SD2080 tutorial V 07.10.05 (2005/06)

Gillian Naylor, “The Survival of the Craft Ideal”, in Joycelyn de Noblet ed., Industrial Design: Reflection of a Century, Paris: Flammarion, 1993, pp.110-118.

John Ruskin & William Morris- art & craft:

- as agents of social, moral, aesthetic reform (110)

- humanism & standard”- work, product & life (113)

- sanction experiment of both: individualism & the collective; tradition & avant-grade; promote regional & national identity > democratic process, i.e. proto-modernists (113-left)

- contribution of Morris: i. designer & artisan become a occupation; ii. Aesthetics of design: from pure commodity to symbolic production, democracy of caft-base design

~ disadvantages: expensive and exclusive without aims of machine (113-mid)

Viennna Model: Werkstatte (exclusivity):

- Josef Hoffmann & Koloman Mose: “ establish intimate contact btw public, designer and craftsman- without aid of the machine” ; bourgeoisie, cosmopolitan, urbane; stylistic innovators: wealthy, fashion-conscious avant-garde (114-left)

~ war time reflection: Adolf Loos brought the issue to a nationalistic level: “modern spirit is a social spirit, …not just for upper crust but for everybody.”

~ Christopher Dressen, W.A.S. Benson- machine & electricity

Scandinavia Model (beauty for all):

- standardization & interchangeable: Typeomobel (type finiture)(114)- domestic order & unity: Karl Schmidt, Richard Riemerschmid (Germany); Gustav Stickley (US)
- in Europe: machinery has to be concealed (117)

Bauhaus:

- Walter Gropius: difference btw industry & handicraft: subdivision of labor & through control by one-hand

- Introduction of industrial production, Fordism in production: standardization of components; standard maintained by standardization; functional but aesthetic assembly line, disposal less (117)

- Herbert Read (Art & Industry 1934): artist give form to material; involve in city planning; artist orders materials which they combine the highest degree of practical economy and spiritual freedom

- Universal aesthetics (118)

-

Swedish Grace:

- democratic

- utility & beauty; local & vernacular craftsmanship renewal; industrial machinery with craft-man prototype

Dieter Rams, “Omit the Unimportant” in Victor Margolin ed., Design Discourse: History, Theory, Criticism, University of Chicago Press, 1989, pp.111-113.

- omit the unimportant in order to emphasize the important

- good design as little design as possible; harmonious form by employing simple means

- functions as self-expression instead of expressing the product’s functions (111)

- long-living; discipline

- 1. function and attributes are directly understood, i.e. self-explanatory; 2. the fewer the opportunities used to create informative design, the more design serves to evoke emotion

- fashion: new, strong, exciting, aggressive signals

Assignment I:

- from particularity to generality

- choose a “real” object that you process, study in particular: how is its outlook (material, style…); how does it come to your home? What is its cultural dimension?

- return the object to a type: e.g. telephone- communication tool to personal accessories; find out the history of the type

- self-reflection: can you take any key ideas you learn in class to articulate the above?

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Bibliography

References:

Abbas, Ackbar, Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance, (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998). (first published in 1997)

Abbas, Ackbar, “The Last Emporium: Verse and Cultural Space”, in Introduction by

Periodicals and Newspapers:

Art Currents, (Hong Kong), no.12/13 (October 1987). (magazine in Chinese: 《外邊》(香港)，第12/13期，1987年10月。)

Chinese General Chamber of Commence ed., Journal of the Chinese General Chamber of Commence 1933, Hong Kong 1933. (original text in Chinese: 《香港華商總會年鑑》(1932)。)

Clarke, David, ‘Between East and West: Negotiations with Tradition and Modernity in Hong Kong Art’, in Third Text, no. 28/29 (1994), pp.71-86.

Clarke, David, ‘The Culture of a Border Within: Hong Kong Art and China’ in Art Journal, vol.59 no.2, Summer 2000, pp.89-101.

SD2080 tutorial III 23.09.05

Kevin L. Stayton, Vital Form, 2001.

Vitalism:

- Vitalism is the doctrine that "vital forces" are active in living organisms, so that life cannot be explained solely by mechanism. That element is often referred to as the "vital spark" or "energy" which some equate with the "soul". (Wikipedia)

- Belief in life force, essence, distinguished living things from non-living material / origins from Aristotle, the “psyche”(26)

- Heri bergson- faith in vitalism outside of science (26)

- Herbert Read: from the scientific to the poetic, release from materials

	Geometrical form	Vital Form
Historical context	- After WWI - Bauhaus- Europe	- After WWII - US - Influence from surrealism (26)
characteristics	- machine - hard-edged, international (29)	The aesthetics turn: -fluid, organic (24-25) -organic: resembled a living form; “concern to interrelation btw systems & components within larger systems”; biotic appearance to biotic functioning (27) - biomorphic: process & use determined the form~ “ergonmics” (fit to the body 27-28) -form more comforting and humanized
		Design turn: Era Zeisel: - the eautiful & functional - process”- intimacy with human body (lost of meaning in formal characteristics/ pattern of design philosophy Morris Lapidus: - organic forms become style, commercial , female customer (28-29) -popular, softer, vital forms
Political implications		Atomic Age (33-35) - Paul Boyer “schizophrenia of the postwar years”, its destruction and construction - Public perception: microscopic amoeba, life force invisible - The cold war ideology…