of appropriation as the point of departure, or that the interpretation would
draw from a household’s account of its context complexity and use of time
instead of, for example, demographics like social class or gender. Social class
plays an important role in research on taste, linking it with appropriation (Halle
1993; Lamont 1994; Gartman 2000; Woodward 2003; Sun Lim 2006; Aarsand
& Aronsson 2009), and gender is a point of view often used in domestication
studies and, more generally, in research on the home and domesticity (Cockburn
& Fürst Dilić 1994; Saarikangas 2002; Chapman 2004; Pink 2004; Corneliussen
2005; Peteri 2006; Casey & Martens 2007; Boberg 2008). However, Mirja
Liikkanen points out that, Finnish social classes are remarkably similar in their
judgements about taste (Liikkanen 2009 198), and Joanne Hollows makes the
same point about classes in general (Hollows 2008 81). Liikkanen also points out
that gender is a better explanation for Finnish preferences when it comes to cultural
institutions such as theatre, concerts or art exhibitions. While, for example,
literature is widely appreciated throughout Finland, women tend to appreciate
it the most. On the other hand, men tend to favour sports and, in general, have
less interest in cultural institutions (Liikkanen 2009 174-175). Design aspirations
were not studied among the aforementioned cultural institutions, but it is safe
to assume that gender and social class no doubt play important roles in how
the interviewees dwell with design. However, I decided in this work to focus on
households as units of analysis and work based on notions about time investment
and the complexity of context because my data most fruitfully seemed to
be about the investments and management of the appropriation process.