40 Times Designers Forgot Things Need To Be Cleaned When Creating Them, As Shared On This Facebook Group (New Pics)
The last time we wrote about the Facebook group 'Things designed by people who don't have to clean them', it had 40,000 members. But since then, this online community has more than doubled and is approaching the 100,000 mark, so it's about time we release an update on them.
"The design and maintenance of our spaces are deeply political," the group writes in its 'About' section. "The entire point of 'Things designed by people who don't have to clean them' is that those who design and those who maintain are not the same. Because we spend most of our time in designed spaces this disconnect has a huge impact, especially on those who traditionally don't have power in society."
So they're here, shaking things up, trying to remind everyone about the hidden tax attached to Swarovski-encrusted toilets and rock-covered sinks, and that is the amount of headache and time people will spend cleaning them.
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Just Stay In The 70s. Thanks
My Goodness
For our earlier article, we got in touch with the founder of the group, Will Feetham. He described the content you see on 'Things designed by people who don't have to clean them' as design-focused critical analysis.
Even though it has grown tremendously, the group remains private and you have to answer a few political questions to get in. Feetham has had pushback from the applicants about this as the group seems anything but political, however, he believes that the design and maintenance of our spaces are deeply political. "The entire point of 'Things designed by people who don't have to clean them' is that those who design and those who maintain are not the same," he told Bored Panda. "Because we spend most of our time in spaces [designed by others], this disconnect has a huge impact, especially on those who traditionally don't have power in society."
This Was Never A Good Idea!
I like the little rug by the toilet, but the rest is a little extra
How many muppets gave their lives to decorate this hell-hole?
Is the tank cover supposed to make it look less like a commode? Commodoflage?
F is probably inner cover for the bath tub. G for sink and H is for get the hell out of that germ infested place.
It's easy, take the stuff off the toilet and throw it in the washer, the more softener the better. How do I know this, you ask? I cleaned my grandmother's bathroom like this for years. I still kinda love the look, don't hate but it brings me back. 😊
ok not on the tank, but the rest of this is perfectly cleanable just throw it in the washer. OP please reread the assignment??? (and I have used a carpeted bathroom. as a small child. they are not a nightmare, you just are used to bathrooms without effective heaters/dehumidifiers in them smh. If your bathroom is damp you have a problem)
How much times when you are puking in the toilet and then laying on the floor you wished you had furry carpets ,walls ,everything furry …
Tell me about it! I had to clean it as a housecleaner during that time. Yuck!
Carpet in the bath room is gross. I pulled up the carpet in a house i moved into. YUCK.
Ewwww - can you even begin to imagine the germs in that room????
Oh those kind of bathrooms are nasty, lol. Learned real quick not to have rugs around the toilet with boys around, just ewww. Or toddlers getting potty trained!Tank covers aren't too bad, but lid covers can get icky from naked and wet people sitting on them after a bath or shower.
As George Carlin once said, "This just delays the moment when you realize the seat is down".
Aunties loved it and your mother-in-law (that was not a has-been but more like a never-was). I was 12 at the time, she was still only a neighbour, but I remember there used to be a massive ashtray on a small sidetable, a cigarette dispencer, a heavy lighter, a red lipstick and some art magazines next to the toilet. And an grand art deco mirror hanging so you could see yourself sitting there! That's now even weirder now, if you are too young to know. Even the toiletpaper rolls wore matching hats. 🙅
At one point growing up we had shag carpet in our one bathroom - the toilet overflowed on a regular basis too. It didn't last long. Even as a child a knew it was a really bad idea.
Am I blue, am I blue, you'd be too....she wore Blue Velvet....you can do anything but lay off a my blue suede shoes. Muzak plays 24/7 in the Smurf's bathroom. I'm not sure which is worse. It's all the same exact color as far as the eye can see. A couple of darker and lighter spots would really keep the stomach a little less queasy.
I like it all except full floor covering and it needs a contrasting colour at least on shower curtain.
When I first moved to the UK in the early naughties, I encountered "the carpet in the bathroom" phenomenon... am still repulsed by the notion. *shudders*
My parents have carpet in their bathroom and separate toilet. It's gross, but it was there when they moved in and they're 85 now so unlikely to get rid of it.
Better than slipping on a wet slick tiled floor and the cops finding your rotten corpse still there three weeks later.
Hmmm. Is that urine wafting from the idiotic choice of carpet around the toilet?
I had neighbours who had a rugged floor in their toilet. Plus 4 young children, 3 of them boys. I can still smell it....
Here's my pitch to Disney: Cruella meets The Muppets. The slogan would be along the lines of"Technically they´re not animals. "
Change the blue to '50s Coral, and this is our guest bathroom when I was growing up.
The mildew is just rubbing its little spores together in gleeful anticipation.
My aunt had carpet in her bathroom and yes there was a faint smell of piss.
Hoping this is a catalog from the 70s. So many fashion mistakes that decade.
Been looking at houses in and around Pittsburgh. Probably, like 5% in the price range in looking in has at least one carpeted bathroom. Seen it in a couple of kitchens, too. One place I was looking at last month was super frickin weird where it had a carpeted kitchen, living, main floor bath, and dining room, but the bedrooms had hardwood. I was stumped, to say the least.
Load More Replies...
This Belongs Here
I Found A Hair On Your T-Shirt. Who Is She?
"Looking at bad design helps highlight the importance of good design, and thinking about who will clean what we design makes us focus on the importance of inclusion in the design process. As a tag group, we can inject a bit of thought about these issues into a lot of different conversations which makes me so happy."
Feetham got the idea for the group from a picture of a topographical relief sink modeled after a lake, which he has been told is in the California state library. "It's beautiful, and the concept is both insightful and educational. In the execution, though, the designer didn't consider the people who would have to clean the installation. Clearly, a lot of thought went into the concept, but that thoughtfulness doesn't seem to have extended to maintenance. 'Things designed by people who don’t have to clean them' just popped into my head."
This Is My Ceiling Light. It’s New, And I Loved It Til I Joined This Group And Realized I Have No Idea How To Clean It
Now Imagine That It Rains
Rock Bottom
Saw This Sink In A Bathroom Showroom And Thought Of You My Friends. It Has Actual Fish In It
As you could guess, Feetham himself doesn't like cleaning. "As a cisgender man in our patriarchal culture, I have been allowed to do less than my share of household chores at many points in my life," he said. "Equality is deeply important to me, and I have come to understand the many ways, large and small, that the caring and cleaning work that forms the foundation of our daily existence is minimized."
According to him, our society tends to devalue the invisible service class, who are often women and people of color. So they are left to pick up the pieces, literally, and tend to the performative aesthetics of our consumer culture.
Bride Decided This Was The Best Way To Display Her Dress After The Wedding
I Finally Have A Contribution!! Reminds Me Of The Fuzzy Skeleton Someone Shared The Other Day…maybe This One Could Be Thrown In The Washer?
Omfg, This Is Giving Me The Shivers
This Entire Room
I Present To You My Desk Chair
I hate it. It was here when I got here. The bumps are hard plastic and extremely uncomfortable also the back has no give whatsoever. I work in the office part of a warehouse and everything gets super dirty here. Not looking forward to cleaning it which I can imagine will be done with a toothbrush.
This Was A Sink In A Public Bathroom That I Used Yesterday
(it does have a drain, it’s just hard to see under the bubbles) it’s flat, theres ridges in it that go about an inch deep into the sink to resemble rock or something. It’s obviously covered in grime and soap residue. Might have been cool in someone’s house, but not in a public bathroom like this
My Toes And Shins Hurt Just Looking At This. Hope You Like Cobwebs
Indoor Beach. Oof
Seletti: Monkey Chandelier By Marcantonio
I wish I had it but DAMN.
(also, it cost too much for me.)
(BUT ANYWAY DAMN!!!)
Found In The Wild. My Mom, Who Has No Knowledge Of Facebook Or This Group, Her First Words Were "Try Cleaning That."
Ummm
Just.... Why?! Even If The Bowl Is Smooth, The Outside Is Just...
Yeah, It's An Art Installation. Very Ugly Art
I'd Like To Personally Say F**k You To Whoever Invented This Damn Kitchen Gadget. You Don't Know How Many Nights It Would Be My Turn To Do The Dishes And This F**ker Always, Always, Ended Up Being Used. I Hate It So Much
It's Cute Tho
Is this a mug for cat haters? Every time you have tea of coffee, you get to drown the kitty.
Behold
Peak Impracticality
20 Stories Of Metal Loovers
The Pieces That Are Overlapped Would Be A Nuisance To Polish! And As Someone Easily Distracted I Wouldn't Know What Piece Of Mirror To Look In When Using It But That's Just Me
Just... Why
The idea is fun, but cleaning not so much. Also these thing break so easily I would constantly think I'm drinking glass shards.
This Chest...the Cuts Are Like 5cm Deep In Some Spots...
Feast Your Eyes On This Monstrosity
This Mirror I Saw At A Bar In Charleston
“Giant Corn Stool” - There’s A Joke In There Somewhere
These Ceiling Mics In The Choir Room At My School
You can’t reach them without a ladder and I don’t think they have ever been cleaned.
(I’m not good at descriptions but I tried)
Description: A small black ceiling microphone with a large cobweb wrapped around it.
26
Things Designed By People Who Don't Have To Clean Them And Bought By The People Who Don't Care About Cleaning Them
I Want This. But I Don't Want The Drama Associated With Cleaning It
I Thought This Would Fit Here
Copper ball bearings to clean the insides of glassware and decanters without scratching.
I Found One In The Wild!! About Eight Feet Long, Hanging From A Door Frame. Various Beautiful Sea Shells Tied To A Central Cord. The Angles, Textures, And How Tight They're Strung Together Would Never Allow A Duster Through Properly. The Central Cord Is Hemp So Can't Get It Wet! And The Small Crevasses Are Impossible To Reach, Especially In The Spiral And Hollow Shells. Beautiful Idea, But The Dust Magnet This Is Makes Me Want To Burn It With Fire
Artificial Grass In The Bathroom. I Wonder How Long Before It Ends Up In Yup, That's A Piss Corner Mushroom
Note: this post originally had 81 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
I'm surprised that the most irritating thing to clean isn't on here. The ceiling fan.
Those are irritating. I have two in my classroom. I have to stand on a desk and use a yardstick with a wipe rubber banded to the tip. I think I should invest in one of those long-handled feather duster thingies
Load More Replies... Some of those things were actual poorly designed and hard to clean, but for the rest, you are just lazy.
See, a lot of these things really don’t need to be cleaned. I mean, sure, if you’re going to eat out of it or it might spread bacteria or fungi or something, yes, but otherwise not everything has to be clean all the time. So what if you can’t dust your chandelier? The only places people would see dust is on larger surfaces of it, which you can clean.
Wow! There's some hideous and scary designs in this. I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning it cause I'd never put it in my home but it wouldn't be impossible to clean most of these. Maybe time consuming but it is doable.
I'm surprised that the most irritating thing to clean isn't on here. The ceiling fan.
Those are irritating. I have two in my classroom. I have to stand on a desk and use a yardstick with a wipe rubber banded to the tip. I think I should invest in one of those long-handled feather duster thingies
Load More Replies... Some of those things were actual poorly designed and hard to clean, but for the rest, you are just lazy.
See, a lot of these things really don’t need to be cleaned. I mean, sure, if you’re going to eat out of it or it might spread bacteria or fungi or something, yes, but otherwise not everything has to be clean all the time. So what if you can’t dust your chandelier? The only places people would see dust is on larger surfaces of it, which you can clean.
Wow! There's some hideous and scary designs in this. I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning it cause I'd never put it in my home but it wouldn't be impossible to clean most of these. Maybe time consuming but it is doable.
