How the Influence of Historical Designers Affects Today Contemporary Interior Designs - Assignment Example

?Donna Purcell Order 536204 15 May How the Influence of Historical Designers Affects Todays’ Contemporary Interior Designs How exactly did the profession of Interior Design begin? The history of interior design has a definite influence on the contemporary designs of today. The earliest professional designers were based in London, as the British became interested in Egyptian techniques of household decorating. They wanted some of these decorated household objects for themselves. Therefore, London families began to employ an interior designer to create the same living spaces enhanced by its accessories. The more interior designers became recognized as professionals, they began to rely on history and its concepts to create great results. This was seen in the decorating of some of the historic London mansions. History began to reflect in the designs as a way of preserving the past but yet looking toward the future. The Ancient Romans brought an influence of interiors when they demanded comfort, luxury and wealth. These are the basic elements that influence designers all over the world today. Tapestries, stonework, and lavish decorations remain popular today in other parts of the world as well as London. The ancient Romans loved quality textiles and expensive fabrics. The earliest designers emerged from the Roman Empire, however, were not given the label professional designers during that historical period. After Rome’s’ collapse, the church assumed power and many of the most creative designers were discouraged from change. Many lavish interiors were changed to quiet and simple oak panels with dark lines and more defined edges. This influence was seen all over Europe – from London to Italy. The Renaissance period emerged with many professional French inspired designers. Just as the Renaissance period brought many modern artists to the forefront, so did the profession of interior design. This new age of elegance and sophistication began to rebuild the profession of Interior Designers in London. A fresh influence of creative and beautiful living spaces was once again seen in design. Once again the rediscovery of luxury and boldness in interior design began to trickle from London out of the Continent to the Americas. A new concept in professional design was established for the next generation of designers. The actual profession of Interior Designers did not become known until later when it emerged from its domestic connections through education, standard setting, codes of conduct and granting of degrees. Trade and professional organizations began to form, which brought related publications such as textbooks and trade journals. Some of the earlier influences began with simple forms and visible construction as seen in many of the designs. They emphasized the quality of construction of the materials. The British influences started with floral or fauna prints and used the domestic scenes of the British countryside. Much of this is seen in the earlier wallpapers. Some earlier designers had workshops in rural areas, and used older quality workmanship techniques. The Gothic Period was a definite influence in the 1800s with the use of bold colors and bold forms. The Gothic Revival claimed a belief in the “moral purpose of art.” As a part of the Gothic Revival, designers remained true to material, structure, and function of their designs. The style known as the Arts and Crafts came about partly as a reaction against the style of many items shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851. These items were very ornate, artificial, and ignored the quality of the materials used. The art historian Nikolaus Pevsner said that this exhibition showed “ignorance of the basic need in creating patterns, the integrity of the surface,” and “vulgarity in detail.” This exhibition brought about design reform from the organizers of the exhibition itself. Some of the organizers were Henry Cole, Owen Jones, Matthew Digby Wyatt and Richard Redgrave. They began to set standards for designs in order to preserve the workmanship and quality. Jones declared that “ornament must be secondary to the thing decorated,” and there must be “a fitness in the ornament to the thing ornamented.” He also suggested that wallpapers and carpets must not show any patterns that suggest anything but a level or plane. William Morris, who designed wallpaper, adopted the ideas that came from the exhibition. He focused on the idea that wallpaper should be decorated with a natural motif made to look as real as possible. In order to emphasize the beauty of the craft, some works were deliberately unfinished which resulted in a rustic effect. By the end of the 19th century arts and craft ideas had become an influence in every phase of design. These influences were seen in architecture, painting, sculpture, graphics, book illustrations, photography, domestic designs including furniture and woodwork. Stained glass, leatherwork, lacemaking, embroidery, rug making and weaving, jewelry, metalwork, enameling and ceramics also incorporated the influences from the arts and crafts ideas. William Morris’ Design for “Trellis” wallpaper, 1862. John Ruskin’s social criticism influenced the arts and crafts philosophy. He was born in London, England and became a renowned art critic. He is also remembered as a poet and artist who defended naturalism in art. This philosophy hoped to create architecture and design that projected the morals and social health of the people. Ruskin was under the assumption that machinery was to blame for many social ills, and a healthy society depended on skilled and creative craftsmen. This mindset had been brought on by the industrial revolution in the late 1800s. Rural handicrafts, skills and creativity were all a part of the development of the industrial ideas that made up the complex parts of the profession of interior design. If it were not for craftsmen who have taken pride in their work, designs would never have been created, and interior design would not be a profession. Morris wrote, “the Middle Ages was a period of greatness in the art of the common people…. The treasures in our museums now are only the common utensils used in households of the age, when hundreds of medieval churches – each one a masterpiece – were built by unsophisticated peasants.” Morris had mixed feelings about the use of machinery in his designs. He thought production by machines was “altogether an evil.” However, when he could find manufacturers who were willing to work by his standards and designs he utilized them. He said that, “in a true society where neither luxuries nor cheap trash were made, machinery could be improved and used to reduce the hours of labour.” Charles Robert Ashbee, associated with the reformist movement and the Guild of London is quoted, “we do not reject the machine, we welcome it. But we would desire to see it mastered.” After working with the Guild of London for twenty years and defending the workmanship of the common man he acknowledged that, “modern civilization rests on machinery.” Socialist ideas were associated with the philosophy of Morris, Crane and Ashbee. Walter Crane is well known for his wallpaper, costumes and book designs. The National Gallery was formed to bring art to the working people of South London. Crane’s interest in the gallery was developed through his beliefs in socialism. Walter Crane was commissioned by the National Gallery to create an inlaid floor pattern as its centerpiece. The floor pattern included square, circular, diamond and fish scale patterns, thought to be the only work of this kind by Crane. The original design also left room for a marble memorial, which was later inscribed with, “the source of art is in the life of a people.” Crane is well known as having a direct Walter Cranes’ “Swan” wallpaper of 1877. influence on the arts and crafts movement and art nouveau of the 1900s. He was a prolific poet, writing particularly about art and socialism. Crane was very diverse in his artistic creations. He created original watercolor designs, wallpaper samples, book illustrations and large textile friezes along with elaborate theatrical costumes. Morris, Ashbee and Crane were considered part of the reformist movement in ideals that lead to more contemporary influences in interior design. Eventually, Morris spent more of his time promoting his socialistic ideas than on designing and producing designs. Ashbee is responsible for establishing a near perfect community of quality craftsmen. The Arts and Crafts style spread widely throughout Europe and is seen in the simple styles of Henry van de Velde and the designs of Art Nouveau, Dutch De Stijl group, Vienna Secession, and the Bauhaus style. Van de Velde is considered one of the leading designers to have a direct influence on the Art Nouveau in Belgium. He was an architect, painter and interior designer, who spent most of his career in Germany. His designs have had a very profound effect on German architecture at the beginning of the 20th century. In the late 1800s he abandoned painting and began focusing on the arts of decoration and design. His own house was his first attempt at architecture, and incorporated both British and American influences of the Arts and Crafts movement. He designed both furniture and interiors for the art gallery L’Art Nouveau in Paris. This designated this movement as Art Nouveau for the first time. Although Van de Velde was from Belgium, his influence and philosophy of art has been a direct influence on German and British designers. He called for the individuality of artists when others of the same period pushed for standardization as a way of development. He later founded the world-renowned school of architecture and visual arts, La Cambre, in the 1920s. Many of the first professional interior designers were born of domestication. Many designers began by allying themselves with traditional ideas regarding femininity and domestication. As early as the 1900s, women began to emerge into professions, as seen in advertisements, advice books and magazines of those times. Early women used fabrics to sew their own clothing and make their own curtains, which labeled them as “decorative” women. These women took a domestication process and made it into a profession that became part of the “work world.” This, however, did not exclude men from the profession. Many of the famous designers during the 20th century had no formal training. A few of these were Sister Parish, Robert Denning, Vincent Fourcade and Kerry Joyce and many others who were innovative trendsetters among the first designers. Elsie de Wolfe, Syrie Maugham, Sybil Colefax, and Dorothy Draper were also among the early designers who started a trend, which lead to the forming of a profession. A search for textiles and fabrics that could be incorporated into design with the use of machine production became another influence during this time. The British utility furniture of the 1940s was simple in design and was brought about by the Arts and Crafts principles. These influences were derived mainly by the onset of World War II. After World War II designs began to take on a more modernistic approach. The United Kingdom saw a new prominence for design based on an ill-fated property boom. This was brought about by the post war era, which necessitated preservation and restoration of histories of style. From this era on, interior design has been given a more elegant and powerful celebrity. Just as fashion designers have achieved a very powerful number among the fashion industry, so have interior designers. Professionalism of interior design in relation to women’s role in society and the feminist movement are seen in some of the early texts, which promote the contributions of women in interior design. Contributions were made to the profession of interior design not only by the feminist movement but also by the division of labour and the rise of the USA as a leading manufacturing nation. The 19th century designs reformers, the arts and crafts movement and the initiatives of the South Kensington system and later the Bauhaus has all lead to modernist design practice and theory. The Royal College of Arts, which developed the Kensington System, focused on giving students technical skills through anatomy, still life drawings and floral arrangements. The Bauhaus approach was based on form and structure. The period from 1870 to 1970 saw the emergence and growth of the profession of interior designers. This period shaped the assumptions associated with the professionalism of women in the work world. Ideas about gender, nation, and relations with neighboring professions such as architecture were shaped. Joel Sanders have argued the relationship between the two, architecture and interior design. He has been very influential in bringing modern architecture and design into the 21st century. He summarizes that the two professions are incompatible, they are two rivals but that they overlap design practices and interject a cultural conflict that bolsters and sustains social anxieties about gender and sexuality. Understanding of interior is associated largely with homes mainly because those are the spaces we inhabit and furnish most personally. Amateurs for domestic environments perform most interior design. Consumers decorate their own homes using common advice and simple design components. The characteristics of domestic interiors are seen as a withdrawal from the public world. It offers a secluded place, to recuperate, rest and relax in your own space. With this concept in mind, the home has been viewed, as changing, interior based around concepts of privacy, intimacy, and ones’ own identity. This gives validity to the fact that it is also based on gender influences. Over the last twenty five years, interiors and how they are designed has been understood within a continuing focus of issues of domesticity. This has been extended to literary studies, social and cultural history and cultural geography. In Britain, this academic concept has taken root through the Arts and Humanities Research Council Center for the Study of the Domestic Interior. Interior design is a professional activity that constructs homes, workplaces, institutions, and retail and leisure environments, which influence our experiences in public and commercial spaces. Some of the most commonly known examples are airplane interiors designed by Gaby Schreiber from 1957 – 1963, Dorothy Draper in 1958, and Kelly Hoppen in the year 2000. Further examples are seen in retail interior designs of hotel rooms reclining airline seats, and shop changing rooms. The concept of both public and private interiors has given the distinction and centralized the concept to women’s history and labour history. Interior design professions include a wide range of working conditions and opportunities. There are large and small corporations who often hire interior designers as employees on regular working hours. Smaller firms usually work on a contract basis or per-job basis. Many designers are self-employed, and make up 26 percent of interior designers. Some licensed professionals submit the design for approval by the clients. This procedure can vary by locality, legislation and the size of the work. These professionals may be asked to travel to visit different locations, however, with the onset of technology and the convenience of the Internet; extensive travel is no longer necessary. Todays’ interior design professional can earn from $24,000 - $78,000, depending on the specialty of design. Locality, furniture, lighting, artwork and other design elements also influence this. In some areas of the world or certain countries it can be much higher. Commercial projects may charge a per-hour fee or a flat rate of the entire project. A style of design theme is a consistent idea that is carried throughout a room to create a certain feeling or concept. Styles are a little different from design concepts. Designer concepts extend to knowledge of architectural context, as seen in cultures and personalities of the client. These concepts often follow ideas of a certain period, such as Louis XV, Victorian, Islamic, Feng Shui, International, Mid-Century Modern, English Georgian, Gothic, Art Deco and many more not mentioned. The evolutions of interior decoration concepts have now grown to include a mixture of differing themes. These are not necessarily consistent with a specific period style, which allows mixing of pieces and concepts from different periods. All of these elements should influence the form, function and maintain a flowing standard of quality to obtain the desired design. A professional designer develops an interior design for a customer with influences from architecture, that has the style and theme the customer connects to and likes. In the last ten years, we have seen a re-discovering of influences of the 1950s and 1960s in the use of materials, and unique furniture developed post-war. Some of these designers have used military applications. Some of these emerging trendsetters include Charles and Ray Eames and Knoll and Herman Miller. A theme is normally not overused; it serves as a guideline for mixing designing styles along with the creativity of the designer. Creativity and designers own approach has brought about the changing movements in design over the years. These approaches have brought interior design from the 1800s into the various contemporary themes and styles we see today. In the United Kingdom interior design has become the subject of television shows. Some of these include 60-Minute Makeover (ITV), Changing Rooms (BBC), and Selling Houses (Channel 4). These shows have featured famous interior designers such as Linda Barker and Laurence Llewelyn-Vowles. Brian Lawrence has a reputation for contemporary and classic designs that incorporate quality as well as flair. He combines the practical and noticeable as well as attention to the individuals’ property to create style. He is very down to earth and very approachable, and has an experienced background in contemporary and classic interior design. Lawrence is based near Sevenoaks in Kent and undertakes commissions nationally and internationally. Over the years Interior Designer and Interior Decorators have become synonymous with the same profession, however, it most often refers to individuals and work that is described as interior decoration. Breaking this down, Designers most often tend to produce more drawn information and plans. Decorators, however, are associated more with finishes and furnishings. It is not to be forgotten, that in order to properly plan furnishings for a space it is necessary to prepare “to scale” drawings of a particular area. As we have seen, interior design is a multi-faceted profession that applies creativity and technical applications to a space or structure to achieve an end result influenced by environment and lifestyle preferences. The interior design influences follow a pattern of coordinated methods that include research, analysis, and knowledgeable concepts to the creative process. The end result provides needs and resources targeted to the requirements of the client. The industry has evolved through history to include designers and decorators that have been a major influence in what we see now in contemporary designs. “Continuing concerns for globalization and national identity, and gender, as well as the imperative to interrogate issues of sustainability, make interior design history a compelling area of enquiry.” A focus on the professionalism of its field is an encompassing theory to understanding its evolving characteristics and significance. 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