Design and Postmodernism

Postmodernism in Design...• rejects what were viewed as the dictates of the design

establishment• built on 60s rejection of the values inherent in the Modern

Movement• has its foundations in 60s and 70s Pop and Italian Radical Design• foregrounds the consumer and emphasises the idea of design as

communication• stresses the importance of signs and symbols as a means of

reviving communication through design• argues that the richness of historic and contemporary cultural

tradition must be acknowledged once more• finds its signs and symbols in the international visual language of

history but equally in vernacular design and popular culture • values irony and wit and often requires or assumes recognition of

its quotations to achieve this – communication through a universal language

• is indebted to mid-century semiotic theory• is indebted to 1970’s architectural theory

What is Postmodernism?• it is an academic term applied within a wide

range of fields – philosophy, cultural studies, linguistics, literature, art and design history.........

• it identifies a new phase of social and cultural development, citing as key factors; the dominance of visual and mass media; the development of digital technology and an information society; the importance of consumption and the consumer

To begin

In its simplest form postmodernism is most clearly

understood in terms of its rejection of the values, forms and theories associated with Modernism or Modernity

Modernism in design and architecture

• rejected the forms and values of a previous age – particularly the revival of historic styles, ornamentation and decoration

• offered a democratic and utopian solution to the problems of mass production – good design for all

• argued that aesthetic beauty would naturally arise out of reason and “truth” – embodied in ideas such as form follows function, truth to materials

• evolved a simple, pure and unifying aesthetic reflected in Mies Van Der Rohe’s dictum, “less is more”

Marianne Brandt. The “Kandem Table Lamp. 1928 Form follows function. Objects as expressions of “use value” or function

Marcel Breuer. Model B3. (The Wassily Chair) 1925 Rationalism in design would create a “well-ordered world” expressed in clean forms attuned to modern life, modern materials and modern technology.

K.J. Jucker & W.Wagenfeld. Electric Table Lamp. 1923-24. The aesthetic would be appropriate for the machine-age, appearing engineered, precise, highly finished and manufactured

The trajectory of European Modernism

• 1930’s.

• Late 1940’s. Post 2nd World War.

• 1950’s.

• The Bauhaus and the advent of war

• Internationally, much design emphasised the crisp, geometrical, clean and modern.

• “Good Design” promoted by MOMA in New York, the Design Council in the UK, Hochschule fur Gestaltung in Germany

“GOOD DESIGN”Edgar Kauffman Jnr. Dept of Industrial

Design, MOMA

“In defining “good design” Kauffman did little more, however, than reiterate the same Arts and Crafts values that had been voiced by so many Modern Movement spokesmen before him, emphasizing once again the well known tenets of truth to materials, the unification of form and function, aesthetic simplicity, and

expression of the modern age……..

Marcello Nizzoli The Lettera 22. Olivetti. 1950

The Mirella Sewing Machine. 1956

Dieter Rams. The Transistor. Braun. 1956

Dieter Rams & Hans Gugelot SK4. “Snow White’s Coffin”. Braun. 1956

Modernism as an imposed solution

“All believed that advances in science and technology were evidence of social progress and provided paradigms for design thinking. They thought that communication could be objective and that optimum solutions to design problems

could be found. Many felt that design, if rationally conceived,. could help solve social problems and

did not itself create such problems. And most assumed that goods should be mass produced by industry.” Victor Margolin. Design Discourse. 1998

From design as solution to

design as communication

60’s and 70’s• Pop and Radical Design• Semiotic theory• Complexity and Contradiction in

Architecture. Robert Venturi. 1966• Learning from Las Vegas. Robert Venturi,

Denise Scott Brown..., 1972• The Language of Postmodern Architecture,

1973, Charles Jencks

POP – fun, disposability, colour pattern, vitality, kitsch.

Italian Radical DesignArchizoom Associati, Naufragio di Rose dream bed.

1967

Semiotics

• One key figure. Roland Barthes

• Mythologies

• 1957 French

• 1972 English

"Every object in the world can pass from a closed, silent existence to an oral state"

 Barthes, R., Mythologies, New York, Hill and Wang, 1998, p.109

 

"We shall therefore take language, discourse, speech etc., to mean any significant unit or

synthesis, whether verbal or visual: a photograph will be a kind of speech for us in the same way as a

newspaper article; even objects will become speech"

 Ibid., p.109

 

Architectural theory

Robert Venturi

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. 1966

Learning from Las Vegas. 1972

“Architecture can no longer afford to be intimidated by the puritanically moral language of orthodox Modern architecture. I like elements which are

hybrid rather than pure, compromising rather than clean, distorted rather than straightforward,

ambiguous rather than articulated, perverse as well as impersonal, boring as well as interesting,

conventional rather than designed, accommodating rather than excluding, redundant rather than simple,

vestigial as well as innovating, inconsistent and equivocal rather than direct and clear. I am for

messy vitality over obvious unity”

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. 1966

“Blatant simplification means bland architecture. Less is a

bore”

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. 1966

“there are didactic images more important than the images of recreation for us to take

home to New Jersey or Iowa: one is the Avis with the Venus: another Jack Benny under a

classical pediment with Shell Oil beside him...These show the vitality that may be

achieved by an architecture of inclusion, or, by contrast the deadness that results from

too great a preoccupation with tastefulness and total design

Learning from Las Vegas. 1972

Robert Venturi. Architect and theorist

Charles Jencks. Architect and theoristColosseum Chair and Stool. 1984

Memphis. Established late 1980Group portrait. 1982

Memphis• makes extensive use of plastic laminates –

formerly a metaphor for “bad taste”• references popular culture and vernacular design

extensively• adopts an anti-modernist use of colour, decoration

and surface design• makes repeated ironic reference to modernism and

functionalism• blurs the boundaries between art and design• chaotic, riotous mixing of materials and forms –

anti-unity, maximum creativity

“Memphis. The new Made in Italy, which draws from global culture, from real time, from computers and television by

satellite. Thus, Sottsass and his associates have shown us the way

out of the cul-de-sac of the Bauhaus”

Ettore Sottsass. Memphis MilanoCarlton Bookshelf. 1981

Ettore Sottsass. Memphis Casablanca Buffet. 1981

Nathalie Du Pasquier. MemphisArizona carpet. 1983

Javier Mariscal. MemphisHilton Trolley. 1981

Memphis furniture. 1983

Postmodernism in Design...• has its foundations in 60s and 70s Pop, Anti-design and Radical

Design • builds on 60s rejection of the values inherent in the Modern

Movement• foregrounds the consumer and rejects what it views as the

dictates of the design establishment• argues that the richness of historic and contemporary cultural

tradition must be acknowledged once more• is indebted to mid-century semiotic theory• is indebted to 1970’s architectural theory• stresses the importance of signs and symbols as a means of

reviving communication through design• finds these signs and symbols in the international visual

language of history, vernacular design and popular culture • values irony and wit and often requires or assumes recognition of

its quotations to achieve this