Monday, March 8, 2010

Arts & Crafts

Following the Victorian Age.
The Arts & Crafts style embraced proportion, simplicity of form, fitness for purpose, honesty to materials and the enhancement of natural textures. As design shifted from the Victorian Age to Arts & Crafts, designs became simplified but still effective. For example with furniture design, materials were often left with their natural textures and finishes, rather than adding varnishes and hundreds of buttons as designers did in the Victorian Age.

The above image is a chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the 1900's. I have included this as one of my images because it is so simple and representatve of the drastic change between the Victorian Era and the Arts & Crafts movement. Although this piece is simple, there are still the little details which make it interesting, such as the cut outs in the back of the chair. 
I was attracted to this piece by seeing the huge back rest, which is interested and although it isn't relevant it catches the audience's eye.

The above is a page of a book by William Morris who established the Kelmscott Press, a device which was used to print books. Designs from the Arts & Crafts Movement often incorporated gothic fonts & textures and detailed patterns, which Morris incorporates in the above design. Although there is a lot on the page, the design still remains simple to some sense as it doesn't have too many different things happening and the layout is somewhat simple.
To be honest I am not a huge fan of the Arts & Crafts movement as I like more colours and a bit more going on in designs, but my attention was drawn to the above piece due to the pattern which created the border.
Reference: TAFE lecture movie: Arts & Crafts Movement

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