pottery barn guy

[giuly90]

Dear teachers,

what is the meaning of this expression?

"Out of money again, he began to craft stylized knockoffs of antique furniture, the sorts of things trendy young people might put in their new condominiums. It was around then that he encountered the jars at a museum in Shiraz. Soon enough, just about any item under ten dollars — “That was my budget”— became a potential point of departure for his work. Of course, in a country where abstraction and expressionism were widely accepted, while Duchamp was largely unknown, Moshiri’s work with found objects was confusing. But Moshiri showed the jar canvases at artist and gallerist Fereydoun Ave’s space in central Tehran, and eventually, abroad. He may have even showed them too much. “I was becoming the Pottery Barn guy,” he says now. “And that terrified me.”

I found it in this article:

Fluffy Farhad By Negar Azimi | Bidoun Magazine

Best,
G.

 

[giuly90]

Which part are you having problems with? This is not an expression, it is a paragraph.

I don't understand what "Pottery Barn guy" means.

 

[Barb_D]

Pottery Barn is a store that sells furniture, linens, and knick-knacks to the middle- and upper-middle-class. Little of what they sell is quirky or unique - it's very mainstream.

If this person was becoming a producer of ordinary items that would appeal to ordinary people, would that make sense in the context of the story?

(I don't really understand the passage.)

 

[giuly90]

Pottery Barn is a store that sells furniture, linens, and knick-knacks to the middle- and upper-middle-class. Little of what they sell is quirky or unique - it's very mainstream.

If this person was becoming a producer of ordinary items that would appeal to ordinary people, would that make sense in the context of the story?

(I don't really understand the passage.)

Since the person was an artist making portraits with pottery/jars, I wonder if he simpli wants to say that he was becoming the "jars guy".