The article is down for me so I am guessing at it based solely on the comments, which is dangerous.
Something that has become apparent to me is the connection between aesthetic expression and religious expression, which I think used to reign but now is missing from the process.
To use an obvious examples, consider something "small detail" like the ornate doors of an old European cathedral, they were crafted beautifully because their beauty added to the religious experience for congregants, they would see the beauty and catch an emotional glimpse of the divine.
Similar, I think, the classical composers and painters who saw their arts, at least in part, as a conduit for divine beauty into this world.
While this ethos still exists in religious art and architecture/ design, mainstream society's aesthetic has diverged from serving a religious purpose, so it no longer aspires to make you feel awed in the same way. And what you don't aspire to, you don't achieve.
Also remember that different religious agencies would decorate this way in order for you to keep giving a tenth of your earnings to the Church.
This was really no different than Apple making flashy buildings in order to attract the best workers and customers willing to pay higher prices. But as many churches that decorated, there were far, far, far more places that were boring and uninteresting in their times. There was great expense involved in creating these flashy features.
Something that has become apparent to me is the connection between aesthetic expression and religious expression, which I think used to reign but now is missing from the process.
To use an obvious examples, consider something "small detail" like the ornate doors of an old European cathedral, they were crafted beautifully because their beauty added to the religious experience for congregants, they would see the beauty and catch an emotional glimpse of the divine.
Similar, I think, the classical composers and painters who saw their arts, at least in part, as a conduit for divine beauty into this world.
While this ethos still exists in religious art and architecture/ design, mainstream society's aesthetic has diverged from serving a religious purpose, so it no longer aspires to make you feel awed in the same way. And what you don't aspire to, you don't achieve.