The International Style.

International Style.

The phrase “International Style” was coined by Alfred J Barr JR who was the director of the museum of modern arts in New York.

                The international style brought new materials with it and these included: Glass, natural materials used in an innovative way example bentwood, there was a reduction of decorations being used, plain surfaces were being produced due to the fact that they were easier for industrial production, simple streamlined objects, tubular steel was a huge hit and many designers used it to produce their designs, there was also the use of curvaceous lines and cantilevering. 

                Le Corbusier, also known as Charles Edouard Jeanneret was a giant in design who worked with Josef Hoffman and with the Wiener Werkstatte. Le Corbusier promoted geometric formalism and developed a style called Purism; this was a form of cubism however it was not very popular. He was in contact with Mies Van Der Rohe and with the Bauhaus director Walter Gropius. In 1925 Corbusier managed to convince the organizers of the Art Decoratifs to give him an exhibition site. However in this site there weren’t designs that one was expecting. It consisted of bare walls, glass tables, metal furniture and cold lighting and Michael Thonets no9 and no 14 chairs. Le Corbusier is famous for his Lc2 and Lc3 chairs, these chairs provided great comfort, it was designed with minimum use of materials and it was influenced by his cousin Charlotte Perriand. Le Corbusier tried to solve the mass housing problems. He also designed tubular furniture like his B306 Chaise longue and his B301 Basculant Chair which provided a new aesthetic purity in design.



Lc2 and Lc3 chairs by Le Corbusier.

Mies Van Der Rohe was a trained builder and worked as a draughtsman. He then joined Peter Behrens and worked alongside Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. He was the last director of the Bauhaus and was mainly inspired by neoclassical architecture. Van Der Rohe also designed his versions of tubular steel chairs which consisted of the MR10 and MR20 models which were inspired by Mart Stams design. His designs were shown at the Barcelona Pavillon in 1929. Van Der Rohe is famous for his Barcelona chair. This chair consisted of a frame made out of strong; chrome plated steel bars which were welded together in a curved X shape and a seat with a deep rectangular leather-covered cushion for the seat and the backrest.

Van Der Rohe's Barcelona Chair.

 

 

Walter Gropius was the first director of the Bauhaus and believed that complete building is when construction is an important social symbolic and intellectual endeavour. He exploited new technologies and believed in simplification and functionality.  Walter Gropius highlighted the importance for the development of the modern movement in architecture and combined unity in the arts. Before Gropius founded the Bauhaus he joined the Werkbund in 1911. 

The Bauhaus school in Dessau

Dieter Rams studied architecture and interior design and joined the staff of the company Braun as an architect and designer and designed products for the company. While designing products, Dieter came up with the so called 10 commandments of design. For Dieter Rams good design is: Innovative, Makes a product useful, Aesthetic, Makes a product, Is understandable, Is unobtrusive, Is honest, long lasting, environmentally friendly and is as little design as possible.

Dieter Rams at the less and more exhibition.

 

 

References:

Le Corbusier Chair. 2012. Le Corbusier LC2 and LC3 Grand Confort. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.corbusierchair.org/Corbusier-LC2.html. [Accessed 19 November 14].

Spring Leap. 2013. Barcelona’ Chair. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.springleap.com/blog/barcelona-chair/. [Accessed 19 November 14].

Alexander Forbes' . 2012. Berlin Art Brief. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blogs.artinfo.com/berlinartbrief/2012/03/06/bauhaus-dessau-goes-green/. [Accessed 20 November 14].

Wordpress.com. 2009. I love Dieter Rams’ designs . [ONLINE] Available at: https://braundesigns.wordpress.com/. [Accessed 20 November 14].