The Bauhaus.

Walter Gropius was the principal and founder of the Bauhaus. Before he founded the Bauhaus he joined the Werkbund in 1911 where he worked with Adolph Meyer with whom he designed the Fagus shoe factory in Alfeld. The word Bauhaus mean “building house” and was founded in Weimar in 1919. The Bauhaus school then moved to Dessau were it kick started, and then moved to Berlin were it was finally closed down by the Nazi regime in 1933.

The Bauhaus was inspired by other designers and movements like: Van De Velde, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Expressionist Paintings, De Stijl and Constructivism. The Bauhaus exploited new technology, brought unity in art, brought equality between artists and craftsmen and was a movement where social idealism joined commercial reality. The first Bauhaus exhibition took place in 1923 and Joost Schmidt created and designed a poster for this exhibition.

Van De Velde Staircase.

Bauhaus staircase inspired from Van De Velde's staircase

Walter Gropius employed other architects and designers and were considered as assistants. These were: Johannes Itten, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Feininger and Gerhard Marcks. However Itten Left the Bauhaus due to the fact that his mystic approach conflicted with Gropius. Due to the fact that the Bauhaus was inspired by Expressionist paintings, Expressionist artists also formed part of the Bauhaus groups. These were: Paul Klee, Oscar Schlemmer and Wassily Kandinsky.

Wassily Kandinsky.

Nagy replaced Itten and was a keen follower of Van Doesburg, the constructivists and Tatlin. Laszlo Moholy Nagy was a typographer and designer. His paintings are abstract and are entirely constructivist in approach due to their geometric elements.

Van Doesburg Font.

Moholy-Nagy

Frank Lloyd write was another designer who was part of this movement and is famous for his design of the house named “falling water”. Lloyd Wright pioneered the idea of organic design and maximized natural lighting in his buildings.

Falling Water.

Mies Van Der Rohe was the 3^rd and the last director of the Bauhaus. As said earlier the Bauhaus was closed down in 1933 by the Nazis. However Van Der Rohe then re-established the Bauhaus school in Chicago from 1937 till 1946.Van Der Rohe is known for his Barcelona chair which was designed in 1929 for the German Pavilion that Mies built at the Barcelona exhibition. Russian abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky was another huge designer who was part of the Bauhaus group. Kandinsky was an artist who was closely related to the Bauhaus. Kandinsky was praised for painting the first purely abstract art piece.

Barcelona Chair.

 

Marcel Breuer was a student at the Bauhaus who then taught at the school later in his career. He was appointed as head of the carpentry workshop. Breuer was a modernist, architect and furniture designer. Breuer was first recognized for his bicycle-handlebar inspired steel furniture. Breuer succeeded with his designs and was largely admired by design giants like Le Corbusier and Van Der Rohe. Breuer kept on developing his idea of using tubular steel to design furniture. Breuer finally succeeded and designed a simple looking chair, which consisted of very simple colours and very simple materials. Wassily Kandinsky was impressed by the design of this chair due to its simple and clean design.

               

Wassily Chair.

References:

Stiftung Bauhaus. 2014. Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau. [ONLINE] Available at: http://bauhaus-online.de/en/stiftung-bauhaus-dessau. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Kenney-mencher. 2013. Bauhaus . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.kenney-mencher.com/pic_old/20th_century/Bauhaus.htm. [Accessed 29 October 14].

WordPress.com. 2011. The Inside Story Design. [ONLINE] Available at: http://insidestorydesign.wordpress.com/tag/henry-van-de-velde/. [Accessed 29 October 14].

WordPress.com. 2013. Wharton Esherick and the German Bauhaus: Kindred Spirits of Early Modernism. [ONLINE] Available at: https://whartonesherickmuseum.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/wharton-esherick-and-german-bauhaus-kindred-spirits-of-early-modernism/. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Blogs.baruch. 2013. Art 3050 Intermediate Graphic Communication Spring. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/art3050s2013/page/9/. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Weebly. 2008. Wassily Kandinsky . [ONLINE] Available at: http://art-educ4kids.weebly.com/kandinsky-inspirations.html. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Fonts. 2013. Theo Van Doesburg Font. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.1001fonts.com/theo-van-doesburg-font.html. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Flooce. 2012. New USA Today Logo. [ONLINE] Available at: http://typophile.com/node/96509. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Falling water. 2014. FallingWater. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fallingwater.org/. [Accessed 29 October 14].

WordPress.com. 2014. Vintage Furniture – Real or Fake? Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair. [ONLINE] Available at: http://jetsetrnv8r.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/vintage-furniture-%E2%80%93-real-or-fake-mies-van-der-rohe%E2%80%99s-barcelona-chair/. [Accessed 29 October 14].

Casa Factory. 2014. B3 Wassily chair - inspired by Marcel Breuer. [ONLINE] Available at: http://test.casa-factory.com/casa-factory/eng/b3-wassily-chair-inspired-by-marcel-breuer.html. [Accessed 29 October 14].

 

Constructivism

Constructivism around 1917-1935 was a Radical art movement which was situated in Russia. This Radical movement started before the Bolshevik Revolution.  The aim of the movement was to encourage art and artists to contribute towards the construction of the new communist state. Another aim of this movement was to reject the idea of art for art’s sake; i.e. art should serve a social political purpose. This movement was inspired by other movements, styles and artists like: Cubism and Picasso, Futurism in Italy and Russian Artists like Kandinsky, Rodchenko, Malevich and Tatlin. The main characteristics of this movement were: Geometric shapes, the colours red white and black, san serif typography and photomontage.

This movement was led by the Russian artist Tatlin. He believed that art should be concerned only with socially useful activities like Industrial activities, Graphic activities and Theatre/ Cinema Design. One of Tatlins main inspirations were Picassos collages. Tatlin is mainly known for his so called “Monument to the Third International “also known as Tatlins Tower.

This tower was never built, however the aim of this project was to build a monument that would be the headquarters of the third international. This building would have been placed in St. Petersburg. Tatlin wanted this tower to be built out of industrial materials like Iron, metal and glass. The tower was intended to be a tower that symbolises modernity. The main structure would consist of four large geometric structures which would rotate at different speeds. At the base of this structure there would have been a cube which was designed as a place for lectures or meetings. The cube would make a full rotation every year and the pyramid structure would make a rotation every 30 days. Further up there would have been an information centre which would have helped to issue bulletins and propaganda via loudspeaker. At the top of the hemisphere there would have been a hemisphere for radio equipment. This tower would have made the Eiffel Tower look small. Tatlin is also known for his corner counter relief which he produced in 1914.

Tatlin's Tower.

Malevich was a Russian Artist and was a pioneer of the Suprematist movement. The characteristics of Supremalism are: simple geometric forms and geometric alignments, asymmetrical composition and open areas of white spaces which were used as compositional elements.  Malevich was inspired by cubism and geometric abstract art. We can see a resemblance in Malevich’s’ paintings and Picasso’s and Matisse’s  paintings.

Malevich's self portrait paintings.

References:

Ralph Croizier . 2014. Tatlin's Tower: The Monument to the Future that Never Was. [ONLINE] Available at: http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/11.1/forum_croizier.html. [Accessed 26 January 15].

Roseabstain. 2012. Rose Abstain's collages. [ONLINE] Available at:https://roseabstain.wordpress.com/about/histoire-du-collage/. [Accessed 26 January 15].

harunyahya. 1994. The Danger of a Communist Kurdistan. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.harunyahya.com/en/Books/162394/the-danger-of-a-communist/chapter/14586. [Accessed 26 January 15].

wsws.org. 2012. Tatlin’s “new art for a new world”. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/06/tat1-j19.html. [Accessed 26 January 15].

Patrick Cates. 2011. KAZIMIR MALEVICH. [ONLINE] Available at:http://hilobrow.com/2011/02/23/kazimir-malevich/. [Accessed 26 January 15].

De Stijl

De Stijl was an artistic movement which was founded in 1917 by the painter Theo Van Doesburg. This movement was also known as neoplasticism and adopted the elements of cubism and suprematism. The De Stijl movement was restricted to the use of: right angles, straight lines, primary colours and non colours. The style of De Stijl included the use of rectangular blocks and creative asymmetrical layouts.

                             Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red, 1937–42, Piet Mondrian.

 

 

 Gestalt was one of the artists that was influenced by the De Stijl movement. Piet Mondrian was another famous artist who was also inspired and influenced by the movement. His works included a lot of horizontal lines and vertical line and were severely abstract. Then there was the founder. Theo Van Doesburg was a Dutch painter and designer, he was also the editor of De Stijl. Van Doesburg also experimented with visual typography and also designed a geometrically constructed alphabet. Van Doesburg practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. Van Doesburg recommended an art of absolute purity. Van Doesburg wanted to make an impression on the Bauhaus head, Walter Gropius. He managed and established contacts with Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Gropius.

 

 

De Stijl Font, Van Doesburg.

 

 

 

 

One designer who was inspired by the works of Mondrian and Van Doesburg was Gerrit Rietveld. Rietveld was the son of a cabinet maker and he influenced the development of the 20^th century design. Rietveld is famously known for his Red and Blue chair which was produced in 1917 and also the Schroder house which was built and designed in 1925. The red and blue chair is mainly made up of horizontals and uprights and is regarded as an icon to the De Stijl movement. The chairs harmonious shapes and primary colours reflect the work of Piet Mondrian who was part of the De Stijl group. However this chair was first produced with plain and undecorated wood and was later painted in the early 1920’s. This chair was not the most comfortable and this was the reason as to why the chair was never produced on a large scale. Rietveld said that “it’s not really a chair: it’s a manifesto.” 

Red, Blue Chair, Gerrit Rietveld.

 

 

 

The Schroder House design is also inspired from the works of Piet Mondrian. The house stands out due to the fact that it is the only modern house in the neighbourhood. The house is made up of horizontal and vertical lines and the red and blue colours are found inside and outside the house. There are rooms inside the house that can be opened up at anytime. This is because there are no walls in certain room, but just panels that are moved on a rail and can turn 180 degrees. The house was used by Mrs. Schroder who lived in the house for about 60 years. Rietveld gave much attention to functionality. The house has two floors; it is painted in basic colours which consist of: yellow, blue, red, black, white and some shades of grey. The upper floor is one open space around the staircase and can be divided into three bedrooms and a sitting room by sliding panels. The ground floor has five rooms and is grouped around a small hall.

The Schroder House.

 

 

 

 De Stijl style influenced and inspired todays designers.

 

 

 

References:

Abuzeedo. 2013. De Stijl Influence. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abduzeedo.com/de-stijl-influence. [Accessed 27 October 14].

entoen. 2007. De Stijl 1917-1931. [ONLINE] Available at: http://entoen.nu/stijl. [Accessed 27 October 14].

Wiki. 2014. Founding of De Stijl. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl. [Accessed 27 October 14].

Central museum. 2014. Rietveld Schröder House. [ONLINE] Available at: http://centraalmuseum.nl/en/visit/locations/rietveld-schroder-house/. [Accessed 27 October 14].

Pinterest. 2013. Pinit. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/261068109620828199/. [Accessed 27 October 14].

Design is history. 2014. De Stijl. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/de-stijl/. [Accessed 27 October 14].

 

 

 

 

 

Streamlining.

Streamlining is considered to be the American Art Deco. It reflected the magic of speed.  The characteristics of streamlining consist of: Contoured lines, Slick torpedo curves and smooth horizontal surfaces. The aim of this movement was to decrease air resistance. They mainly focused on hydrodynamics and aero-dynamics and also on tear drop shaped designs. Streamlining symbolized the age of progress, change and modernity. Another aim of this movement was to make the American economy feel stronger and to make it embrace the machine age. It also symbolized the age of advertising. People saw the products on posters or billboards before they saw them in real life. The aesthetical elements became important in products being produced at that time and there was a need for product differentiation.

Tear drop shape. 

Raymond Loewy is considered to be the greatest pioneer of industrial design. His Coldspot refrigerator which was produced in 1934 was the first of his designs to be noticed due to its looks rather than its functionality, or performance. The streamline design and effect was given too many household products not taking any notice of function. The streamlined design helped to ease away the depression and refresh the economy. Loewy remodelled the Greyhound buses in 1946 making them streamlined which meant that transportation looked more appealing and more modern. The streamlined design also improved the performance and efficiency of the vehicles. He merged form and function and paid attention to the aesthetical qualities of the product. Loewy became very important for the corporate identity works like coca cola and shell. Lowey glamorised the industrial design change and the status of industrial design as a whole became more stylish and graceful. Raymond Loewy is also famously known for his design of the Pennsylvania Railroads S1 steam locomotive. The train had a streamlined art deco styled shell and had the shape of a bullet. This shape made the train travel at higher speeds.

Coldspot Refrigerator.

Greyhound Bus

S1 steam locomotive. 

Norman Bel Geddes worked as a draughtsman and later moved on to become a set designer. He designed lush film sets for products such as Cecil Be de Mille and DW Griffith. He was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and he believed in the importance of the tear drop shape and designed futuristic cars for Graham Paige automobiles and he also designed radios for Philco and RCA. Geddes standardised kitchen equipments and products which included the famous Oriole stove which was produced in 1931-1936.

Designers are still developing streamlined objects, especially in the car business. Car designers are designing faster cars and are studying the technology of streamlining to help the performance of the car and also the aesthetic elements.

Older beetle Model.

2015 Beetle Model.

References:

Design is fine. History is mine.. 2013. Raymond Loewy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.design-is-fine.org/post/73428343874/raymond-loewy-refrigerator-coldspot-1935-usa. [Accessed 23 January 15].

Daily News. 2014. Driven: 2014 Volkswagen Beetle TDI. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/latest-reviews/diesel-burning-fun-loving-driving-2014-volkswagen-beetle-tdi-article-1.1866493. [Accessed 23 January 15].

ibnlive. 2013. 1938 to present: Evolution of the VW Beetle. [ONLINE] Available at:http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/3800-14.html. [Accessed 23 January 15].

diesel punks. 2010. Sunday Streamline #14: The Big Engine. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/sunday-streamline-14-the-big. [Accessed 23 January 15].

antiquestoves. 2014. Stepside-Right Oriole Retro Gas or Propane Antique Cook Stove - GKR1635: gry. [ONLINE] Available at: http://antiquestoves.net/dir/retro-propane-gsa-cook-stove-sold/971-stepside-right-oriole-retro-gas-or-propane-antique-cook-stove-gkr1635-gry. [Accessed 23 January 15].

tvtropes. 2014. The Aesthetics of Technology. [ONLINE] Available at:http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheAestheticsOfTechnology. [Accessed 23 January 15].

Art Deco.

The Art Deco movement emerged from France in the 1920’s. The movement took its name from the world fair in Paris. Art deco took over from Art Nouveau. Art deco took its inspiration from Ancient Egyptian Civilisation due to the fact that they discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb at around the same time (1922). They were also inspired by tribal art, surrealism, futurism/cubism/constructivism, Neo classicism, Geometric abstraction, popular culture, Russian ballet companies and artists like Hoffman, Frank Lloyd Wright and Adolf Loos.

Designers during the Art deco movement mainly used materials like Ivory, Enamel, Horse skin, Ebony and mother of pearl. The Odeon style also brought materials like chromium, coloured glass, painted concrete and Bakelite. Bakelite is easy to mould and could be made transparent and even marbled.

Rene Lalique was a French designer who moved from the art nouveau movement onto the chunky and highly stylized Art Deco movement. Rene lalique used to produce works that were inspired from nature and insects during the Art Nouveau period; this was because they were main sources of inspiration for any designer during that time. However during the Art Deco period Lalique started producing pieces with geometric pieces on them or even pieces that were inspired by some sort of tribal art. As we can see in the picture below, Lalique added geometric shapes to his vase. As said earlier another main source of inspiration during the Art Deco period was cubism and we can see this in Laliques vase below. In the other picture below we can see that Lalique was inspired by some sort of tribal art, however he must have also been inspired by futurism due to the look that lalique decided to give it. 

Eileen Gray was an Irish furniture designer. After studying Japanese lacquer works, Gray established herself as a leading designer. It is her lacquered pieces that seem to situate her with the Art Deco period, and one of her most notable pieces is the Dragon Chair which was produced in 1917. The chair consists of a dark brown leather cushioned seat with lacquered wood arm rests and feet. The way the wood is bent resembles the tusks of an elephant. Gray was also a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture.

Dragon chair.

Jean Dunand was a French designer and he is also considered as a great lacquer artist. Just by looking at his works we can see that he was mainly inspired by geometric shapes and cubism. Jean Dunand also used the material enamel to produce his works. Enamel is a powder of glass which can be coated onto metal or ceramics. As we can see in the pictures below, Dunand used geometric shapes and cubist forms to decorate his works.

References:

RLalique.com. 2014. Rene Lalique Victoire Mascot. [ONLINE] Available at: https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-victoire-mascot-4775. [Accessed 23 January 15].

RLalique.com. 2014. Lalique Damiers Vase. [ONLINE] Available at: https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-damiers-vase-5472. [Accessed 23 January 15]

1883. 2013. 

Eileengray Exposition. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.1883magazine.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/eileen-gray-exhibition. [Accessed 23 January 15].

1stdibs. 2013. Vase in the style of Jean Dunand. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/more-furniture-collectibles/vases/vase-style-jean-dunand/id-f_281708/. [Accessed 23 January 15].

Ŧhe ₵oincidental Ðandy. 2010. Decorative Lacquerware: The Art of Jean Dunand. [ONLINE] Available at:http://thecoincidentaldandy.blogspot.com/2010/12/decorative-lacquerware-art-of-jean.html. [Accessed 23 January 15].

Art Nouveau Movement.

Art nouveau was a movement in art that aimed at modernizing design. This movement issued a wide variety of styles and due to this, art nouveau is known by various names across the world. There are two different styles of art nouveau. There is the organic style and the geometric style. However the geometric was not so popular and is mainly found in Glasgow and in Austria.

                Art nouveau possesses various and important characteristics. These characteristics help a person identify a work of art that was produced during the art nouveau movement. In any work that was produced in the art nouveau movement one may find: Whiplash curves, the absence of any straight line or right angle and also the elements of living organisms that artist integrated with symbolic meaning (animals, insects and birds especially dragonflies, peacocks and swallows). The art nouveau movement was influenced by a lot of things. The main influences were: Nature, Arts and Crafts movement, Rococo, Celtic Art, Japanese Art and prints, Egyptian Art and the gothic revival which was an architectural movement which originated in the mid 18^th century in England.

 

    

 

 

 

As said earlier Art nouveau is known by various names across the world, however every country had their own artist who wanted the movement to succeed in the country.

In Britain we had Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William Morris. William Morris was writer and a lecturer and without William Morris there wouldn’t have been the important change in design history. Morris’ main concern was to produce beautiful objects. Morris was a perfectionist and he was disgusted by modern civilization.  He was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites paintings and his aim was to produce harmony in his works. Morris also encouraged the merging of design by instructing manufacturers to simplify their designs.

In France we had Guimard and Lalique. Lalique was very famous for his jewellery. Rene Lalique produced and designed a lot of organic shaped jewellery. He used to blend insects or nature into his works by giving them a twist. His most notable piece of work is his dragonfly brooch.

 

Spain possessed one of the greatest designers of all time. Anton Gaudi, famous for his works in Barcelona like the ‘Sagrada Famiglia’ church and ‘Park Gwell’ used a lot of organic shapes in his work due to the fact that he was inspired mainly from nature for example seaweed. Art Nouveau was known as the Modernista in Spain.

In Italy, Art Nouveau was known as ‘Stile Liberty’, in Germany it was known as the ‘Jugendstil’ and possessed designers like Van De Velde, and august Endell. In Vienna It was known as ‘sezessional’ and the likes of Gustav Klimt and Olbrich were the designers found in Austria.

The Art nouveau movement was the new art form for the new century and the name Art Nouveau derived from La Maison De L’art Nouveau.

The main idea of the Art Nouveau movement was to get rid of the historical styles of the 19^th century and replace it with modernism. Industrial production was at a high; however the production of the decorative arts were dominated by badly made objects. The Art nouveau practitioners wanted to revive good workmanship and produce good modern design. The movement and style went out of fashion and gave way to Art Deco in the 1920s however it experienced a revival in the 1960s.

References:

The Art Story.. 2012. Art Nouveau. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-art-nouveau.htm. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Antique Marks. 2014. The Art Nouveau Period. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.antique-marks.com/art-nouveau.html. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Art Nouveau ~ Blog about getting to know Art Nouveau . 2012. Art Nouveau from a historical perspective. [ONLINE] Available at: http://aboutartnouveau.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/art-nouveau-in-history/. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Life 123. 2014. Characteristics of Art Nouveau Style. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.life123.com/arts-culture/architecture-2/art-nouveau/art-nouveau-style.shtml. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Pre Raphaelite Art . 2013. The Flowers of William Morris . [ONLINE] Available at: http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-flowers-of-william-morris.html. [Accessed 17 October 14].

La Audacia de Aquiles. 2008. Antoni Gaudí: “Parc Güell”.-. [ONLINE] Available at: http://aquileana.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/antoni-gaudi-parc-guell/. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Fauxology. 2012. Art Deco or Art Nouveau?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fauxology.com/2012/01/art-deco-or-art-nouveau/. [Accessed 17 October 14].

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Industrial Revolution and Industrialisation.

The industrial Revolution started off in Britain, Manchester in the 18^th century. It was the time when Britain was transformed from an agricultural nation into the manufacturing workshop of the world. It was James Watt’s Steam engine invention that marked the beginning of industrialisation. The steam engine was invented in 1765 and it revolutionised the mining industry by pumping out water out of the mines and the steel production. The steam engine was an important invention in the industrial revolution. Industrialisation also brought the benefit of the improvement of technology.

                The steam engine and industrialisation led to changes in the production of goods and transport system. Now the goods were mass produced and not individually made by craftsmen. The planning of goods freed itself from the process of production. Industrialisation also brought about the population increase in town and cities due to the fact that the people move from rural areas to urban areas. This resulted in the need of new housing and urban growth. Urban growth resulted in new factories, administration centres, train stations; rail road’s and ports (changes in the transport system).  

Mass production became a necessity due to the fact that such manufacturing processes attain high rates of output at low unit cost. Mass production also became the norm with people expecting low cost products at a high rate of production. Mass production also helped the job industry due to the fact that more people got the chance to work in the factories.  The industrial revolution also introduced child labour. The factories would use children because of their size and because they were very cheap. Children were used to go into or underneath the machines and fix any problems that could be fixed on sight. This led to many deaths and injuries to the children, however it was not considered a problem for the factory owner due to the fact that if one child dies or gets injured then he would replace the child with another one.

 

 

The changes that the industrial revolution brought with it meant that there would be a rise in the designing activity. Industrialisation also brought the birth of design profession with it. One designer that stood during this revolution was Michael Thonet.  Michael Thonet designed the Thonet chair number 14 in 1859.The Thonet chair was prized for its lightness and gentle organic curves that it possessed. The chair was produced by using a revolutionary process. Michael Thonet used the heat of the steam to bend the solid beech wood into shape. The steam bending process enabled Thonet to produce the curve by two back legs and the chair back from just one piece. The front legs, another loop to support the back and the seat completed the frame of the chair. The result was a simple, light, strong and for that time elegant chair which was easy to stack and easy to assemble, and most importantly a chair which was affordable for the people. The Thonet chair was machine and also hand-made it was also easy to transport. Michael Thonet united craftsmanship with industrial production.

References:

Mary Bellis. 2014. Captivity of Steam. [ONLINE] Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventors/a/JamesWatt.htm. [Accessed 17 October 14].

FotoLibra . 2005. JAMES WATT'S STEAM ENGINE-ILLUSTRATION. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/50026/james-watts-steam-engine-illustration/. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Weebly. 2014. The Turning Point of the Industrial Revolution. [ONLINE] Available at: http://theindustrialrevolutioninhistory.weebly.com/industrial-inventions.html. [Accessed 17 October 14].

The Hot Aisle. 2008. How to run IT Operations more effectively with fewer people. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thehotaisle.com/2008/06/18/how-to-run-it-operations-more-effectively-with-fewer-people/. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Co.Design. 2012. How Do You Make The World's Most Popular Chair?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669142/how-do-you-make-the-worlds-most-popular-chair. [Accessed 17 October 14].

Vitra Design Museum. 2012. Chair No.14 Michael Thonet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.design-museum.de/en/collection/100-masterpieces/detailseiten/sessel-soehne.html. [Accessed 17 October 14].