Chart Research

This post is dedicated to the research that I acquired in order to assemble the visual chart. The presentation of the chart requires five different designers from five different movements, where each needs to be compared and discussed. The social and cultural context of each designer is to be conversed. Furthermore, the movements, which each designer belongs to, is to be linked, together with the influences and relationship that the movements had with each other.

First off, I chose to debate Gerrit Rietveld, this designer belongs to the De Stijl Movement. Firstly, I researched some information about the De Stijl Movement, and how is Gerrit Rietveld associated with it, where I took also note the social and cultural events which partook during his times. I chose to link the Red/Blue armchair, to Bruer’s Wassily Chair, which is a design that belongs to the Bauhaus era. And so, I linked the De Stijl together with the Bauhaus, since when the Red/Blue chair was exhibited, it was influential upon the Wassily Chair.

Then, I decided to compare the Bauhaus to the International Style.   This comparison is not linked to any particular design, however both movements are linked with their principles. I chose to discuss Dieter Rams, and his ten principles, and the concept of less is more, which follow closely to the form follows function and good design concept that ruled the Bauhaus.

After this comparison, I chose to contrast Rams’s principles with those of Verner Panton and the Pop Design movement. These movements occurred in the same era, however whilst one chose to follow certain rules, the other chose to disregard them. I am going to discuss Panton’s work and his experimentation with colour and materials especially plastic. And a comparison between his Panton chair to the rules with which Rams designed.

Lastly, I am going to mention the anti-design and re-design phase, in which Alessandro Mendini took place. I am going to mention the way in which Panton’s fame faded, and gradually it was the work of such a designer that took place. The information about each movement is listed below:

Gerrit Rietveld: De Stijl

In 1917, which was the period after World War 1, architects and designers were discovering new methods and ideas relating to design. A group amongst these, that was inspired from the industrial era, published in a publication called De Stijl and eventually formed the De Stijl movement. De Stijl is about the production of an artistic and cultural phenomenon out of basic human interactions. De Stijl is associated with the paintings of Piet Mondrian.

Their philosophy was all about functionalism, and the use of strictly primary colours and non-colours (black and white), together with the use of straight lines. De Stijl was a reflection of the emerging trend of the 20^th century that was; the joining of art and design worlds that were separated during Renaissance.

Gerrit Rietveld made a major contribution to this movement. This occurred when he took the armchair and reconfigured it as a series of self- supporting planks known as the Red/Blue chair that was done in 1918.

The stability that the black verticals and horizontals give a bright motion with the use of the bright yellow squares and rectangles, which at the same time makes the audience more aware of the chair’s structure. Furthermore, the glossiness of the black finishes adds liveliness to the chair and a sense of complexity. Mondrian and the artists of the De Stijl movement worked on the principle that all art has to have "dynamic equilibrium." 

This piece was exhibited in the Bauhaus in 1923 and was influential upon Marcel Breuer who designed later a tubular metal B3 Wassily chair in 1925-27.

Marcel Breuer: Bauhaus

The beginnings of what good design is, is demonstrated in the Bauhaus. Here, design was innovative, functional and honest. The Bauhaus was the most celebrated art school representing the modern era and it was closed down, as instructed by the Nazi Government on 11^th April 1933.

‘Four years of the Bauhaus reflect not only a period of art history, but a history of the ties, too, because the disintegration of a nation and of an era is also reflected in it’- Oskar Schlemmer. This statement shows that the history of the Bauhaus was shaped upon the social and cultural context of those years. The Bauhaus lasted until the Weimar Republic, before Hitler was appointed.

The first months of the Bauhaus are demonstrated by the willpower to reform art education as well as by the creation of a new type of society. Unfortunately though, it had to redefine its aims and had to merge realism into the picture.

The final phase of the Bauhaus is indicated by the time when the school had to leave its premises. This was the result of the revoking of funds from the nationalist government. When this move occurred, the school made a different direction this time prioritizing the demands of the industry.

Among the workshops in the Bauhaus, the cabinetmaking workshop was one of the most popular. Under the course of Marcel Breuer the essence of furniture was specialized and frequently conservative forms such as chairs were dematerialized. Inspired by the tubes of his bicycle, he experimented with metal furniture, creating lightweight, mass-producible metal chairs. Some of these chairs were deployed in the theater of the Dessau building.

Dieter Rams: International Style

Dieter Rams was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1932. Dieter Rams, who was an interior designer, was given employment with Braun in 1954. Rams and his team successfully applied the practical design principles, which were employed by the Bauhaus associates. Rams designed a variety of products including flashlights, lighters and pocket radios, however it was his equipment relating to audio and television sets that made him famous.

At the times of late 1970s, Rams was growing concerns related to the state of the world that evolved around him. Since according to him, good design could not be measured in a restricted manner, he set ten key principles for what he believed good design ought to be all about.

1.    Good design is innovative. Innovative design always develops in accordance to innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

2.    Good design makes a product useful. According to this principle, good design emphasis the usefulness of such a product.

3.   Good design is aesthetic. According to Dieter Rams, only those products that are well-executed can be beautiful.

4.    Good design is that good design makes a product understandable.  The design clarifies the structure within the particular product.

5.    Good design is unconstructive. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art.

6.    Good design is honest. So an honest design represents what is there, and nothing else.

7.    Good design is long-lasting. A long-lasting design lasts many years even in todays society that can be labeled as a throwaway one.

8.   Good design is through down to the last detail. Care and accuracy in the design process shows respect towards the user.

9.    Good design is environmentally-friendly. It preserves resources and reduces physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

10.Good design is little design as possible. Design should concentrate on the essential aspects, and so the product is not loaded with non-essentials.

Verner Panton: Pop Design

Verner Panton who was born in Denmark in 1926, made his name there, even before settling in Switzerland in the 1960s. Panton was a ruler of the fluid, futuristic style of the 1960s design. This is what led to the introduction of the Pop aesthetic to furniture and interiors.

After graduation Panton worked for Arne Jacobsen who was another great influence. It was here when he assisted Jacobsen in the creation of the ant chair. The real impression, however, was the Panton Chair in 1967, which was the first cantilevered chair, made from a single piece of plastic. This chair was smooth and sensual and it was the chair of the era.

Even though Panton won a number of awards during the 1970s, he slowly started to lose his place in the design scene, and now designs belonging to designers such as Alessandro Mendini’s started to be more striking than Panton’s faith in Pop and technology.

Alessandro Mendini: Re design and Anti design

The delay that experienced Italy in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution has left its impact especially in relation to modernity.

It was exactly from this type of approach that Alessandro Mendini created his projects; from a modernity of the surfaces. This is a type of modernity that was non-progressive, but neither a conventional one that changed the meaning of reality without touching its structures.

When Mendini worked as a consultant for Alessi and Swatch, Without changing the objects function, Mendini endorsed a transfiguration in their individuality. The Proust armchair, thanks to its nineteenth-century upholstery featuring a unique décor, has become the declaration of a conceivable alternative to structural modernity.

In 1970, Milan was still recovering from the protests of 1968, Mendini decided to take over the responsibility to run the magazine Casabella which he quickly transformed it into the core of the certification, development and broadcasting of the neo-avant-garde of Italian Design.

Mendini made his first demonstrative act with the creation of the cover of the issue no 367 of Casabella. Mendini altered the image by adding the words ‘radical design’ to the animal’s chest. The idea behind this era was that the acceptance of what was real, now hinged towards the renovation of the object, and this initiated from the observation of everyday reality and its complication. This idea meant to give a meaning to things already in existence.

After the phase of the anti-design ceased, the year 1978 marked a new beginning where the object was now reconstructed through, this time; redesign. This mode of operation involved in creating new forms, colours and styles, on objects that were already created beforehand. By doing so, their meaning was reinterpreted in an ironic way. Hence, the redesign of Breuer’s Wassily was made less dramatic with the addition of free and colourful forms, contrasting Breuer’s intentions.

The idea behind the particular redesign of the Kandissa Family means producing a family of objects-, including a sofa, a mirror and a wall hanging, all entailing the same decorative pattern in common. These were created out of Kandinsky’s painting, to whom the whole series is dedicated.

Mendini’s skill lies in his capability to interpret some of the most important twentieth century avant-garde movements such as Cubism, Futurism and Abstractionism.

Bibliography:

Hans Janssen and Michael White, 2011. The Story of De Stijl Mondrian to Van Doesburg. 

Art, Design and Visual thinking, 1995. De Stijl. [Online] Available at:  http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm [Accessed at 18th January 2014]

Styleture. What is De Stijl?. [Online] Available at:  http://www.styleture.com/2011/06/14/de-stijl/ [Accessed at 18th January 2014]

UNESCO, 1992. Rietveld Schröderhuis. [Online] Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/965 [Accessed at 17th January 2014]

Taschen. Design of the 20th Century
Frank Whiford. Bauhaus 

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 2000. The Bauhaus, 1919-1933. [Online] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm [Accessed at 17th January 2014]
Design Museum. Verner Panton. [Online] Available at: http://designmuseum.org/design/verner-panton [Accessed at 18th January 2014]


Anthony C. Romeo. Home; Aesthetic Realism Foundation. Gerrit Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair. [blog]. Available at:  http://www.terraingallery.org/Anthony-Romeo-Chair.html [Accessed at 16th January 2014]

Shuffle Magazine. Dieter Rams: Ten Principles for good design. [Online] Available at: https://readymag.com/shuffle/dieter-rams/ [Accessed at 17th January 2014]

Bernard Polster, Claudia Neumann, Markus Schuler  and Fredrick Leven, 2004. The AZ of Modern design

Minimum Design, 24 ORE Cultura. Alessandro Mendini