Organic Design

Okay, so this is basically another design which happened during the others, which naturally means that it drew inspiration from them. If I had to try and determine what this style was without reading or being taught about it, I would say that this is a Modern movement which basically followed in the footsteps of certain Art Noveau branches as well as Art Deco and the Bauhaus.

Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright is made of organic products rather
than designed with organic shapes

Although the naturalistic forms which were popular in the Art Noveau and Deco styles could be argued as organic, they weren't. Organic forms are largely abstracted shapes, they are forms which cannot be said that they resemble some object. When you consider it, it did have the same level of functionality that the Bauhaus were looking at creating but still had just enough ornamentation to make it a work of art in itself.

Now the word 'organic'can either refer to the curvilinear shapes of some of the designs or the material they were produced in. Even at this point in time designers were becoming more and more aware of how important it was to use organic materials over man made materials.

While Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright can be considered as the first two pioneers of this style, Alvar Aalto and Charles Eames were two of its greatest advocates. Their designs contrasted heavily with the stark cold geometry which was being created under the cap of the International Style.

Alvar Aalto was one of this style's greatest pioneers

I suppose you could say it was a time of great change, where everyone felt the need to make themselves heard. It seems strange to think of the first half of the 20th century as a time when design boomed when in reality the economy was worsening by the minutes, especially during the first three decades.

This design style was not only popular in the latter part of the first half of the last century but it regained popularity in the last decade as well. I suppose this might've had something to do with the space culture that was popular at the time. Some consider it to still be going to this day - and I don't blame them, although nowadays we have a new word for it - Ergonomic design.

Although ergonomics is the study of the shapes of the human body and how the body works in relation with a particular product, you could argue that the majority of ergonomically created designs have an organic form to them. When you think about it logically, it's much more comfortable to use a computer mouse with an organic form rather than one that has a more geometric form. Why? well mostly because the human body itself is an organic design.

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

Unknown , (2013), Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.fallingwater.org/img/home_assets/FW_FALL_01.jpg [Accessed 30 November 13].

Art Deco

An Odeon Theatre house - popularly design in the Art Deco style 

Art Deco is popularly believed to have been inspired by Art Noveau. This style originated in France but quickly spread though Europe and other countries mostly because of its overseas inspirations such as Egyptian and Aztec cultures which can clearly been seen in some of Alfons Mucha's posters and the widely used geometric forms respectively. In America this style saw a rise in popularity with the introduction of the ocean liners coming from Europe and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and the constant opening and building of theater houses everywhere (nowadays we call them cinemas) most notably the Odeon Cinemas which are still going strong to this day.

You've got to consider what kind of impact this would have created when compared to the other European styles predominant during this time namely the Avant-Gardes and the Bauhaus. Whereas the latter two were more concerned with functionally mass produced pieces,  Art Deco focused on more ornamental exclusive pieces. It is still considered a modern movement though because it continued on the style popularised by the Art Noveau style which was pretty much the first non historical style.

Graphic showing William van Alen's
design for the Chrysler Building.

I suppose Art Deco bridges the huge gap in design between the over-ornamentation of the Arts & Crafts movement and Art Noveau style and the geometric functionalism of the Bauhaus and International style, due to its 'organically ornamental geometry'. You can clearly see that while Art Noveau was still predominant in the lives of many designers and customers, other designers were working with more geometric forms such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Henry Van de Velde, this meant that later designers such as Eileen Gray, Pierre Chareau and William Van Alen could look to them and build on what they had already done. It is clear to see that the former two were already drawing inspiration from the International style and were doing away with ornamentation.

It's interesting to see the vast array of  inspirational sources which different designers drew on to help design their creations. Some drew on movements and styles which were running concurrently to their chosen style such as Constructivism, De Stijl and the Weiner Werkstatte, while others chose to inspire themselves from the artworks of the likes of the Cubist Picasso.

Chandelier with Art Deco pattern

Surrealism and Futurism were also styles which they seemed to draw on. Meanwhile others chose to compare their designs to the newsworthy stories of the time such as the rise of the movie industry and the glitz and glamour associated with the classic Hollywood age and the archaeological  finds of both the tomb of Tutankhamen and the famous Aztec and Mayan Zigurats and the discovery of how beautiful tribal art actually can be.

If you think that these movements are getting confusing I agree with you. Personally I think that all these different styles and movements running concurrently are largely due to the fact that the two 'super powers' at the time (America and Europe) were undergoing constant change, what with the wars they were involved in and the Industrial Revolution. The Great Depression that followed showed designers that people didn't need ornamentation anymore but simple commodities that could easily be adapted to a large number of environments.

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.

Unknown , (2013), Odeon Theatre House [ONLINE]. Available at:http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/12/article-0-04E96EFE000005DC-823_634x416.jpg [Accessed 26 November 13].

Unknown , (2013), Chrysler Building [ONLINE]. Available at:http://muralstencils.com/images/designs/architecture06_large.gif [Accessed 26 November 13].

Unknown , (2013), Chandelier with Art Deco Pattern [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.deco-dence.com/Lighting-Chandeliers/American_1970s_Lightolier_mirror_pattern_chandelier_sideview.jpg

[Accessed 26 November 13]

International Style

After the closing of the Bauhaus school in Germany, designers such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius emigrated to America and continued their landmark work. They continued trying to communicate their idea of combining functionality with technology. Designers such as Ray and Charles Eames (yes, Ray was a woman) combined the Modern Movement's ideals with methods of industrial production in order to create a better idea of Good Design.

Le Corbusier's Chaise Lounge is still a design icon to this day 

During the 20s and 30s the International architectural style was heavily affected by Art Deco's geometric inspirations, however some designers took the functionalism ideals so seriously that they created an extreme of design called Brutalism where they did away with everything they considered ornamental even smooth concrete surfaces and hiding pipes and structural components.

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe's
Barcellona Chair

This International Style was particularly useful in the years after and between the two World Wars when every country and council was embarking on large scale housing projects in order to try and return to normal the lives of those people who had ended up homeless due to war-time bombardments. This obviously meant that they needed designs which were not only quick to complete, but also cheap. It was really a question of supply and demand I suppose. I like to think of the International style as a more simplistic side to Art Deco. Art Deco was reserved for those customers who could afford spending a little extra on ornamentation while International Style was more widely reachable.

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.

Unknown , (2013), Le Corbusier Chaise Lounge [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.brookstone.com/webassets/product_images/700x700/728469p.jpg [Accessed 22 November 13].

Unknown , (2013), Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe Barcelona Chair [ONLINE]. Available at: http://blog.fishpools.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mies-van-der-rohe-barcelona-chair.gif [Accessed 22 November 13].

International Style

Between the two World Wars, there was a huge social and cultural change. Politics, technology and economics all went through a radical change. Most countries saw the removal of Monarchy to be replaced by Democracy (the only exception was England while the biggest example was Russia where the police ended up killing the royal family during their revolution). In America and Britain most families were still feeling the effects of the Great Depression.

Eames Office Chair by Ray and Charles Eames

It's hard to explain really, because Bauhaus and the International style were so concurrent that the lines where one movement ends and the other begins hardly exist at all. While the Bauhaus only existed from 1919 to 1933 mainly in Germany, The International Style is thought to have started in 1920 and lasted to about 1980 in... well, pretty much everywhere, thus the name.

It was happening at the same time as popular design movements such as Art Deco, Organic Design, Streamlining  

International style influenced Eileen Gray
 while designing this Art Deco Table

and Pop Design (all of which I will eventually be covering in my future blogs) which meant that these design movements obviously had an effect on this style and vice versa. The style became known when Alfred H. Barr Jr. (at the time, director of MoMA) noticed that certain designs of designers such as Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, were popular in most countries regardless of culture and context of a country, in other words they were International designs.

This hadn't happened in the western world since the Gothic style in the Middle Ages when every public building was designed in this style in order to communicate without the use of language. That was the key thing to designers in this time. Whereas, in the middle ages Gothic was used to communicate religion to the people, now design was being used to communicate function.

In order to avoid writing the longest blog-post ever in history I will bring this post to a close and continue where I left off in my next post.

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.

Unknown , (2013), Eames Office Chair and Ottoman [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.fantiques.com/periods/IS.jpg [Accessed 22 November 13].

Unknown , (2013), Eileen Gray Round Table [ONLINE]. Available at:http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2006/08/31/431785/EGTABLE.jpg [Accessed 22 November 13].

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].

De Stijl

Concurrently with Constructivism, De Stijl was going strong in the Netherlands. The manifesto was one of
the earliest to contain the idea of form follows function,which was to be defining ideal in the Bauhaus not 2 years later. The designers wanted to create functional good designs which could still be considered appealing to look at.

It all started in 1917 when a group of Dutch architects, designers and artists released a journal entitled De Stijl. This magazine quickly became something similar to a modern day blog as it became a forum for art and design debates, constantly gaining new followers. This magazine featured the works of all the avant-garde movements which were popular at the time namely the Russian Constructivists, the Italian Futurists, and the Dadaists.

De Stijl was aimed at trying to find a unity in the arts and a quest for harmony and order through the use of a universal language of form. They wanted to reject all form of representation of nature and wanted to create a language of abstracted cubism which Piet Mondrian liked to call Neo Plasticism. They believed that this harmony which they sought would bring enlightenment to humanity.







They abstracted the space by using strongly coloured geometric forms. This was the beginning of minimalist furnishings and interiors. Gerrit Reitveld designs such as his Red/Blue chair and Schroeder House are considered to be the exact physical representations of the De Stijl philosophies. In Schroeder House, Reitveld used partitions on rollers which could be moved at will in order to fit around the inhabitants' needs.






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

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

N/A, (2009), N/A [ONLINE]. Available at: http://jamshadarshad.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/destijl-large_o.jpg [Accessed 16 November 13].

Piet Mondrian , (1931), Tableau 2 [ONLINE]. Available at:http://pessimiss.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/mondrian-tableau-11-1921-5.jpg [Accessed 16 November 13]

Gerrit Reitveld, (1924), Schroeder House Interior [ONLINE]. Available at: http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1293607917-schroder30.jpg [Accessed 16 November 13].

Constructivism

An example of Russian propaganda, where
red represents communism 

The term Constructivism refers to a design style prominent in Russia which began right after the Russian Revolution of 1917 when the Czar and his family were killed and Stalin rose to power. This was the beginning of Communism in Russia and, as such, a new chapter in the history of the country which prompted designers to come up with a new take on the avant-garde movements which were getting more and more popular in Europe.

They used simple geometrical shapes and lines and the colour scheme was reduced to that of black, white, greys and primary colours, very much like the De Stijl movement which was happening concurrently in the Netherlands.

The Constructivists designed everyday objects in reaction to what was happening. new advances and improvements in technology were used to create different ideas. The context of the country was clearly taken into consideration during the design process of the objects as were the demands of the people.

Propaganda was being spread to the use of
everyday objects such as tableware

The artists clearly saw it as their role to help spread propaganda and they did so through the use of colours representing different aspects of both Russian culture and the world. Red, for example, was the obvious colour to represent Stalin's Communist party while Blue was still considered a Regal colour and therefore was still thought of as a representation of the Czar.

Due to the fact that they were easily distributed to a large number of consumers, ceramics, such as tableware and cloth were used as a huge part of propaganda with the designers issuing abstract messages into their designs in order to get across what they wanted to tell people without it seeming to obvious.

Large projects such as Tatlin's Memorial to the 3rd International (pictured left) were also planned, in order to show the world Russia's rise as a country, but political and economical instability made this impossible for the country













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

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

Ell Lissitzky, (1920), Strike the White with the Red Triangle poster [ONLINE]. Available at: http://seanregan86.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/constructivism1.jpg [Accessed 08 November 13].

Wassily Kandinsky , (1921), Coffee Cup and Saucer [ONLINE]. Available at: http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/905/flashcards/30905/jpg/08_06_kandinsky_cup_and_saucer_19231322720342399.jpg [Accessed 08 November 13].

Vladimir Tatlin , (1920), Monument to the Third International [ONLINE]. Available at:http://dip9.aaschool.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image-1.jpg [Accessed 08 November 13].

Deutscher Werkbund

The Association's Logo

The phrase Deutscher Werkbund is German for "German Association of Workshops"

Once Art Nouveau had turned the design world on its head, everyone wanted the ornamental products, however they still had not figured out the problem to creating mass produced products with a high quality and good design, which meant that most objects were very expensive for the majority of the people, even with the rise of the middle class.

The English Arts and Crafts Movement served as a model for the German Workshops
In Germany, Jugendstil (a.k.a German Art Nouveau, name means young style) were becoming more and more cheaply made, except for where independent designers and industrial producers worked together hand-in-hand. However, the III. Deutsche Kunstgewerbeausstellung (3rd German Arts and Crafts Exhibition) in Dresden in 1906 made it obvious that the Jugendstil was no longer the primary style of the era, in Germany at least. A year later, The Deutscher Werkbund was formed following in the footsteps of the English Arts and Crafts movement.

The Association's aim was simple: to bridge the gap between good design and mass production. They started out with 24 members: 12 designers (including Peter Behrens, Josef Hoffmann, Josef Olbrich and Bruno Paul) and 12 established manufacturers and other design workshops such as the Wiener Werkstatte and the Vereinigte Werstatten fur Kunst im Handwerk (Untied Workshops for Art in Handiwork). Within a year this number had grown by more than 20 times over to 500 members.

Cover of Yearbook issued in 1912

From 1912, The association started producing what they called yearbooks, in which they published both designs by its members (such as factories and cars) as well as their addresses and area of specialization in an effort to promote cooperation between them.

AEG's Turbine Hell in Berlin-Maobit, designed by Peter Behrens, 1908 

Poster for Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne
1914, by Fritz Hellmut

In 1914, the association hosted a landmark exhibition in Cologne. By 1915 their membership had increased to around 2000 but all was not well.

Between the members craftsmanship and industrial production kept fueling one debate. Standardization or individualism? This argument nearly split the association apart and it wasn't until after WWI (1914-1918) that Industrialization became a necessity as did standardization. By 1924, the Werkbund had started looking at eliminating ornamentation all together in favor of more functional designs as seen in their book "Form Ohne (without) Ornament"

The Werkbund was eventually disbanded in 1934 and although it reunited itself after WWII in 1947 and actually still exists to this day, it never regained its former glory, however, it was the movement that bridged together Jugendstil and The Modern Movement (a.k.a the Bauhaus) and without it we certainly would not have most of the designs which we have today.

REFERENCES:  

Unknown, (1907), Deutscher Werkbund Logo [ONLINE]. Available at: http://tipografos.net/posters/dwb-logo.jpg [Accessed 08 November 13].

Unknown, (1912), Yearbook with emblem of Deutscher Werkbund [ONLINE]. Available at:http://catalog.quittenbaum.de/daten/M/BilderJPG/52100/52156.jpg [Accessed 08 November 13].

Peter Behrens, (1908), AEG turbine-hall [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/spr01/282/w4c2i08.jpg [Accessed 08 November 13].

Fritz Hellmut, (1914), Poster for the Deutsche Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.fiellblog.com/storage/Deutscher%20Werkbund.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1311594642602 [Accessed 08 November 13].

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

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

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

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was an ornamental style that emerged between 1880 and 1910. It was popular all around the world but under completely different names. In Germany, for example, it was known as Jugendstil while in Italy it was known as Stil Liberte after the British Department Store, Liberty and Co. which was directly responsible for introducing this style in the country.

Just like the name, the different aspects of this style varied in each country. In Belgium, Victor Horta's Hotel Tassel finished in 1893 was a prime example of the style using the instantly recognizable whiplash curves. Here, Horta used ironwork both as a structural material as well as part of the interior's ornamentation. While, later on, in Scotland Charles Rennie Mackintosh focused on more geometric forms.

Hotel Tassel, Belgium - Victor Horta 

You could say that Mackintosh was already looking forward to what would become known as Art Deco.

Willow Chair - C.R. Mackintosh  

The two major influences of this movement were the pure organic forms of nature and the more emphasized geometric forms inspired by Japanese Wood-block prints, as well as the British Arts and Crafts movement which had started in England 30 years earlier. Since it was the first major movement to incorporate naturalistic forms rather than historical, Art Nouveau can technically be considered as the birth of Modernism.

The inspiration from nature mainly came from progress through scientific research in the botanic field which had been done a few years before, namely the botanical illustrations of Ernst Haeckel and the photographic flower studies of Karl Blossfeldt

Ernst Haeckel botanical illustration       

Karl Blossfeldt 

                                 
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.

Victor Horta, (1893), Interior of Hotel Tassel [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.stylepark.com/db-images/cms/article/img/l1_v334404_958_600_760-10.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (1903), Willow Chair [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.desmol.com/images/product_images/original_images/1ch.r.m._410.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

Ernst Haeckel, (1884), Botanical Illustration [ONLINE]. Available at: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/0d/52/cc/0d52cce2090bac2bc23703f5f8c3921e.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

Karl Blossfeldt, (1888), Flower Study [ONLINE]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAVAr5u4DVPK8eBz4QvW0NAXoeIzjTG56Krh1MGBIoUicT1DSB6wFfNdgSp4vF79hGDr0j8vqiJ-yE-DhaBbOGWcE-jLy-m1aD_Y0gIa3bTVIt-wUdPKuxKN96iY183eWVtiy4k-kBoQ/s1600/karl-blossfeldt-plant-portraits-aspidium-filixmas-common-male-fern-young-unfurling-fronds-4x.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].