Assignment Week Thirteen

The 'Rhino Chair', one of three pieces in Maximo Riera's 'Animal Chair Collection'.

Today’s current era of design is still heavily dependent on postmodernist techniques of reinventing the already invented. Altering entire aspects of a design to make it one’s own is often referred to as a ‘remix’ and is something found in much of contemporary art and design today. These days it is becoming increasingly harder to come up with an original design that has never been thought of by anyone else. Very often you are able to see the historical quotation or design reference in both modern day art and design. (Petty, 2011) (Woodham, 1997)

In today’s design, the addition of ornament can sometimes overtake the design, becoming more of an artistic combination of the two rather than pure design. I think that this reintroduction from the early Bauhaus days, of design becoming more about art, is something that we as designers should learn to appreciate. I think Maximo Riera is a great example of an artistic designer who takes something old and using his own unique artistic methods can create something almost completely new.

Riera’s ‘Animal Chair Collection’ is one of the most peculiar sets of designs I have ever seen. The particular design I’m looking at from this collection is his ‘Rhino Chair’. The Rococo style chair has been stripped down to its bare essentials, removing all previous colour, decoration and ornament. In preparation for Riera’s artistic additions, the chairs rococo structure becomes purely a historic quotation. Riera’s ‘Rhino Chair’ uses techniques along with the historic quotation, of ornamental eclecticism with its multiple styles and lack of simplicity, and Wit and Irony as he replaces the chairs back legs with an intricately detailed Rhinoceros sculpture. Along with all the structural changes, the entire collections colour palette is black.

While you can very clearly see the origins of the chair, Maximo Riera’s own input is much more obvious and substantial. Riera has successfully made the work his own which is what many contemporary designers I think struggle to achieve.

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Petty, M. (2011). Victoria University DSDN171 Week 13 Lecture: Post Modernism and the Remix. Victoria University School of Design and Architecture.
Woodham, J. (1997). Pop to Post-Modernism: Changing Values in Twentieth-Century Design (pp.182-203) Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

Image sourced at http://smilepanic.com/wp-content/uploads/maximo-riera-rhino-chair-spire-in-me.jpg

Assignment Week Twelve

Keira Knightley and Rihanna on the cover of Vogue Magazine

Through the latter half of the 20^th century, America was quietly at war with Soviet Russia and their ideas of communism. Knowing that Russia was far ahead in terms of their nuclear weaponry, America decided to fight this ‘Cold War’ as it was called, with media, design and their ideas of an Ideological lifestyle. With their new advancements in technology and the knowledge of how to appeal to the consumer, American advertising and branding became much more about its symbolic universes and living the ideal life, not unlike today. (Petty, 2011)

In the early years of the cold war, advertising’s ideology was all about seemingly beneficial products the American family should own. (Petty, 2011) In modern years however, the ideological messages that inform design and its branding have become something much more biased and based around keep up to date with style, trends and fashion. Much of the ideology in design today, tells us what’s beautiful and what’s not, and this is accepted by the general public. From the slimness of models to the new elegance of sports cars, the most branded ideal lifestyle is only being lived by the rich and famous. An example of this ideology in branding design today is Vogue Fashion Magazine – the self-branded ‘Fashion Authority’. (Vogue, 2011)

Vogue Magazine expresses a larger ideological belief in their use of celebrities to promote the wealthy life of fame and fashion as the ideal or utopian way of living. The consumers reading the magazine want to be sucked in to a world of symbolic universes, and therefore buy the magazine despite the inappropriateness of its upper-class market to the less wealthy consumer lifestyle. As a magazine all about fashion branding, Vogue looks at what’s new in the fashion world, in terms of design and emerging styles and trends. The magazine interviews celebrity faces such as Rihanna and Keira Knightley (above) as recognisable elements to intrigue the consumer and promote the latest design innovation in fashion. Looking close at all the ever evolving aspects of Vogue, we begin to define the advertised ideal life of fortune, fame, fast cars and, fashion.

In relation to the Cold War period, these ideological lifestyles, now and back then, all seem to have common ideologies of both  ‘freedom = consumerism, freedom from want’ and happiness being the equation of Fashion + Wealth + Mobility. (Petty, 2011)

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Petty, M. (2011). Victoria University DSDN171 Week 12 Lecture: Politics of Design. Victoria University School of Design and Architecture.
Vogue Magazine Website. (2011) http://www.vogue.com/magazine/
Image One sourced at http://www.zimbio.com/Keira+Knightley/articles/SLhrMrysI0h/keira+knightley+vogue
Image Two sourced at
http://fabulousbuzz.com/2011/03/16/rihanna-in-vogue-magazines-april-2011-issue/

Assignment Week Eleven

'The Handle' the carbon fibre guitar design by American designer Peter Solomon.

Swiss born architect, Hannes Meyer was made director of the Bauhaus in 1928. Meyer had an innovative and rationalised view of design being a result of a mathematical equation of Function x Economy. His theory was that design should be the simple multiplication of how well a design fulfils a purpose and how much money it would cost  to buy. He said that the consumer would buy a product based on its efficiency and cost and not how it looks, that (Raizman, 2004)(Petty, 2011)

 I disagree with this. I think Function x Economy is a suitable foundation for design, but in my opinion, a third and far more important factor in any good design is its aesthetic qualities. However relating back to 'form follows function' I think that if designed for a purpose, a products functionality should always come first .
 I think in the 1920's, barely 10 years out from the war, German design certainly needed to be cheap and functional in order to help the country progress. But in our modern world, the average person does not buy something just because it works, but also how it looks. The people with the money are more likely to buy products that work well and look good, with the factor of Economy/Cost often overlooked. (Petty, 2011)

 ‘The Handle’, the beautifully crafted electric guitar designed by Peter Solomon is a perfect example of how something can be designed in an artistic way that increases functionality. This inspiring aesthetics of this guitar were crafted using carbon fibre to maximize its acoustics. Even with the price range being rather steep a guitarist with money to spare would easily prefer this guitar over an ugly cheaper one.
 Products are bought on how well they’re marketed and the role they give in the Symbolic Universes talked about last week. I think there is definitely room for mathematical equation as for some function x economy is all they are looking for. (Petty, 2011)

When I think of design, I prefer to think of it as an ‘Art’ but I can’t deny ‘Science’ behind it. As our generation is progressing, so is design as a ‘science’. Modern design is becoming more about product efficiency and less about art and craft. Designers have lost sight with society’s increasing need to make money and progress toward the distant utopia. In my opinion design needs to be both, we as designers need to show our innovation in terms of Function x Economy but also our creativeness as artists; something not to be taken for granted.  I think design should not be an equation, but what feels right with all possible factors considered.
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Raizman, D. (2004). The First Machine Age in Europe in The History of Modern Design. (February 2004) America

Petty, M. (2011). Victoria University DSDN171 Week 11 Lecture: Modernism, Standardisation, Rationalisation, and the Universal. Victoria University School of Design and Architecture.

Petty, M. (2011). Victoria University DSDN171 Week 10 Lecture: Narratives of Progress. Victoria University School of Design and Architecture.

Picture. 'The Handle'. by Peter Solomon. sited at http://www.carbonfibergear.com/6-sexy-carbon-fiber-guitars/

Assignment Week Ten

All Black Daniel Carter with Rexona Deodorant.

Peter L Berger and Thomas Luckmann, authors of The Social Construction of Reality wrote that “the symbolic universe links men with their successors in a meaningful totality, serving to transcend the finitude of individual existence and bestowing meaning upon the individuals death. All members of society can now conceive of themselves as belonging to a meaningful universe, which was there before they were born and will be there after they die.” (Berger, Luckmann, 1966)


Berger and Luckmann describe their idea of a Symbolic Universe as a fictional reality where by doing something or having something you can belong to something much larger than ones individual self. Looking at the idea of a Symbolic Universe and its relevance in the late 19th century, we can relate it to society today where we can very clearly identify a broad range of symbolic universes relevant to design.  A large aspect of today's society for which Symbolic Universes are created is advertising.  Advertisers construct these universes, these fictional, almost Utopian worlds, with the goal of selling a product.  A great example of a Symbolic Universe in advertising is the All Blacks involvement in the promotion of Rexona deodorant. 


Rexona's new TV advert looks at the emotional pregame 'rituals of confidence' of the New Zealand All Blacks, one of which is the use of Rexona Deodorant, the official deodorant of the team. Rugby is an important part of New Zealand at the moment with the country hosting the 2011 world cup and what better way to be part of that hype than to use our teams official deodorant. As ridiculous as it sounds, the deodorant is portrayed in a way that triggers the social need to be included and consumers begin buying Rexona to feel they have a part in World Cup aura. From products like Rexona, to games and movies, we see symbolic universes come to life everywhere through today's advanced use of Media and Design. 

Media and design are both major parts of marketing and advertising in our modern world and are therefore have a major influence on the creation and construction of today's symbolic universes. Both design and media are implicated as they are used to enhance these visual perception of these universes. With the constant development of technology and the ability to make things seem real and more beautiful, these symbolic universes are well and truly brought to life.

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Peter L Berger, Thomas Luckmann (1966) The Social Construction of Reality, America: Anchor Books.

Image sourced at http://www.adnews.com.au/campaign/a-ritual-of-confidence

Assignment Week Nine

In The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936), an essay by Walter Benjamin, Benjamin is quoted as saying "To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense." 

In the new age of photography and digital art in the 1930's, Walter Benjamin, a German cultural critic was expressing his views on the pointlessness of an authentic copy where the reproductions are all exactly the same. Never before had any type of art been able to be copied exactly. Previously painting and sculpture had been the closest method to capturing reality, Both painting and sculpture were able to be copied but copies were never an exact replica of the original. But with the introduction of photography, all aura in authenticity was lost.


I personally agree with Benjamin, I think that authenticity was lost as art became no longer a one of a kind experience. If there are multiple copies of an authentic piece of art, how authentic really is it? If a person has seen copies, exact replicas, what would be so special, what aura would there really be, about seeing the original work? I think that back then and even now, reproduction has limited that value of real honest art.


In today's age of digital design and manufacture, I still think there is a role for the 'authentic', however little of a role that might be. Walter Benjamin saw this reproduction of art as a good thing; a way of 'giving to the masses', even back in the 1930's, I think that this is still applicable now. Products designed today are without a doubt manufactured for the the masses but a reproduction of art can still become authentic with the addition of something as simple as an artist signature. If a limited number of prints are made, owning a copy, even these days, can still give the slightest yet limited sense of aura knowing you have one of a only a few ever produced. Yet it is the history behind art, and especially the art before the introduction of photography, before digital design, that you know is authentic, that has the most aura and presence about it.

Assignment Week Five

 “From these three, light, shade and colour, we construct the visible world, and thus, at the same time, make painting possible.”  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (Gage, 1993)

 
 Looking into the hole in Isaac Newton’s colour theory, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe startled the artistic nineteenth century world with the idea of colour as a psychological perception. This idea in unison with the approaching Impressionist movement helped shape our understanding of colour and the way we interact with colour in the design world today.

 “…try to forget what objects you have before you… Merely think here is a little patch of blue, here is an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it as it looks to you, the exact colour and shape until it gives your own naïve impression of the scene before you.” Claude Monet. (Gage, 1993)

 
 This impressionist style of using blocks of colour to give the impression of a scene or form closely relates to Goethe’s theory that our perception of form is merely our minds mixture of light, shade and colour. This experimentation from impressionist artists such as Monet helped people at the time begin to understand the ideas that Goethe had put into play. By only dots of colour, Artist Ogden Rood then took this idea further, using optical mixing as a way of experiencing the beauty of his works. In the following years others experimented with contrasts, the artist Phillip Otto Runge experimented with colours in the portrayal of night and day and J.W.M. Turner with the contrasting emotions. (Petty, 2011)

 This vast range of artistic experimentation over the recent centuries has proven considerably influential in today’s experience of colour. The use of colour contrasts and optical mixing are some of the most common and effective ways of advertising in modern society. This modern perception of colour, this theory of ‘colour vision’, is taken for granted by the general population. Yet our understanding is essential as it is through design that future generations will gain theirs.

Gage, J. (1993). Colours of the Mind in Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction (pp.191-212). New York: Thames and Hudson.
Petty, M. (2011). Victoria University DSDN171 Lecture: Colour, Perception and Abstraction. Victoria University School of Design and Architecture.

Assignment Week Four

Acer laptop Skins

Ornament and Crime

In the 1908/10 essay, ‘Ornament and Crime’, author Adolf Loos talks about his realisation that everyday items that have been ornamented, items adorned with decoration, quickly go out of style and become obsolete. Loos believed this was a waste of effort, all the extra work that the craftsman had put in would go to waste. This I believe makes a good point but he also said that “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use.”  This I don’t fully agree with. As an example Loos refers the ornamented through tattoos, ‘Papuan’. He describes as not being civilised or evolved morally like that his peers. At one end of the spectre you have the tattooed ‘Papuan’ and in Loos view the other is an unadorned modern man. A modern man tattooed would either be considered a criminal or a degenerate.

I do not agree with this side of his beliefs on ornamentation. I think ornamentation is completely necessary, In modern society they are a way of distinguishing ourselves from everyone else. Ornamentation allows us to personalise, take these Laptop skins for example, something as simple as an ornamented laptop cover can make everyday items a lot more personal. Rather than having something exactly the same as everyone else, ornamentation can identify something as your own, something you can take pride in. This doesn’t just go for laptops, this goes for almost anything, clothing, handbags, jewellery, cell phones and much more. With no disrespect no Loos, I see ornamentation as a big part of modern society and in the future to come. 

Assignment Week Three

The JC Penny Tree Table Lamp

Decoration constructed, Construction Decorated and the JC Penny Tree Lamp

In The Grammar of Ornament (1856), Owen Jones is quoted as saying “Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.” Explaining his views on decoration in the design industry, what Jones is saying is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with decoration as long as it is designed around and complementing the construction. Nothing should ever be constructed for the single purpose of accommodating a design.

 I personally agree with Jones, but only on certain levels. I definitely think that construction should be allowed decoration and that you should never add function to something meant to be decorative. However if that function is to highlight the decoration as an art piece and the decoration is constructed as a form of art, then I think decoration constructed can be necessary. But if constructed for other purposes I, like Jones, do not see the point.

 The JC Penny Tree Table Lamp is a perfect example of how a construction can be decoration in a simple way that does not over power the function, This simple decorated lamp was not built around its design, its basic tree structure was designed as a more interesting and artistic way of supporting the properties of a lamp. The lamps design isn’t too over the top and when you look at it the first thing you see is a lamp and not a tree. This is a valuable example of construction decorated and in Jones’s eyes would have been an acceptable piece of design.

Assignment Week Two

The 'S Chair' designed by Tom Dixon

The 'S Chair'

Designed in 1991 by Tom Dixon, the ‘S Chair’ is elegant, flowing and an example of the continuing curve that is most definitely a result of what in design is called the “sensuous impulse”.

The Term “sensuous impulse” in generally used to describe the influence of seductive flow, natural curvature and organic smooth feminine shapes in a style of design. The Rococo Era in the eighteenth century was greatly influenced by this ‘sensuous impulse’, though the name was not given to this thought process back then.

The ‘S chair’ - designed for the company cappellini - I believe, is clearly influenced by the continuing curve and the flow of the feminine form. The smooth flow of the chair gently runs from start to finish in a never-ending cycle that portrays the sensuous curvature of the female form. This I believe is done as to relieve the chair of its dominance and give it a relaxed feel about it that in the end relates back to the ‘sensuous impulse’.

Assignment Week One

Modern day basic plastic toothbrush

The Toothbrush

After a history of frayed twigs and salt and soot covered rags, the Toothbrush revolutionised the world’s way of cleaning teeth. While in prison, William Addis of England drilled holes in a bone and filled them with bristles to scrape unwanted plaque and food from his teeth, creating the toothbrush. In 1870 he mass-produced his innovative range of ‘toothbrushes’ that provided an efficient clean and reached those harder to reach places. From then on the world has never looked back and In 2003 the toothbrush was selected as the number one invention Americans could not live without according to the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index.