To design for the future we must be aware of the past. This course, design in context, has helped me to grow as a designer; learning to understand complexities of how and why design has evolved has helped me to personally think about why I do things the way I do. The things I design is now more well informed and consequently is more meaningful than "because it looks cool." By putting in a triangle I am creating structure, hierarchy and masculinity, by adding curves, I am suggesting something feminine.
This course has helped me come to appreciate the effort design historians, such as Itten, have put into design to make it as socially acceptable as it is today as a career, particularly for females. I can only hope that our generation today will be able to put something back into history to pave an even better road for the future.
“Living Systems” by Joe Colombo (1967-1969) was developed with the concept of empowering the individual by giving them back the sense of control, over the functionality and aesthetics of their furniture. However, more often than not, these pieces of furniture selling the fantasy of the endless combinations will most likely stay in a fixed position for weeks on end because despite having all this power, the truth is that this new society has gotten lazier, we seem to have less free time and once we find the ‘perfect’ combination, we don’t want it to lose its shape.
The new WOW sofa developed by Campeggi has still retained the concept of empowering the individual, but this control has been retrained, made simpler by the single push of a button switching from a couch to a bed complete with the option of bedside tables. So in a modern world, the WOW sofa gives the individual the perfect combination of speed, minimal effort, space saving, space transforming stylish design.
In an ideal world we would all be living in recycled homes run on solar power, wearing clothes crafted from environmentally friendly fabric, driving hybrid cars; living in a world free from pollution. Almost all that we now design has an underlying environmental message promoting us to reduce, reuse, recycle: music, posters, architecture, etc, etc. This poster by Yulia Brodskaya titled, Please Recycle, is sending this exact message to its audience through the use of materials, typography and symbolism. By using recycled card to create this poster, the designer is sending the message that despite the card's original origins and purposes, it isn't hard to create something new and exciting with recycled materials; that the ideology of a clean, green, world is attainable.
Finding something culturally sensitive and insensitive was a challenge because what can be insensitive to someone could be acceptable to somebody else. It all comes down to how culturally aware we are.
The example on the left of a Tuatara is to me culturally sensitive because it's educating children through play, a principle Froebel thoroughly believed in. It's educating the children about New Zealand's native and endangered lizard, the Tuatara, allowing the children to interact with this specimen in a hands on approach in an everyday situation.
The image on the right I feel is culturally insensitive to the Maori culture through the alterations of the well recognised tiki. The garish face, inappropriate decoration and the fire burning the tiki are all insensitive to the original and cultural significance the tiki holds.
The Bauhaus was born from the vision of Walter Gropius with the thought of creating a utopian society within the fine arts and applied arts community; unifying the aspects of learning, creating and making. Gropius’ goal was to create a school producing “a new guild of craftsmen, without the class distinctions which raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist.”
In the preliminary course founded by Johannes Itten, the students studied materials, colour theory, developed by Itten himself and design principles such as hierarchy and balance. Itten’s approach to teaching was influenced by Friedrich Froebel's pedagogy, learning through play. Itten began some classes with a short gymnastics routine performed by his students which taught them the basis of rhythmic form and movement.
However, Gropius’ initial motto of art through handcraft proved to be financially impractical causing the Bauhaus to revise their motto to “art and technology- a new unity.” This new program was focused primarily on the craft of mass production particularly after the preliminary course.
The methods and philosophies of modern design education, first introduced at the Bauhaus are similar to the methods experienced in the first year design program. Like Itten, the program is highly influenced by Froebel’s teaching methods. The first year program here at Victoria focuses on the exploration of materials; this was particularly evident in 111 and 141, where whole projects were focused on the study of very simple materials such as paper and wire. Although unlike Itten we don’t have a physical program we engage in at the beginning of each class, such as gymnastics, we are however, before the commencement of projects we are encouraged to get out of the classroom and find objects which we might engage with in the projects.
Authenticity is about the artist who designed the work of art, not so much the art they produced. In the age of digital design and manufacture, the ‘authentic’ art is the piece the designer distributes themselves; any other copy reblogged by anyone else then becomes the replica. So, a photographer’s photos are all authentic if the photos are printed from the same negative but once somebody replicates this photo and prints it from another source, the photo becomes replica. Today design has become more digitally orientated and with that the word authentic has evolved to meaning something different, the authenticity belongs to the copyrighted designer instead.
When you buy a new couch, you aren’t purchasing the ‘original’ but a copy which looks and feels the same as the authentic; however without the emotional history and design process the designer went through to emerge with the final prototype.
Benjamin argues that in the modern world, “art produced has become the work of art designed for reproducibility,” but if something is designed well why not share it with the world? Art designed for reproducibility is a way to get the art to the people.
Today, before we create anything we are asked to ask ourselves the big question: is it sustainable? Craftedsystems based in the United States has reached the epitome of craft and sustainability and along the way is also empowering the community.
Craftedsystems products include vessels, rugs and vases; all are produced from sustainable felt by everyday people at the YWCA. Contemporary craft has become less of a hobby left to artisans but has is now something that anyone can perfect through practice and patience.
An increase of DIY websites such as instructables.com which publish articles teaching one the basics of crafting popular items. Not to say that by reading these articles you will be a pro glass blower, but instead, teaching us how to be more efficient with the resources we already have to produce these crafts. So I think that Craftedsystems fully embodies the contemporary expression of craft as they not only consider the sustainability side of their craft but also in producing these crafts they are giving everyday people the opportunity to learn skills which they can use to enable themselves economically.
"Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely be constructed." -Owen Jones
Owen Jones was one of the first design reformists. In 1856, he published his book The Grammar of Ornamentation. Within this he explicitly expresses in his 5th principle that objects should always be a functional form and that function should always take precedence over the aesthetics. Jones also looks to the ideals in design that Pugin established. He like Pugin says that ornaments should not imitate other realistic things in a way which has no relevance to the object. Jones explains that by doing so, the designer is giving the object an air of false magnificence and that it will never truly be something of beauty- Something that is truly beautiful will not come from an imitation of something else that is beautiful in its own sense, such as imitating nature.
Ecopods
To some extent Jones is right because, if I wanted to look at a flower, I would not go looking for this in a lamp or the leg of a table, but instead in its natural environment, not at a human replication. But this however is more relevant in the historical sense because as we move into the future, more of the designs produced by designers are artistically driven. Often, pieces of work which are ‘construction decorated’ are perceived by society as though the designer hasn’t thought through the design process properly to create something which is not only functional but also aesthetically appealing. Because of the massive increase of newly discovered materials and processes, decorated construction can often be more appealing and functional than construction decorated. Also as we come into this new age, sustainability is a big part of the future of design and not only do objects have to be functional and show good aesthetics, sustainability is now part of the big question. Such as these Ecopod coffins designed by Hazel Selina, which are made of recycled materials and biodegradable, although its aesthetics are questionable.
Damien Hirst’s piece of work, Momento Mori, more commonly referred to as the diamond skull is an example of ‘construction decorated.’ The diamonds are an embellishment to the exterior construction of the skull.
The sensuous impulse in design refers to the sinuous “s curve” which was used in designs to excite and engage the emotion of the user. The flowing and expressive curves were a break away from the structural lines and geometric shapes seen in the Classical era.
Both lines and curving forms can be seen repetitively throughout history as we flicker back and forth between the two styles; from the Parthenon to the Rococo era, through to Frank Lloyd Wright’s signature sweeping lines to the sensuous curves in the designs by Zaha Hadid.
Sensuous impulse peaked in the Rococo and Art Nouveau era which embodied expressive forms inspired by nature but in doing so the designs were somewhat dysfunctional and expensive, such as the ‘Candelabra’ (Juste-Aurele Meissonier, 1734), a stark contrast from the Classical era. Around the time of the industrial era, sensuous curves were applied in a more functional manner as designers considered the ergonomics of the designs, such as ’La Chaise’ (Charles & Ray Eames, 1948). In the history of design, the curve was used mostly with the idea of form over function, but as we emerge into the new era, the range of materials is far wider and research is more extensive, the form can be as equally as in the ‘Heatwave Radiator’ (Joris Laarman, 2003).
Once again, the catholic church is leading us in this revolution of new design. This Catholic Church of the Transfiguration, designed by DOS Architects, really embodies the contemporary interpretation of the sensuous impulse.
In New Zealand, wind turbines are commonly found in the countryside but the fact that they can be located in the middle of the ocean adds another dimension of efficiency. That way, they get maximum exposure to wind and no one can complain about wind farms blotting the landscape. With the deplenishing stock of the world’s un-renewable energy sources, this sustainable source will be part of the future.
