This is not a new problem, I'm certain. But it's disgusting that Dwell magazine has teamed up with the San Francisco luxury condo project The Infinity to solicit what is clearly free design services with the promise of 'special recognition', whatever that is. Here are the specifics:

"Each of the three winners will be given a budget of $75,000 for the purchase of furniture and other items necessary to implement the winning design. This budget is not a cash prize, and none of this amount is to be paid to any winner. The entire budget of $75,000 will go towards furnishings and other materials for the condominium, and no cash award is provided to the winners nor shall winners receive any compensation for any assistance winners may provide to Sponsor in implementing the winning designs."

There are two high profile architects involved in the project already. Is it simply that the client doesn't want to pay the contracted designers to do the interior work, prefering instead to exploit young designers who will provide just as good design work (if not better) for nothing?

totally pathetic. I know this goes on all the time, but it was horribly transparent this time.

evil bastards...

i thought this is the idea that college was based on?

send em my way.... i could use a nice 75,000 build budget for some furniture items......i need the cash to get a shop ....

b

mdler is gonna be in Dwell!!!

A Priest goes to a whore. After he has availed her services he put on the clothes, ready to leave.
Whore asked him.."what about the money, Father?"
To which the Priest replied, "Not from you dear, not from you"

I got some great 2dCAD blocks worthy of their floor plans! Then, Just put the DWR catalogue products in the schdeule ....Voila!

...how's that for a Free Design ideas.

"See you later decorator" SHUT THE FUCK UP TOD!

I fart in your general direction!

HHNB

I think I'm actually going to write Dwell a letter about this. I don't generally go there, but that's really upsetting that a magazine that purpots to promote the value of design is devaluing it in this senseless manner. If they just said that there's a $5,000 fee and a $70,000 budget, that would have been a much more responsible move.

there will be no shortage of entrants as a win means ten of thousands of dollars of free marketing for you super genius design firm of the future.

Could someone post a link to the details on this?

I can understand how it would make sense if it were a straight out design competition or a charrette....but to be asked to play decorator and be given a budget and not even get your own reality show out of it, seems a little bit like a raw deal to me.

A description of the competition is on Bustler at this link. You may want to also place your comments there...

Thanks Archinect, duly noted. I will finish up my current meaningless task and drop a comment over there.


On a side note, does anyone else visualize a big green floating head when they see that "Archinect" has posted on Archinect?

:oP

done. Am I really the first comment over there? wow.

Done and done.

Is this the "agitation" talked about over on the purple thread?

And WonderK, I see more of an enormous but hazy hand reaching out to a universe-sized keyboard.

I saw you guys' comment on that site. Great!! I agree that it should be be boycotted.

as the original post on this thread, i think we should make more of a stink about this. At the very least, cancel your subscription to dwell if you have one. I certainly will.

i don't think dwell will see the bustler comments unless directed there. their email for contest questions is contests@dwell.com . i can't think right now, but maybe we should make them aware of the comments at bustler and/or here.

Just set an email to contests at dwell. Thanks for the link aml.

this is what I sent to Dwell via the email link:

"dear Dwell - I'd like to echo other comments you might be receiving about the Infinity Design Challenge. As a subscriber to your magazine and as a professional architect whose work has been published in your pages and who teaches on the faculty of one of the nation's most respected schools of architecture, I was incredibly disappointed to read in my current copy of Dwell that this competition, endorsed by your magazine, appears to be a call for free design services with absolutely no compensation. The exploitation of young designers is not a new phenomenon, but I would imagine that part of Lara Hedberg Deam's mission for Dwell was to promote the finer side of design culture and to make it more widely accessible for designers and clients alike. It is simply inexcusable when a respected magazine like Dwell endorses a 'design challenge' that neither results in a commission for the selected winner nor provides any compensation for design ideas, intellectual property, or time in order to so transparently promote a high-end luxury condo project on which the developer and others will make a killing.

I am hoping that this is simply a misrepresentation of the intentions and goals of the Infinity Design Challenge, your company, and Ms. Hedberg Deam, and that Dwell will be able to address these concerns with its readers in the next issue. If not, I am afraid I will have to cancel my subscription and take my work, my clients, and my students elsewhere."

they won't care. But it felt good.

That's a lot more impactful than anything I've got to say. I hope that hearing that a designer whom they've featured in their pages no longer approves of their message makes some difference.

yes, good letter bp3!

what ever happened to subversion? win the contest, propose something very dwell/wallpaper-ish that they will like, then fill their condos with piles of urine soaked toasters, dixie cup chaise lounges, and oral surgery photos.

We'll let you spearhead that particular approach...

great letter bp3!

I also agree that it is despicable to take advantage of designers in such a matter, but I can't help but wonder if it can be a reciprocal relationship.

I mean, when we had a Starbuck sponsored Charette at school, which effectively ended in the Starbucks team getting free design ideas (the student winners got $100 gift card to an art supply store), I thought it was rather irresponsible for Starbucks to get these ideas without compensating anyone. (Starbucks irresponsible...what? never.) But, on the other hand, the winners got to put it in their portfolio/ on their resume and made some contacts that otherwise wouldn't have been accessible to them. Is a student example completely different?

Though I don't think the acclaim is enough "compensation", I wonder if it is the only way to sort of play the corporate system that we are up against? We do research for professors, who get compensated for publishing books, while we rarely see a penny (other than work-study dollars). On the other side, if you are young, without much of a resume, a claim of contribution to a publication can help you get better jobs and hopefully result in you making more money, right?

I am not defending Dwell at all, as I wouldn't be involved out of principle, but I am honestly asking if it still can be a great opportunity for distinction, which can ultimately lead to more success (long term)? Or is that simply not enough?

bp3, I respect your proactiveness (is that a word?)

The "Infinity" is infinitely banal design to begin with,
but this "design challenge" reveals the 'new' Dwell's infinitely shameful disrespect for the actual practice of design, alongside their infinitely greedy profiteering from design.

The American architecture/design magazine situation has been so pathetic to begin with of late (particularly compared to Europe and Japan), that it forced architects and designers to aknowledge Dwell's presence over the years.

Whatever good will the design community had for Dwell -- with their Dwell House competitions at least bringing greater visibility to architecture/design -- will surely be eroded away from this stupid act on their part.

On the other hand, the largely layperson readership of Dwell will likely be none the wiser, while being further mislead regarding the value of design and the practice of design.

Good post, bothands.

Chili Davis, your comment at Bustler made me laugh out loud.

Has everyone else emailed Dwell directly? I did and sent them links to this discussion and the Bustler one.

actually a comp like this would better serve a firm like mine. we could throw two or three people on it. make some pretty and win and get loads of free publicity and write it off to marketing. maybe i'll suggest it.

vado, always the agitator. You are so agitating!

Yes, free work can often be written off as marketing. Hell, I'm going to a party tonight for a "Decorator Show House" for which my partner and I did decor for the Master Bedroom, for free. We do it every year, spend lots of (un)billable time and even some cash on getting furnishings put together, and it has been very successful as a marketing technique due to both getting our image out there and networking.

The difference is: the Show House is a charitable event! It raises money for the local children's hospital.

It seems the Dwell thing raise money for the developer of the condo and Dwell. F'em.

chili, that was just wicked dude.....


or dudette...

yes, I emailed them.

So Chili, would that make the people who enter this contest.... sluts?

yeah well i hear ya lb. you know one thing they don't consider here either is the fact that when we buy furniture for a client we get it at a discount and mark it up and make some caish. i think they want to solicit a reader's response. you will have a bunch of wanna be designer'saka housewives and i.d. students(which would make sense)

"Winners may be asked to assist in coordinating implementation with The Infinity’s designers, but Sponsor or Sponsor’s designees will have the ultimate, final decision-making authority."

right....so we do free work to help Infinity sell condos, and then we may be asked to do MORE free work to help the Infinity Design Team (who are presumably getting paid...) and then after all that they may still, i imagine, butcher the winning free design through value engineering but still attach our names to it??

oh, okay. cool.

i'm in. this is awesome. woo-hoo!

mightylittle's going to be in dwell!!

(at least when you qualified people toss out the submission form, i'll have a better shot...i'm going with shabby chic.)

This makes me so sick. I can't believe I only just finally started subscribing to this magazine after Architecture folded and I was left with little choice... ugh.

word's getting around guys - nice job! Curbed SF has just picked up the story too...

http://sf.curbed.com/

damn...archinect is getting quite powerful.

saving libraries, changing everyone's eco-footprint and now this...contest bashing.

i love it.

Has anyone received a response from Dwell after contacting them?

ive seen some pretty shady competitions
but this is absurd.
by the way nice letter bp3
it pains me when competition organizers take us
architects/ designers to be a bunch of suckers.

I'm actually a little shocked that they have not responded to my email (above). Oh well. Every issue is the same crap anyway. I'd rather spend my $4.99 on some fashion mag that isn't afraid to admit how shallow it is rather than one that pretends to have some relevance. And I agree with above comments: the only reason anyone reads Dwell is because there aren't many options. Architects and designers are definitely the last ones to benefit from anything being published in any of the American shelter magazines.

not to fan the fires of debate and what-not, but CurbedSF picked up the story of the bad contest as mentioned by the omniscient Archinect and they've only posted one comment...not by me.

<i>Wow, I never knew designers were so self-righteous. The prize is obviously the publicity. If that's not cool, don't enter it.</>

Clearly this individual sees the amount of work that goes into FF&E for a luxury residence as small, but they have a point.

Why should we be mad, when we can just turn a blind eye to yet another instance of our collective services (as architects and others) being undervalued.

Is it our mess that we've made, or what?

Doctor's don't perform surgery for the publicity, except maybe for charitable causes...

So is the crux here really that this is not just Dwell et al. looking for free design, but not even cloaking it in the guise of a not-for-profit endeavour?

What if it were the same contest but the end-users were the residents of the low-income housing that the folks behind the Infinity towers are no doubt forced to put up in some not-yet-but-soon-to-be-gentrified area of SF?

Don't get me wrong...I still think it's a lousy effort that should bring shame and dismay to the halls of Dwell....Just thinking out loud here.

And bp3, i'm not at all shocked that they didn't respond to you. Why should they? They know exactly what you and others have already mentioned...that as far as </>modern</i> design mags go...they know they have a captive audience.

Why acknowledge mistakes when they can just keep selling adspace for cardboard chairs?

wow - i sure screwed up those tags. oops.

As my partner pointed out tonight, at the Show House we spent close to $40,000 decorating ONE BEDROOM (it's all borrowed). With only $75K for an entire condo, I think not without's proposal of urine-soaked toasters might just barely be affordable!

how much would it cost to send my dwell magazines back to them after i shred them?

right 'return to sender' on the magazine and it charges them the returned shipping cost.

i just emailed them.

Dwell just responded over at Bustler:

Hi all,

I'm the online editor for Dwell.com, and I want to repsond to the discussion here and on archinect.com, as your concerns are really important to me. Our goal is to serve the design community, and we hoped that The Infinity competition would be of benefit to emerging architects and designers, giving them an opportunity for higher visibility among their peers and potential clients.

We appreciate your feedback and enjoy having such a passionate community. We look forward to continuing this conversation—you can reach us at letters@dwell.com

Sincerely,

Christina Amini
christina@dwell.com

this was just added to the bustler comments:

Hi all,

I'm the online editor for Dwell.com, and I want to repsond to the discussion here and on archinect.com, as your concerns are really important to me. Our goal is to serve the design community, and we hoped that The Infinity competition would be of benefit to emerging architects and designers, giving them an opportunity for higher visibility among their peers and potential clients.

We appreciate your feedback and enjoy having such a passionate community. We look forward to continuing this conversation—you can reach us at letters@dwell.com

Sincerely,

Christina Amini
christina@dwell.com

Lars, you have to pick up the pace buddy. I posted that at least 5 seconds ago.

they should either cancel their involvment or raise the antee to 10k for each winning design + the promised 'visibility'.
otherwise she is just doing demage control and sticking a pacifier up there.

i meant winning 'decoration'.

sabbo..
great minds.



i wrote a response to dwell and then accidentally lost it in the ether..oh
well.

Rewrite it, lars! Keep fighting the good fight!

I have to call an HVAC contractor now, he wants to move the second furnace across the basement and I'll have to design a new duct chase for it - but I'm sure he'll give me special recognition when I do a good job!

Dwell don't go Pimping no Emerging Architects! We are the second oldest profession in the world.....just behind, Guess Who?

lb..i rewrote it..but the first response was well worded and
more concise..the newer version is a lot more sarcastic..
but maybe reflects my mood better anyway.

really snooker?

wow, now that is prestige ;)

I just sent a second letter to Dwell.

I'm sure they do enjoy our "passionate community" but when that community dissolves because we all have to find another way to make a living they'll probably miss us.

And Orhan is right - on the damage control pacifier thing.

haha lovely liberty bell.....

such a ham!

rationalist
los angeles
Friday, April 27, 2007

no, you hoped to benefit Dwell and Infinity. In the long run, you only hurt designers by teaching clients that their services are not worth anything.

this is rationalist's response to demage control editor's post.

right on..!!

Thank you. I sent them an email to the same effect, asking them (among other things), "What happens when your readers ask the designers that won to furnish their condos or homes for a total budget of $75,000 and no design fee?"

The idea that they are helping the winners is just so short-sighted. Yes, they will get more clients because they've been published in Dwell. But what will the expectations of those clients be when they know that those designers will work for free?

yes, OA, I was going to add to rationalists reply to that woman's form letter on the comp forum, but for some odd reason after I took time to carefully develop my thoughts in writing, and hit the submit key, it all but disappeared....

But yes....i wish that instead of some form letter she would have take the time to really sit down and tell us what they might be thinking of doing to alleviate this situation.

being published in anywhere does not automatically get you any clients. i was published in new york times and only call i got was from a long lost friend in ann arbor. it was a spring home edition of nyt magazine too.

ha. So I guess I'm giving them even more credit than they deserve then, huh?

That comment page on Bustler is getting pretty good, isn't it? I like Karl-Erik Larson's comment: ps. i look forward to your competition for 'emerging heart and brain surgeons.'

This whole thing is quite interesting....it seems like they caught us at a perfect time, like we were itching to have an outside entity to express our dissatisfaction with the way designers are compensated, and our responses are that much more emphatic because it might actually impact a developer.

dwell ain't the problem. the design community is the problem. for example, the current issue of architect which has a cover story about intern incomes. several times in the article it is stated by someone that they aren't in it for the money etc. frankly, the profession needs to take back much of what they've given away. starting with me i am billing my client for this comment.

I made the Front Cover of Architectural Digest, and all I have ever recieved was calls from people I would rather not take on as clients or interior decorators wanting to know where we obtained the beautiful fabric in my clients bedroom. Oh ya they did send me a hard bound copy of the magazine. I was however dissapointed when I learned they actually run different covers for different parts of the country. We were the East Coast Cover. I'm sure glad I had a paying client.

The idea of publicity as ample compensation is clearly an absurd assumption on Dwell's part. Their magazine exists because of designers, designers do not exist because of Dwell. I'm really enjoying the uprising against this nonsense, as well as the great bit of forshadowing on an older thread about the "Slow Commercialized Decent of Dwell".

Who said "slow"?

Wondering if Dwell Sends out hard bound copies to the designers who make it on their cover. Most likely they send you one of those notices, which says you can purchase copies of the article, as long as you purchase them in lots of one-hundred.

ok - so i thought about entering it ONLY because

a) dwell's an ok mag - they wouldnt post a b.s. competition, right? [wrong]

b) i didnt fully read what the competition was or what was the prize because - they put affordable buiding stds out in front - why would they not reward the winners? [wrong- apparently they wont]

c) nor did i realize it was basically interior decoration competition. i wanted to knock EVERYTHING interior down and redesign the ENTIRE thing. [wrong - just frolicking with textiles]

i want to know if theyre going to rescind the competition. or at least put out a kickass issue based on 'necters.

please keep this thread alive....

Dwell has sucked for quite awhile. It is an ad rag.

or at least put out a kickass issue based on 'necters.

That's an excellent idea kyll! I actually just finished a project I was ready to submit to them - but since I've publicly scolded them in more than one place now I feel like I can't.

This is [url=http://whatdoiknow.org/archives/003042.shtml[/url] a funny story about being published in Dwell, anyway.

So maybe not.

Knew I'd screwed that up! a funny story

I think we should send Bob Villa over there to straighten the Dwell People out.

How about Loos, instead?

Any AIA San Francisco members out there? Your website is featuring this competition. Perhaps a letter from a member asking them if free design is an idea they want to promote?

interesting story. (warning: leading to tangential subject)

well, i've been to Morimoto Restaurant in chelsea, nyc (actually had dinner there too - exxxxxpensive as $hit) and although some of the ideas were interesting, unique and racy, the detailing wasn't that great. regular plywood painted to look like red-doug fir, floorlights poorly placed and the openings for them just rough-cut and sloppily done, metal(?) reveals that werent securely fastened. that water bottle wall? well if you touch it, the entire thing moves - cascading not water, but dust caught in the bottle voids above the 'lounge' area taking away the idea of it actually being a static waterfall figure, but a dust distributor. the 3form cast resin counter at the bar has some hardware that i removed WITH MY HANDS in front of the bartender. Overall, nice looking place but reveals, detailing, and edges - poorly executed. Yet - it "blessed" the cover of arch record (int. issue 06).

Interesting tangent.... in my publication design class, there were a lot of times when you get a photo that you're like "THIS is the cover/feature/vingnette/! It's gorgeous. As long as we make sure that this bit at the corner gets cropped out...." When you're designing a spread, you just understand that there are imperfections in almost every product, every building, every photo, and it's just a part of your job to make sure they don't make it into the final print. Because magazine design is somebody's whole job, and that somebody may or may not care what sort of architectural statement they're making, and are in fact trained to make every photo and spread look as absolutely gorgeous as possible, you can pretty much bet that in every money shot, there is a chip in the countertop, some badly stained grout, missing weatherstripping, or other faux pas lurking juuuuust out of frame.

I know - believe me, I've been the guilty one on occasion when it comes to placing the fire extinguisher/wayfinding signage/electrical panel on the side of the hallway that I know won't show in the photograph. I just thought it was a funny and timely article.

my thing is - why not mention it in the article? why not state something like - "the architects took great care in this portion of the bldg, but not in the area(s) where things will eventually be replaced and/or finished at a later and more feasible time" almost giving a disclaimer for any imperfections found - but still a respectable project.


ok, maybe thats too much to ask for....

My Bustler complaint slash Letter to the Editor of Dwell:

Dwell,

Your support for The Infinity Design Challenge and its exploitation of emergent design professionals genuinely undermines the very 'intelligent, thoughtful, and modern' vision that architects and designers work ardently to fortify. On behalf of your target audience, constituents of real life design, we urge you to rescind this contest and reevaluate the true philosophy of your magazine.

Sincerely,
Disappointed Dweller

---

I've never been a subscriber to this magazine, but I will certainly make an effort to be sure no one else becomes one in the future. Thanks for making an issue of this archinecters.

I am assuming that many of us have written letters to our friend, Christina. Has anyone received a response from her and/or Dwell besides the one posted on April 27th?

nope!

I'm getting tired of Dwell- there is only so many times I can see the same little, million$+ modern town home/condo with cool, spoiled 'artsy', owners with bold framed glasses- sipping latte'.

I'm bumping this because I received my final issue of Dwell today. Despite their beggin me to stay, I won't be renewing my subscription!

But I also had created a profile on Dwell Connect, back when I was trying to raise awareness about the Breuer library potential demolition (not a sinlge response to my comment there, BTW. I'm beginning to think Dwell readers really are selfish, style-obsessed yuppies!). Now I want to delete my profile and guess what, there's no way to do it! The website says Laverage Software runs the Dwell Connect website, so I went to the Lverage Software website and guess what - no contact informaiton for anyone NOT looking to try out their product!

I'm getting more and more miffed about this.

I think Ms. Christina's reponse on Bustler was just salt in the wound, no?

I have been out of dwell for years....find reading Commercial Property News more interesting helpful on a day to day basis.

ha ha, wow. just getting around to reading the comments posted on bustler.

that magazine sucks anyway.

the thing that further pisses me off, is that despite all the much deserved negative feedback, i'm sure dwell won't have trouble finding entrants.

Folks,

I reviewed comments here and on bustler and read over the competition guidelines. Great comments but I found myself with a different rxn.

The winning design award package (which I cut and pasted below for reference) of $5K in award money plus substantive exposure at both the web, print, and PR level seem fair at first glance for an emerging interior designer.

I don't know if the prize package below has been updated since the design community initially posted feedback. If it has been updated, good job Dwell and great job design community.


WINNING DESIGN PRIZES


Winning design announcement on dwell.com with link to the firm/company’s or individual’s website

In-book community announcement in a future issue of Dwell

Design Source listing online for 3 months

Conference pass to Dwell on Design Conference and Exhibition, September 14-16 in San Francisco

Winning design press release/announcement from The Infinity

Winning design announcement at The Infinity Sales and Design Center

$5,000 to each winning designer

I just hope the winner of the Dwell Comp doesn't end up with a HEAD
Shot on the Front of "Architecture"

chingale..

look at the first post of the thread...it explains what the original prize
was. the current award is less agregious..

here's an excerpt:

"Each of the three winners will be given a budget of $75,000 for the purchase of furniture and other items necessary to implement the winning design. This budget is not a cash prize, and none of this amount is to be paid to any winner."

chingale, where are you seeing this? I just re-checked Bustler after reading your post, and I still see

"PRIZES
Three (3) grand prize winners, one design for each of the three unit types, will have their designs implemented by The Infinity. Sponsor reserves the right not to award any or all of the available prizes in the event that the entries do not meet Sponsor’s standards. Winners will receive special recognition as part of The Infinity promotional materials, as well as within the Sales Center for the development and in the model unit, for a period of time to be determined by Sponsor. Each of the three winners will be given a budget of $75,000 for the purchase of furniture and other items necessary to implement the winning design. This budget is not a cash prize, and none of this amount is to be paid to any winner. The entire budget of $75,000 will go towards furnishings and other materials for the condominium, and no cash award is provided to the winners nor shall winners receive any compensation for any assistance winners may provide to Sponsor in implementing the winning designs."

I just clicked on the link to register for the contest so I could see the offical contest language as opposed to seeing bustler's summary of the design contest:

see Dwell's official link here:Dwell contest

I just thought I'd share since I thought perhaps people were still reacting off of the bustler summary of the contest as opposed to the actual contest language posted on Dwell.

It looks like the additional prizes were added on 5/9/07 according to the official contest rules, so perhaps great job archinect and design community for improving the scope of the contest for emerging designers??

Jeepers creepers!! They totally revised the prize so winning actually *means* something!! I can only guess it's due to the uproar here and at Bustler - thanks for starting this whole issue, bp3, and thanks to Dwell for changing the contest!! Yay for online activism!

I would think they would have advertised this themselves, to make us all aware of their change of heart. Good job, Dwell!

5000 ???

that is what exactly?

i mean with all the ad revenue that heap of shit rakes in, they can only generate 5000?

if anything i am even more pissed. the first maybe an oversight, but this minor change does nothing for anyone, and only emboldens client apathy towards the profession. now when some shit head client comes to an architect, and said architect lays out the fee, the client will come back and cite dwell and the winning designer - and prize $$$ - and ask why is your fee so high??

die dwell, die!

5k winnings for an architectural competition are pretty generous, unfortunately.

That seems pretty reasonable to me. Designing an interior will take significantly less time than, say, a museum.

For promotional purposes, this will probably be better than almost every other competition as 'regular' people will actually see the results.


Good job to all those that got them to change it!

As far as I am concerned, American architecture (especially Dwell) magazines are short attention span, trend-driven dreck. I lost interest after P/A was killed off. DETAIL magazine, THE PLAN magazine, and El Croquis is the only thing worth looking at, let alone, spending money on.

What astounded me was how flat-footed the response was to the initial outcry. That pro forma cr*p response posted at Bustler and the virtual silence that followed was inept and demonstrated a remarkable PR naivete for such a slick brand. Whatever grudging goodwill the mag had managed to earn from the arch/design community was on the line and all they could muster was a "there, there, we'll fix this and shut them up" expediency. While it's commendable that they restored some measure of dignity to the contest there's an obvious continuation of PR ineptitude and risk in evidence here, highlighted by the inaudible dissemination of the rule change for starters. It appears they're attempting a quiet capitulation in the hopes of a quid pro quo. How revealing is that?
Nothing short of a transparent and precedent setting editorial will save their integrity now, imo. There's a unique opportunity for them to cast some much-needed light on the elephant in the room. Failing to do so would simply confirm what everybody already suspects.
Pimpin' their ride just got a whole lot uglier.
Kudos bp3 et al

Excellent response, xentropy, and exactly why I wondered about their silence at changing the rules. It's a good move, but why aren;t they turning it into a PR opportunity for themselves? Sheepishness?

We tried contacting Christine, Dwell's online editor, to get some comments regarding the recent changes to the competition, but we received an auto-response stating that Christine is no longer with Dwell.

how convenient.