Any Shape as Long as its Geometric

Bauhaus

With De Stijl and Constructivism, the Bauhaus was and is one of the most influential sources of modern design. Bauhaus was the real deal it was the best school with the best pupils and best designers, architects, painters and etc. Walter Gropius  was the leader of Bauhaus which meant building house, he was a architect, he believed the truth to material - the material used for an object should be appropriate for it purpose and form follows function - form should be modern, abstract and functional with universal appeal.

Bauhaus had famous teachers such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Lazslo Moholy Nagy. The characteristics of Bauhaus were; geometry, simplicity, straight lines, smooth curves, industrial look, connection between colour, clean typography and affordable for every class person. They were taught about materials, colours, contrast as well as the appreciation of art history. The Bauhaus promoted the use of materials such a tubular steel. Material that had not been used previously in furniture design or even considered as a suitable material for furniture. Tubular steel is light, versatile and cheap. It can be joined, shaped and formed in different ways, opening up new design possibility. This was the design philosophy of the Bauhaus.

Marcel Breuer was a student at Bauhaus completing the basic course of carpentry, during his tuition he designed his African chair and Slatted chair. After finishing his studies he worked in an architectural office and after a year he became a young master and became the head of the carpentry workshop of Bauhaus which by then had moved to Dessau.

 During that time he designed his first tubular metal chair named the B3 which was inspired from his Adler Bicycle. He then designed a whole range of furniture with tubular metal including, chairs ,tables, stools and cupboards.

It's amazing how the B3 was designed years ago and can still be found in shops for sale. Today's dining chairs also look simmilar to what Breuer designed for example: 

This chair is designed from a designer named C.Werner it looks very similar to what Breuer designed and it's also simple, sleek and look very comfortable.

Another design from today's Designers Muller and Van Severen,  which look very similar to what Breuer did. The leather is attached just like he used to attach it, it's really simple and it's also made from tubular metal, geometric shapes straight lines and very smooth sleek curves. These pieces look really comfortable and they certainly do remind me of Bauhaus. 

technology student. 2010. the bauhaus. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/bauhaus1.html. [Accessed 30 November 13].

female ways . 2009. Modern Dining Room Leather Chairs Design by C. Werner. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.femaleways.com/dining-room-design/modern-dining-room-leather-chairs-design-by-c-werner/. [Accessed 30 November 13].

fmuller van severen. 2013. a furniture project by fien muller and hannes van severen. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mullervanseveren.be/site/. [Accessed 30 November 13].

De Stijl

De Stijl began in the 1917s at first it was a magazine but the a group of like minded Dutchmen planned to call themselves De Stijl. De Stijl was led by architect and painter Theo Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. They used primary colours, red, blue and yellow and they also used the 3 primary values which are black white and grey. All surfaces were painted in primary colours and then divided with straight black lines which was called Neo-plasticsism. They used straight veritcal and horizontal lines, and simplicity. In architecture they kept the roofs flat, geometric forms, patterns and rectangular shapes.

Another desinger who joined later on was Gerrit Rietveld, he always liked experimenting with wood. One of his most famous pieces is the Red/Blue Chair, it purity, spatial harmony, straight lines and firm angles.

Rietveld also designed a house in Utrecht it was called the Schroeder house. He designed it just like every other thing that had to do with De Stijl.

He gave it a flat roof, primary colours and striaght black likes cutting through. As you can see the inside matches the outside and it also have the same colours used. It's all designed in geometric forms and it also has that space he wanted. There's repetition of shapes and simplicity. Today our contemporary homes do have the same form/shape of what Rietveld and the other designers designed but less colour and brightness.

This house design is designed by Steven Ehrlich Architects. Its easy enough to see the comparison between the two houses. Both of them have block shapes, geometrical, repetition of the same shape and straight simplicity of lines. The only difference is the colour. Another design I knew about which was inspired by De Stijl is an album cover which belongs to the White Stripes.

Simplicity, geometry, repetition of shapes, neo-plasticism and straight lines.

LAURA CASEY INTERIORS. 2008. mondrian really?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.lauracaseyinteriors.com/blog/2008/12/11/mondrianreally/. [Accessed 29 November 13].

Clark & Freeman, P C & J F, 2003. a crash course design. 1st ed. china: sophie collins.

Revolutionary Russia

Constructivism

It first started after the WW1 in Russia 1917 - 1922 and was used as a political tool, it was about putting art to the service on constructing a new society. Constructivism was influenced by cubism and Italian futurism. the charateristics of constructivism were geometry, abstract, clean lines and flat colours. constructivism was in textiles, graphic design, film, theatre and they also developed the photo montage. 

Aleksander Rodchenko was one of the first to experiment with photo montage and he also designed furniture, posters, books & typographic, believing these forms of art to be more effective is communicating the messages of the soviet union. He became one of the most important leaders of constructivism (whose followers favoured strict geometric forms and crisp graphic design) in Russia. During the movement he formed the first working group of Constructivists.

Rodchenko also did a photo montage illustrations for Mayakovsky’s poem “Pro eto" and also all of Mayakovsky's book covers. His graphic designs were very flat with only limited colour palette of only black, red, white and greys also letters of the alphabet taken from photographs.

Varvara Stepanova was Aleksander's wife, she was also a painter, designer and photographer. She spent her career dedicated to trying to use her work to create revolutionary change within society. She designed books, textile designs for costumes. Stepanova was also a leading figure of the contructivist movement and also designed textiles from 1923 to 1924 for the First state textile factory. She designed 150 bold geometric textiles of which 25 or so were put into production. Stepanova concentrated on graphics and worked with her husband Aleksander on posters, books, magazines and typography.

aleksander rodchenko. 2009. biography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://aleksandrodchenko.wordpress.com/. [Accessed 29 November 13].

design history. 2012. vervara stepanova. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/varvara-stepanova/. [Accessed 29 November 13].

Thames & Hudson, T & H, 2004. design since 1900. 2nd ed. singapore: c.s graphics.

Frank Iloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was first known as an architect though he was also a design theorist.he was interested in Japanese architecture combined with Sullivan's influence to produce a style that departed from European ideals and embraced organic design. his characteristics on architecture were, horizontal lines, a tendency to sit low in the landscape, asymmetry, simplicity and use of natural materials.

The Kaufman house better known as the falling water overlaps a stream and as i described before you can see that it has horizontal lines, the design of the house doesn't 'pop' out of the landscape it looks like it's one and perfectly designed. it's simple and it also has asymmetry, the materials used for the building of this house were wood and stone and reinforced concrete. 

Today we still have buildings built in this shape and form and we still call it contemporary. Through my research i have found a house which reminded me of what Lloyd believed in by making the house merge into its surroundings.

As you can see it's form is exactly how Lloyd used to design. It merges right into its surroundings and doesn't look out of place. Its asymmetrical and the materials used for this hows if exactly the same that he used to build. This design belongs to Alexa. 

oiide. 2013. Rectangular Shape Of White Home Design With Swimming Pool Built In Natural Surrounding. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.oiide.com/picturesque-and-dashing-contemporary-architecture-design/rectangular-shape-of-white-home-design-with-swimming-pool-built-in-natural-surrounding/. [Accessed 29 November 13].

thames & hudson, T & H, 2004. design since 1900. 2nd ed. singapore: c.s graphics.

  

New Angles

Art Deco

Art Deco began at the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Arts. It was more of an international style then a movement. It embraced every era of design and the decorative art including; architecture, interiors, furniture, fashion, jewellery, painting, graphics, book binding, glass, silver and ceramics. It was all about glamour, at first it was about simplifying form and streamlining it and fitting it to suit function.  Architecture characteristics were, curves were sleek and streamlined, and highlighted by painted lines. It also had new age lettering which was very stylish. Skyscrapers and step shaped tops and horizontal architecture was more clean and cool and filled with light. Art Deco design used interesting colours which were nice and bright such as yellow, red, green and etc. 

Art Deco turned life into art and its purpose was enjoyment, luxury and leisure and comfort. It was the highly colourful and playful geometric style which ruled the Paris Salons in the immediate post-WWI years.

Its decorative themes were;

·       Sunbursts and fountains - representing the dawn of a new modern age.

·       Symbols of speed, power and flight - the exciting new developments in transport and communications.

·   Geometric shapes - representing the machine and technology which it was thought would solve all our problems.

·        The new woman - revealing in her recently won social freedoms.

·         Breaking the rules - cacophonous jazz, short skirts and hair, shocking dances.

·    Ancient cultures - for oddly enough, there was a fascination with the civilizations of Egypt and Central America.

Art Deco did the opposite of art nouveau had it didn't have anything to do with that movement. It embraced movements such as Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Futurism and it was easily influenced by Russian ballet. Materials which were used were: ivory, enamel, shagreen (horse or skin of an animal), ebony and mother of pearl. Bakelite was a new material which was used easily for moulding and it can be either translucent or marbled, it was used for such new products like radios.

Eileen Gray

Eileen gray was a unique figure among those who knew her. her first client was Jacques Doucet who dressed Sarah Bernhardt. Grey made him a large red lacquered screen called le destin, decorated on one side with the shadowy figures of three men, and on the other with swooping silver and gold forms. The lacquered furniture that she made was called art deco, she made her most famous chair called the Bibendum chair, a leather piece that recalls the Michelin Man. From 1962 she worked on architectural project with Jean Badovici and her work became closer to that of Le Corbusier.

art deco trust. 2010. what is art deco. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.artdeconapier.com/pages/what-exactly-is-art-deco. [Accessed 28 November 13].

bryanmawr. 2003. history of art deco. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.brynmawr.edu/cities/archx/05-600/proj/p2/npk/historydeco.htm. [Accessed 28 November 13].

depatures.com. 2011. eileen grays modern masterpieces. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.departures.com/articles/eileen-grays-modern-masterpieces. [Accessed 28 November 13].

Airy Fairy and Curly Wurly

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was a luxurious new style which was taking Europe by storm, the glamorous, decadent but also anxious end of the 19^th century in Paris, it was inspired by the earlier British Arts and Crafts movement, which was sometimes known as the “new art”. It grew out of the dark restless energies of the industrial city. It was an obsession of nature, sensuality and sex. Its designs had organic forms, flowing - curvilinear lines, bob-sleigh curves, loop-the-loop spirals, whiplash and rich ornamentation it was also inspired from animals, insects and birds especially swans, dragonflies, peacocks and nature. The uses of new materials and the rejection of earlier styles.

The name came from Paris , where a shop owner Samuel Bing gave his Japanese art shop a makeover in 1895. He called it ‘La Maison de l’Art Nouveau’ it lasted a few years but then it was over in 1914. Italians called it ‘stile liberty’ and the Germans called it ‘Jugendstil’ (youth style).

It all started when Paris became more popular and they had to find out a way how to figure the huge population that they had with transport so they came up with the Metropolitan idea. It was designed by the French designer Hector Guimard, the French were amazed and shocked by its design, the shapes, the curviness and smoothness of arches and the way it reminded them of bat wings and in some way it reminds me of an outer space design.

Hector Guimard was inspired by Victor Horta another Art Nouveau designer and between the 1894 and 1897 he designed the Castel Beranger apartment building in Paris.

 

Guimard was the main exponent of the French Art Nouveau and his Castel Beranger can be viewed as a manifesto of the style, which in France was often referred to as “Style Guimard”.

The French glass designer Emile Galle was also influenced from art nouveau. Cameo glass is one of Galle’s most beautiful creations, and after his death, the artisans from his studios continued to produce this form of Nouveau art glass.  Cameo glass is made by layering multicolored glass, then engraving or etching through the layers to form a raised decoration or “cameo” effect. This technique was popular on vases, covered boxes and various other decorative forms. He had a variety of glassware decorated with leaves, vines, and flowers. He fused layers of different coloured glass and then cut designs into the glass to reveal the color he wanted, a technique that also added greater depth to the design.

Alphonse Mucha was another Art Nouveau designer, illustrator, and graphic artist. He designed stamps and posters but after designing/printing his famous poster of Sarah Bernhardt as Gismonda, the actress contracted him for six years to produce posters of her productions. Mucha was also designing jewellery for Bernhardt, which was manufactured by the goldsmith George Fouquet. He designed door handles, furniture, stained glass and lighting for a shop.

In this design you can see that the jewellery piece Mucha was inspired by a snake.

Through my research I've also found some dresses designed to this day inspired from Art Nouveau

Both images show softness, femininity, flow and lightness like we used to see in art nouveau design. I also found this chair which designed from Daniel Widrig, it reminded me of the metropolitan design its smooth curvy and futuristic design too.

mr oscar wilde. 2012. art nouveau. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mr-oscar-wilde.de/lifetime/art_nouveau.htm. [Accessed 26 January 14].

bbc document the allure of art nouveau. 2013. youtube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PHHhmLA8Sg. [Accessed 26 January 14].

dark roasted blend. 2011. the treasure of art nouveau. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2011/10/treasures-of-art-nouveau-part-1.html. [Accessed 26 January 14].

daniel widrig. 2009. brazil. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.danielwidrig.com/index.php?page=Work&id=Brazil_No2. [Accessed 26 January 14].

Art Nouveau Inspired Dresses. 2011. the art nouveau blog. [ONLINE] Available at: http://theartnouveaublog.blogspot.se/2011/07/art-nouveau-inspired-dresses.html. [Accessed 26 January 14].