Blog assignment 3

In The Grammar of Ornament (1856) Owen Jones argued that, “Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.”  What he meant by this was that objects should have a clear construction and should be constructed for their purpose, and then decorated.  They should be true and should not imitate other materials and the decoration should match the purpose of the object.  He thought that bad design was design that imitated nature, used illusionism, falsyfied perspective or disguised the structure of the object.  This was also the opinion of the design reformers such as AWN Pugin.  When industrialization in the 19th Century took craft out of the workshop, they wanted to use design to reform society and teach people about taste.

Personally I disagree with Jones and the design reformers, I think that there is no definition of good design and that there are no rules you have to follow.  Everybody has different interests, different tastes, different perspectives on things, therefore I believe that good design is purely up to the taste and opinion of the designer.  Although I do believe there are some guidelines that when followed result in good design, people are entitled to their own opinions.

Above is a photo of a vase which was manufactured by Marcel Wanders Studio in 2001.  This is an example of decoration constructed.  The decoration doesn't relate to the purpose of the object and the structure is lost.  To Jones and the design reformers this would be bad design with false principles and although when I first saw this photo I couldn't tell what its purpose was, it caught my eye because it is unique and interesting.

Blog assignment 2

The sensuous impulse is designing what is aesthetically pleasing, instead of for function.  The above photo is of The Old High Court Building designed by P.F.M. Burrows in 1879.  It has since been restored and a new building added to it.  The pattern for the bronze screen that surrounds the new building was inspired by the intertwining of pohutukawa and rata and is made from recycled scrap metal. I believe this is an example of the sensual impulse, as it has no function but to look good, to appeal to your senses and to continue the theme that is seen throughout the building of New Zealand's unique natural heritage. 

But I do believe that the aesthetic qualities are equally as important as function, in design.  If something doesn't look good the user isn't going to want to use it for it's function.  A designer will always have a need to make their work aesthetically pleasing, if it be using straight lines or continuing curves, it depends on what the designer sees as beautiful.

171 Blog assignment 1

A part of design that I think is really important was the invention of 3d photography and film. The Lumiere Brothers who were amongst the earliest filmmakers in history and invented the film "Train leaving the station".  The first public screening of this film was on the 28th of December 1895.  The idea of 3d was really unheard of at this time.  3d was created by putting two cameras eye width apart and taking a photo on both at the exact same time but from slightly different perspectives.  The myth about the screening of the "Train leaving the station" was that when showed to the public, the audiences were so overwhelmed by the life-like train coming towards them, that they actually thought it was going to come out of the screen and hit them.  They ran screaming from the theatre in fright.  I think this is an important part of the history of design because it let us take a step forward into the future.  It allowed us to capture time and memories and revisit them.  It let us create art in a different way and to show things from your own personal pespective.