Pop Design

In the mid-1960s designers were beginning to question functionalism. They thought that less was a bore and wanted to bring back the so called 'useless' aesthetic and ornamentation which the modern movements had decided to do away with.

In Britain and America artists such as Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol were looking at mass media and new
aspects of everyday life such as advertising, packaging, comics and television for inspiration and naturally design followed. It wasn't long before everyday items such as coat hangers and television sets were being design in this all new colourful design style. 

Designers such as De Pas, D'Urbino & Lomazzi, and Peter Murdoch were creating designs which were easily disposable such as the PVC blow-up chair and the polka-dotted cardboard children's chair. This gave way to a new throw-away culture which I suppose we are still suffering from today.

Plastics were being used in everything and that meant that new types of plastics were being created. Everything became about fun, coat hangers were made to look like a cactus and television were designed like an astronaut's space helmet. This style drew inspiration from a wide range of sources such as Art Noveau, Art Deco, Futurism and Surrealism not to mention Psychedelia which was popular at the same time due to the use of drugs, and the low art culture as well as the space age which was continuously in the news due to the so called 'cold war' happening between Russia and America.

Here are some landmark designs which were created during this time:

Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chair is still very much in demand today

Here, Verner Panton was inspired from Mies Van der Rohe's Bauhaus style cantilever chair 

The consumerist culture grew rapidly overflowing into every aspect of everyday life
as can be seen from Andy Warhol's Paper Souper Dress

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.

Unknown , (2013), Roy Lichtenstein [ONLINE]. Available at: https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-prn1/t5/50273_208462054615_2004963_n.jpg [Accessed 12 December 13].

Unknown , (2013), Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe [ONLINE]. Available at:http://artobserved.com/artimages/2008/10/andy-warhol-marilyn.jpg [Accessed 12 December 13].

Unknown , (2013), De Pas, D'Urbino & Lomazzi PVC Blow Up Chair [ONLINE]. Available at:http://image.architonic.com/imgTre/09_11/plastik-plastik-270_1G_br.jpg [Accessed 12 December 13].

Unknown , (2013), Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.mochatini.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/jacobsen_egg_chair_lp.jpg [Accessed 12 December 13].

Unknown , (2013), Verner Panton Cantilever Chair [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.design-museum.de/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_PantonChair_Panton_01_8b1bdb4dd9.jpg [Accessed 12 December 13].

Unknown , (2013), Andy Warhol Souper Dress [ONLINE]. Available at:http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ci/web-large/DT420.jpg [Accessed 12 December 13].

Post War Design

Unlike the other movements and styles, Post War design was not intended to look a certain way or be inspired by a particular style from history. Each designer was looking at new ways to try and sell more of his or her product over anyone else's.

Obviously the streamlining and organic forms were still very predominant in this era. One of the most important designers of  the Post War style was Raymond Loewy. He was considered to be the greatest pioneer of Streamlining and Post War Design.

During the second world war Germany and Italy had isolated themselves from any international design developments and they sought to nationalise uniform aesthetic principles. In America the combined effects of the Great Depression followed by the effects of the war had a huge negative impact on the economy and so designers were looking towards redefining old objects. The idea of stylising an object was born through streamlining.

As I said before there really was no new style after the wars, simply a continuation of both the organic and streamlining forms, however it was an era when marketing a product well became really important and so did graphic design as a means of advertising. Raymond Loewy showed this in his design for the Lucky Strike cigarette packets and the iconic Coca-Cola drink dispenser. He was the first designer to be featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1949 along with the tagline "he streamlines the sales curve"

Carlo Mollino was another popular designer during this time, being Italian he was at the forefront of bel design which would happen about 10 years later. Mollino kept on working mostly with organic design after the war.  Scandinavian design was also rising in popularity, giving design a brighter, fresher, friendlier, more colourful look to already existing designs. Some, still very popular, designs of Post war Scandinavia are Poul Henningsen's

PH Artichoke Lamp 

lamp designs which if you ask me bear a striking, although more geometric resemblance to Louis Comfort Tiffany's Dragonfly lamp. Meanwhile in Germany, the Academy for Design in Ulm was opened in an attempt to reconnect with the Pre-war design traditions which had made made Germany one of the leading design cultures.

All of these helped raise the level of sales and profitability of manufacturing firms after the war which would later give rise to a huge consumerist culture in the 60s.

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.

Unknown , (2013), Raymond Loewy Coca Cola Drink Dispenser [ONLINE]. Available at:http://megsmcg.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/loewy_coca_cola_designs.jpg [Accessed 10 December 13].

Unknown , (1949), Raymond Loewy Time Magazine Cover [ONLINE]. Available at:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4xSwzAxVEidRYowzMrtS5o8wwJZO3adlFWlKTou6Q3lRVLk5ufUvyMpwg99fEN0nE-BVP18cWIMkxJWY_dol1w-_nG68QGVVUoOhqtBsaviEIiyrpkb7YGuKlalvOBqoGcUsO4wSOi0L/s400/raymond-loewy-time-magazine.jpg [Accessed 10 December 13].

Unknown , (2013), Poul Henningsen PH Artichoke Lamp [ONLINE]. Available at:http://static1.bonluxat.com/cmsense/data/uploads/orig/Poul_Henningsen_PH_Artichoke_Lamp_pnq.jpg[Accessed 10 December 13].

Streamlining

I suppose streamlining could be considered a sub-chapter in the organic design book, mostly because of the tear-drop shape. This shape was originally used to help allow the transportation inventions move at greater speeds - I suppose that in this aspect it was similar to Futurism which was all about looking towards the technological advancements of the future.

Streamlining is one of those styles which can only be understood if you understand exactly the context in which it was created (yes some design movements and styles make sense on their own.)

Trains and cars were being streamlined to aid speed.

Streamlining a product was already immensely popular when the Wall Street Crash happened in 1929 which led to the Great Depression of the 1930s in both America and Britain and the loss of many jobs and consequently profit for manufacturers. It was simple really, people didn't have as much money in their pockets and so were buying less... we went through something very similar a few years ago when the global recession hit in 2008. In order to avoid having to close and save money at the same time, rather than coming up with new designs, manufacturers were hiring designers to simply redesign already existing products.

Again, it was a question of supply and demand, there was more supply available than demand from the consumer which meant that there was greater competition and it meant that design became a very important defining factor in advertising the product. Think about it this way, if you have seven differently styled lamps on a shelf, six are white and one is black, which is the one most likely to stand out?

This chair which resembles Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona
chair also had its legs streamlined.

This is the idea which the manufacturers were looking to recreate through streamlining. By simply redesigning the look of a lamp which you already make, you can still use the same components (therefore the same amount of expenses) but people are buying it more than before because they think it's a completely different product. It got to a point where products were being marketed solely on their appearance rather than performance. I suppose you could consider this the birth of the consumerist culture which later took over in the 60s. Either way, many companies which existed during the 30s and made it out of the Great Depression alive probably owe it to the streamlining phenomenon.


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.

Unknown , (2013), Streamlined Chair [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.curatedobject.us/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/06/black_chair.jpg [Accessed 04 December 13]

Unknown , (2013), Streamlined train [ONLINE]. Available at: http://cruiselinehistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/stream2.jpg [Accessed 04 December 13].

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].