Point_4: Reflections

            The reflections unit explores the design history between the Renaissance and the style we coin Modernism beginning in the early 20^th century.  This period is heavily defined by an eclectic assimilation of designs from all over the world an in all manners of time.  There is an obsession with revolutions in design styles that occur so rapidly and simultaneously that no one seems comfortable or satisfied enough to keep with one taste.  Once again, we see the assimilation of antiquity but in drastic deformation according to Baroque and strict mimicry according to Neoclassical.  Influences from the east through trade bring a curiosity for foreign materials that spark an eclectic surface decoration called Chinoiserie.  The rise of the industry further sparks our insatiable interest in pushing design to new heights through the rise of mass production and new materials.  Design has become less concerned with good taste and more intrigued by the potential of materials and the means of production in order to create all forms of design.  Where once production of design was carried out by the noble and the rising gentry now there is an open debate by those in the middle-class, opening up the avenues of taste and making design a matter of conversation that concerns everyone with an opinion.

            Throughout history, there have been many revivals of cultural design styles but now the world is more closely unified through trade and a universal economy that all methods of design are available to the dominating economic countries.  These countries like England, France, and Italy have an abundance of raw materials and the knowledge of other cultures design history so that they easily merge these aspects into their own society, creating a widespread assimilation of cultures never before seen.  This is most clearly defined in the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, England where the exterior’s looming minarets are reminiscent of Islamic and Indian cultures while the interior houses the most elaborate Chinoiserie surface decoration in all of the British Isles obviously inspired by goods arriving from the east through the silk road and other major trade routes.  Another example concerns a whole stylistic period termed as the Victorian style that is widely acclaimed for it’s hodge-podge of design elements and it’s heavily cluttered interiors that feature an array of artifacts with dissimilar attributes.  One such example is at Strawberry Hill that utilizes features in all manners of Gothic revival from the old English Gothic technique of fan vaulting to the later Tudor style tracery patterns. 

            The assimilation of other cultures design history is in much gratitude to the development of trade routes that is, in turn, in gratitude to the emergence of industries.

As population growths in cities continued to rise there was reluctance in the continuation of low producing craftsmen and a shift to the industries that used machines as a mode of fast production.  The industry was a supplier of materials like iron and glass that propelled a design revolution in the mid 19^th century.  These new materials began questioning our knowledge of design and structure that led people on a quest to discover what is modern, to find a singular style that dominated the mediocre assimilated styles of the previous generation.  The first models of this new generation began in structures like greenhouses, with its extensive use of glass and metal framing, it became the prototype for greater structures like the Crystal Palace exhibition hall that ironically displayed the assimilated design pieces of the previous age.  This new age preferred volume over mass and simplicity over ornament.  Even designers like William Morris who were critics of the machine realized the importance of returning to a singular style to create a balance in taste, although he promoted the handcraft alternative and creating art for arts sake. This can be clearly seen through his home, the Red House, that turns back to the simplistic Gothic roots of England with little other design influences so as not to interfere with the singular tone set into play.  As the mass assimilation dwindles mass production continues to thrive but the debate lingers on and widens as designers ultimately begin questioning whether handcraft or machine should be the dominant proponent of products.  This question still endures to the current.

http://www.pa.uky.edu/~emilio/USA/NY/foggy_ny.jpg

Ironically, the fog of this image clearly represents the history uncovered in the Reflections unit through the murky assimilation of design from all sorts of locations and cultures.  The fog acts as a screen, blending all matters of good taste into an unsightly whole.  Yet in the midst of this blended chaos, there is the dominance of the industry in the background, never letting go of its influence on design.