Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass, an Italian architect and designer of the late twentieth   century. He focused mostly on furniture, jewellery, glass and lighting. He was different from other European designers that wanted to seek on technology after the war. He just wanted to build products connected with creativity that can make a better live for the user with less technology possible or else use the technology of that day.




One of his designs is the Aluminium Lamp it was made in 1955. This is not a finalised product neither with a solid material or great design. It was just the study of how the light acts with the aluminium all over, surrounding it 360 degrees. It even does not have any type of technology, the lamp was made from aluminium sheets cut and folded so as to create movement. For me this is not a great design but it makes a huge discovery of how the light acts. Every designer does his experimental designs and then move onto their real product, whether Sottsass did not bother to use his studies as a final product.

 Aluminium lamp

Another design of his is the Valentine, the portable typewriter case. Their were a lot of different designs of this typewriter. He came up with an idea of a case, like a suitcase where you can take it anywhere you like without and struggle, just grab the handle and leave. He used ABS plastic, despite its simplicity. This typewriter had a huge role in that period where design was interacting with technology. He also gave it a primary colour to get the attention. In my opinion for those days it was a great technology with an amazing design, it was something to show off. It is like the iPad of the past.

Valentine typewriter

A furniture that i really liked is the Adesso Pero. It is a bookshelf it was made in 1992. This is an unusual look for a bookshelf because it has three pillars standing upright with nine red trapeziums each upside down. Their shape is in that specific way to have a small gap and place a glass surface to place the books on it. You can put the glass surface where you want and how many you would like. In my opinion is a great design and it's function, I would only change the colour to a warmer one such as caramel, brown or smoke yellow.

 Adesso Pero

Sottsass worked on multiple products but he never focused on one theme. He wanted to experiment and expand the industry of design with a better function and with great views.

Bibliography: Patrizia Ranzo, 2011. Minimum Design, Ettore Sottsass

Alessandro Mendini

Alessandro Mendini is an Italian designer and architect. He worked hard in his career and helped a lot in the design industry. He created graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architecture. Today he teaches in the University of Milan.




One of his designs is the Proust Armchair it was made in 1978. He wanted to have two different elements on one chair. He made an armchair in the style of a Baroque but with a lot of pointillist of colours. He wanted something colourful and he combined some colours and just put them onto the armchair. In my opinion it is a very beautiful chair, fun and unique. It also relate the colours of a rainbow. As one can see Mendini used mostly primary colours and in between there might be some secondary colours. If I would make a chair like this I would blend it in the order of the colour wheel.

 Proust Armchair

Mendini came up with a redesign of a sofa, where he took it apart and build it up again. He included a mirror and a wall hanging. Mendini has done some products that have the most important twentieth century styles for example, in this sofa we can depict the Cubism and Abstractionism. In my opinion is that to redesign something that was already designed is not an easy task but for me to redesign in this way is not very eye catching and functional for me. I would rather leave it as it was.

Kandissi sofa

Referencing: Graziella Leyla Ciaga, 2011. Minimum Design, Alessandro Mendini

Philippe Starck

"Philippe Starck is a french designer, he is well known for his interiors, consumer goods, industrial and architectural creations. In his career life he did work on different things, ideas, materials and designs. He did not focus on only one thing. He also experimental with a lot of materials." (Christina Morozzi (Year 2011), Minimum Design Philippe Starck.)




One of the most famous design is the Louis Ghost it was made in 1999. This chair was made out of polycarbonate. Stark experimented with this material and decided to make it in one mould and from the first tries it came out perfectly with no holes or missing parts. To mould a single chair is a hard progress and a lot of things can go wrong. This material can come in different colours even transparent. Since its transparent the shadows still can be shown that is why is called Ghost. I really like this chair both in the look and comfort. Since it is plastic and with no cushion, still looks soft and ergonomic.

Louis Ghost

Another product of his is the Gun Lamp it was created in 2005. This is a strange looking lamp and makes you look twice to what he designed. "He wanted to symbolise the life and death where weapons are our new icon. The gun lamp come in three versions, a small table lamp with a base in the shape of a Beretta, representing weapons in Europe, a large table lamp with a stem that resembles a Kalashnikov AK-47 and lastly a floor lamp with an M-16 rifle indicates the weapon made in America. They are all covered in shiny gold colour and with a black shade." (Christina Morozzi (Year 2011), Minimum Design Philippe Starck.) For me they are strange but for some they can be very special. Their combination of colours and the design is amazing.

Gun Lamp

Another design is the Mr. Impossible it was made a few years ago in 2007. It was named this way for the impossible idea of joining two oval polycarbonate shells together. For example the clear frame and a full coloured seat, without using glue to do so. The shell shape have excellent ergonomics. The chair gives you comfort from the first look. My suggestions are similar to the Louis Ghost chair because he used the same material, the only thing I do not like is that if somebody would like to rest his arms it is not going to be that comfortable the tiny edge plastic would hurt the user.

Mr. Impossible

Reference: 

Christina Morozzi (Year 2011), Minimum Design Philippe Starck.

Ron Arad

Ron Arad is an Israel designer, in his career he did not only creating new products but also build architectures and make graphic designs. As for products he focused more on chairs and the mostly used material is metal. Arad's work has been described as scary and bulky for his heavy metal use in his products.

One of his products is the Well Tempered Chair it was made in the 1986. Arad he wanted to explore and experiment in new ways of using metal. He wanted to see the the limits of what it can take. For this chair he used thin sheets of steel and twist them in different form and matter. He designed it by tensioning and bending the steel and formed a chair. He left it simple but with its natural look without any colour or texture even he left the bolt sticking out. In my opinion it is an astonishing chair but for me it is cold in the look even for the form. It look light weight but it is not to the fullest. If it had a bit of texture in it, it would look much better. The material he used is too thin for holding a person for a long period of time. By wear and tear it will lose its shape. 

                                                                        Well Tempered Chair





Another chair that Arad designed is the Big Easy that was made in 1988. This chair look similar to the Well Tempered Chair but in a more comfortable and good looking. It is made with the same material in sheets of steel with welded joints not yet perfectly smoothed down and polished. He also studied well the ergonomics of a chair and he discovered a new design that one can stay comfortable with the flexibility of the steel. As for finishing he covered his chair with polyester fibre was adopted for the very soft and comfort. In my opinion this is a much better chair even how the ergonomics are and he also make use of the flexibility of steel.

Big Easy Chair

This chair is the After Spring-Before Summer made in 1992. From the first look you can see the beauty in it but on the other hand it does not look comfortable nor ergonomic well. He mainly designed this chair for a different look and style. He used steel but in different layers and thickness. He wanted to see the flow in the chair with one single sheet of steel, the main thing he gave much importance is the gap in the middle where you can sit in it and it prevent you from slippery. For me this chair is more for the look then comfort or else you would not stay on it for long.

After Spring-Before Summer

Ron Arad designed a lot of strange looking objects but they came out very successful, he also was well know for his architecture work. As I can see this designer wants the viewer to amaze him with the look and with the design, then it comes to ergonomics.

Reference:  

Christian Galli, (Year 2011) Minimum Design, Ron Arad 

International Style Organic Design.

Organic Design means where architects build new buildings that connect with their surroundings, whether it is nature, cities, urban etc. Interiors were made to be similar to the exterior of the architecture. They used organic shapes, soft flowing forms, natural materials such as stone and wood. Whether with designers they produce their product with natural forms and materials.

Most two popular designers of the Organic Design are:

                              Frank Lloyd Wright 

 Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most important American architects of the twentieth century. One of his best architecture is the Falling Water house, build directly onto a river. It was build in 1935 in Southwestern Pennsylvania. This house has simple and geometric forms all over. The interior is an open space with a fireplace in the middle and furniture all over the area but mostly against the wall. It was the most modern house of that time even for today’s architecture it is still a very good example of architect.  Wright was not only an architect but also a product designer such as couch, chairs, tables, desks mostly every piece of furniture. The falling water house is filled with almost all his designs. As for all geometric and very sharp edges is the same way, as the De Stijl style would do in their designs.

The Interior of the Falling Water

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer and an artist.

Mackintosh produced quite a lot of products that their design is still popular and impressive nowadays. His products match to one another such as the Willow Chair that rests on a box instead of legs. Its broad, curved back has a pattern of rectangles

and parallel lines. This grid pattern is taken up again in the DS 322 table. The grid is a different shape and much bigger but it still have the connection of it.

                                                                                        Willow chair

Alvar Aalto did a huge success in the history of design. In 1924 he married the designer, Aino Mariso and for five years they conducted experiments together into the bending of wood. Having turned to laminated wood and plywood as his material of choice. Two of his best chairs are the No 41(Paimio) and the No 31 (cantilevered). These two chairs made a huge success in his life. He changed the look of wood from straight to curves, loops, flows and soft rounded edges.

No 31 Cantilevered                                                      No 41 Paimio

Charles and Ray Eames were a married couple that conducted a lot of products in the industry of design. Their first chair was the Lounge Chair made out all from Wood, they worked together with Eero Saarinen, and it was blown away by the viewers. This chair does not have sharp edges just curves and bended wood all over, the same as Aalto experimented with. It has a strange look for its legs the front are more longer whether of the back are lowered but it still has stability and comfort. The most known chair for this couple is the

Lounge chair and Ottoman almost perfect seating. It looks both offices and private homes. This armchair was a delicate process for the huge amount of bending in the wood especially the bottom part of the seat when it was done they stacked it up with foam and covered it with leather. This was the same process for the stool.

The International style was a great success and made a huge impact on architecture and design. It is the beginning of a new way of building things where one can combine the nature with the man made products.

Reference:

Bernard Polster, Claudia Neumann, Markus Schuler  and Fredrick Leven, 2004. The AZ of Modern design

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was a new style that begin in the early 1890's. Art Nouveau was not only in architecture but also in product and art where designers always looked towards the future but in the manner of soft flowing lines that make the design itself elegant. As for the world was getting modernised in those early years of the twentieth century, designers and architects wanted their stuff created and modern as possible so the people will admire their work more. We now recognize it as the style of the age. As for Art Nouveau their was some kind of a rule, nature had to be included whether it is water, animals, plants or flowers. They had a theme to stick with. By time it spread almost all over Europe and almost all parts of the North America.

The Interior of Tassel House

This is one of the first Art Nouveau buildings it was made in the early 1890's by Victoria Horta, the Tassel House, this was made specific for scientists. One can see that there is no need for a special investigation on what style it was. As from the floor, walls, columns, stairs, every corner of the house is full with the style of Nouveau. This can be tell for the elegant, well designed floor tiles, the paint on the walls, the metal work even on stone with all those soft flowing lines all over inspired from plants and flowers.

 Decanter

This decanter was designed by an English designer C.R Ashbee she did a large number of decanter but this was inspired by the Art Nouveau era. As it has that green glass finished look it has more to do with the handle were it has the same movement as the curve lines of the interior of the Tassel House.

"The French were more influenced by the symbolism of the style . They viewed art as a mean of discovering the soul, the parts of existence which modern materialism appeared to have left behind." (Paul Greenhalgh. (Year 2000) Essential Art Nouveau)

Divan Japonais

Divan Japonais was one of the many cafe-concerts in the late nineteenth century Paris frequented by Toulouse Lautrec. In his poster features two of his favourite Montmartre stars. Here the designer made up a poster for advertising of the cafe-concert. It was a new thing of symbolising and attract the people to the poster and the concert itself. He used mostly earth colours even the outlines are not sharp edged. He also depicted the commercial quite well because one can understand what is happening in the picture without even reading the description.

In that period designers use to steal imagery outside their country in this case, Europe. They would do this to keep the customers amazed and keep producing better and different products, such as the Islamic and Japanese art and culture. The curling, linear shape known as the ‘arabesque’ occurred throughout Islamic textiles, given form to ceramics and glass.

This was made by the designer Tiffany and co in 1896. This glass explains everything, the curling, the linear shape, colour that it was inspired by another country. We also can see that this vase is depicting a flower, staying with the theme of nature.

The most important thing to Art Nouveau was nature we can see it almost in everything they painted or designed. Designers did not stick with the most famous natural elements such as water, roses, lilies, lions but they wanted to seek in depth of this theme. "Many designers used metamorphosis as a strategy, fusing animals, plants and human forms. Nature became the major vehicle for the creation of interiors, which were ‘ total works of art’." (Paul Greenhalgh. (Year 2000) Essential Art Nouveau).

The Winged Female

The winged female figure done by Rene Lalique in France. It is a bronze sculpture of a nude woman raised by 'wings' that are more of a strange looking butterfly wings. The wing itself is used for a stand and the nude is attached in a specific position. 

Art Nouveau finished with the start of the First World War. The style was lost and began to be recognised in the 1960’s, many buildings and objects were lost or destroyed. Today Art Nouveau we see it as the style that made modern environment where it not only changed peoples experience but also their expectations of what the new century would bring.

Reference: 

Paul Greenhalgh. (Year 2000) Essential Art Nouveau