Bauhaus

Bauhaus Logo, Oskar Schlemmer, 1919.

Founded in 1919 in Germany by Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus was a design school which produced some of history's best designers and a movement with the same name. The Bauhaus was credited with succeeding where others had failed, they bridged the gap between design and industrialisation. In the manifesto which was released in its founding year, Gropius outlined the school's aims as:

Walter Gropius, Founder of the Bauhaus

"The aim of the Bauhaus is the uniform work of art - the great building - in which there is no distinction between monumental and decorative art"

The school worked on teaching through what's called the workshop system - kind of what we have at MCAST. They taught the students in workshops rather than classrooms, and they taught them how to apply the principles of the school and design in practice rather than just in theory.

The German school was quintessentially modern and functional in its ideals. It was mostly influenced by the Avant-Garde styles such as De Stijl and Constructivism and it would later go on to inspire the International style. They looked towards creating designs for necessities required by the working classes rather than one off pieces. Their motto was "Less is more" meaning that less ornamentation meant more function. In order to make their pieces more affordable the designers started using new cheap materials such as steel piping, plywood and industrial glass.

Here are some monumental designs which Bauhaus designers produced:

Wassily Chair, Marcel Breur, 1926

Barcellona Chair and Ottoman, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929 

The Bauhaus Lamp, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, 1924. 

The Bauhaus School complex at Dessau, Walter Gropius, 1925

In 1933, after the Nazi Party was elected to government, the Berlin police closed down the school acting on instructions given from the government. This could have been called a foreshadowing of what was to come six years later, namely WWII. It was one of Hitler's first attempts at removing anything he decided was too "foreign" for Germany and Germans alike. Basically, if he didn't like it he got rid of it. This was just a bump in the road for the designers though as most of them later emigrated to America with designers from other movements and they eventually became known for helping form what would later become know as the International Style.

The Bauhaus style remains to this day an inspiration and many of the designs created during this period are still very much in demand. They are either still in production by many of the original companies or have been bought by other companies while others have been copied by other design companies simply because they are so functional and they do not clash with whatever else is currently in style. 

REFERENCES:
Thomas Hauffe, 2001. Design: From the Industrial Revolution to the 21st Century (Flipguides). Edition. Dumont Monte.

Charlotte & Peter Fiell, 2012. Design of the 20th Century (25). Edition. Taschen.

, 2001. Design Classics (Architecture & Design) (English and French Edition). Bilingual Edition. Taschen.

Frank Whitford, 1984. Bauhaus (World of Art). Edition. Thames & Hudson.

N/A, (1919), Bauhaus Logo [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.thefactoryhair.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bauhaus_1919_Logo_by_neuwks.jpg [Accessed 17 November 13].

N/A, (1919), Walter Gropius [ONLINE]. Available at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/WalterGropius-1919.jpg [Accessed 17 November 13]

Walter Gropius, (1925), The Bauhaus Dessau [ONLINE]. Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Bauhaus.JPG [Accessed 17 November 13].

Marcel Breuer, (1926), Wassily Chair [ONLINE]. Available at: http://blog.newx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Bauhaus_Chair_Breuer.png [Accessed 17 November 13].

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , (1929), Barcellona Chair and Ottoman [ONLINE]. Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Mies-Barcelona-Chair-and-Ottoman.jpg [Accessed 17 November 13].

Wilhelm Wagenfeld , (1924), Bauhaus Lamp [ONLINE]. Available at: http://25.media.tumblr.com/d6db2ab7b64cc8dab30170faf8319826/tumblr_mjvi5z3yju1rpgpe2o1_400.jpg [Accessed 17 November 13].