Post-Modernism: 1970s to present day
Post-Modernism has its roots in the 1960s when several design movements were emerging, most notably in Italy, such as the Anti-Design and Radical Design groups Archizoom, Superstudio, and Gruppo Strum. The 1960s was a decade of rebellion in many walks of life in politics, music, art, and literature, and this extended to the world of design. Designers involved in many of the radical groups of the period included Ettore Sottsass, Michael Graves, Alessandro Mendini, Robert Venturi, and Charles Jencks, who all started to produce work that made ironic comments on modern design by applying heavy decorative motifs that made reference to historical styles. Post-Modern designs typically embrace a wide range of cultural emblems from contemporary society that transcend geographical boundaries. Thus, forms and symbols commonly used by Post-Modern designers are usually drawn from past decorative styles such as Art Deco, but they also utilize imagery from significant historical moments in art, such as Surrealism.
9093 water kettle, designed by Michael Graves for Alessi, 1985. This is one of the Italian company’s best-selling items and is widely considered a modern design icon.
Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) worked for several major manufacturers, including the office equipment company Olivetti, the domestic products company Alessi, the furniture companies Knoll and Artemide, and the glass company Venini. Sottsass is perhaps best known for his design of the Valentine typewriter for Olivetti in 1969. He was at the forefront of avant-garde design practice in Italy for most of the second half of the twentieth century. His rejection of Modernism in the 1950s was followed by his involvement with the Anti-Design movement of the 1960s and 1970s, with Studio Alchimia from the late 1970s, and Memphis during the 1980s. From the mid-1960s he worked for Poltronova, designing experimental furniture that drew on many references to popular culture such as Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Sottsass’s work has been exhibited at major venues around the world for three decades and features prominently in the contemporary design collections of all major museums. Yemen blown glass vase, 1994 (right).
Memphis: 1976–88
It is widely acknowledged that the first objects of Post-Modern design were pieces of furniture produced by the Italian groups Studio Alchimia and Memphis. The roots of these two groups lay in the Italian “radical design” movement of the 1960s, where they vehemently opposed the indifferent functionality of modern mass-produced designs. By the 1980s, Studio Alchimia was respected as one of the most important design groups in the world. The studio included the designers Alessandro Mendini, Andrea Branzi, Ettore Sottsass, and Michele de Lucchi, among others, and participated in many major exhibitions, such as the trailblazing 1980 Forum Design held in Linz, Austria. Ettore Sottsass, one of the group’s key players, left to co-found the Memphis group—a Milan-based collective of furniture and product designers—with Andrea Branzi and Michele de Lucchi. Memphis dominated the early 1980s’ design scene with its Post-Modernist style. By 1981, bolstered by the addition of George Sowden and Nathalie du Pasquier, Memphis had completed more than a hundred drawings of furniture, lamps, and ceramics. There was no set formula. “No-one mentioned forms, colors, styles, decorations,” observed Barbara Radice (Sottsass’ partner). That was the point. After decades of Modernist doctrine, Sottsass and his collaborators longed to be liberated from the tyranny of smart but soulless “good taste” in design.
Casablanca sideboard, designed by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis, 1981. It featured in the very first Memphis exhibition of that year.
Daniel Weil
The work of Daniel Weil (1953–) has been heralded as moving design from a Modernist to a Post-Modernist era. Weil originally qualified in architecture from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1977, but relocated to London to study industrial design at the Royal College of Art, where he received his MA (RCA) in 1981. After he designed and manufactured a range of his own products, he then joined the Pentagram design company as a partner in 1992. His many projects have included product, packaging, interiors, and art direction and his clients include Swatch, Lego, EMI, and Cass Art London. Weil is best known for the series of digital clocks, radios and lights that he designed from 1981 for Parenthesis. Encased in soft, pliable plastic, these products are brightly coloured with all their working parts revealed. Bag Radio, 1981 (right).
“New Design”: 1980s
Memphis became a catalyst for many designers based throughout Europe and led to a range of anti-functionalist developments gathered under the umbrella term “New Design.” Many of this loose group of individual designers are influenced by subcultures and anti-authoritarianism and share common philosophies: a focus on experimental works, use of their own production and distribution networks, the creation of small series and unique pieces, a mixing of styles, utilization of unusual materials, the use of irony, wit and provocations, and the manipulation of the boundaries between art and design. Designers often associated under the heading of “New Design” include Shiro Kuramata (1934–91), Borek Sipek, Ron Arad, Jasper Morrison, and Tom Dixon, among others.
Ron Arad
Ron Arad (1951–) has emerged as one of the most influential designers of our time. In 1989, Ron Arad Associates was established in London. Much of Arad’s early design work captured London’s 1980s spirit of rugged individualism and post-punk nihilism, particularly in his Rover Chair, his stereo cast in concrete (1983), and his beaten steel Tinker chair (1988). His well-documented opposition to orthodoxy is evident in the way he set out, during the early years of his career, to challenge the principles of mass manufacture in the furniture design industry by creating a number of one-off pieces. Arad has also completed a number of architectural commissions for retail and restaurant interiors such as the Belgo restaurants in London in 1994 and 1995, and the Y’s store for Yohji Yamamoto in Tokyo in 2003. His largest built project is the 1994 Tel Aviv Opera House. Bookworm, 1994 (right).
Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck (1949–) is one of the best-known product designers in the world. He has not only received public acclaim for his amazing building interior designs but has also proved to be an accomplished architect and product designer. Much of his work produced in the 1980s and 1990s was influenced by fashion and novelty. In the twenty-first century his approach to design seems to have changed. Starck has recently promoted the ethos that honesty and integrity should be at the core of design—products should not be created as “throw away artifacts,” only surviving for as long as they remain in fashion but should ideally have longevity and durability. He believes designers need to be both honest and objective. In the field of product design, Starck has been responsible for the creation of a wide variety of objects in the O.W.O. series, noodles for Panzani, boats for Beneteau, mineral-water bottles for Glacier, kitchen appliances for Alessi, toothbrushes for Fluocaril, luggage for Louis Vuitton, “Urban Fittings” for Decaux, office furniture for Vitra, as well as vehicles, computers, doorknobs, and spectacle frames. Louis Ghost chair, 2002 (right).
Neo-Modernist design: 1990s to present
Neo-Modernism, as the term implies, has many ideological links with the Modernist attachment to a functional aesthetic and rejection of past styles, but it mainly evolved as an alternative to the blob architecture of the 1990s. Neo-Modernist design acknowledges the significance of an individual aesthetic as a “functional” dimension of design, rather than the search for universal solutions associated with the Modernist ideal. Neo-Modernism, therefore, seeks to recover the sometimes stark functionalism of Modernism but taking into account its critique. Moreover, it offers a response to the more whimsical elements of what was considered Post-Modern design, in an effort to restore design for the people. Neo-Modernist design tends to be experiential rather than theoretical, and poetic rather than literal.
Droog and ready-mades: 1993 to present
Droog, founded in Amsterdam by the product designer Gijs Bakker and the design historian Renny Ramakers, has been at the cutting edge of design and the discourses connected to it since it launched in 1993. Droog products and projects have featured extensively in design journals and the general press throughout the world. Droog has championed the careers of internationally respected designers such as Hella Jongerius and Marcel Wanders, while at the same time defining a new approach to design by mixing materials and interacting with the user.
The core of Droog’s work is its collection of more than 120 products such as lamps, napkins, birdhouses, chairs, tables, and dishmops, which were either created by one of its group projects or commissioned from their designers by Bakker and Ramakers. “The criteria are flexible and shaped by developments in product culture and the designers’ own initiatives,” states Droog. “The only constant is that the concept has validity today; that it is worked out along clear-cut, compelling lines; and that product usability is a must. Within this framework literally anything goes.”
Marcel Wanders
Dutch designer Marcel Wanders (1963–) is one of the most prolific and celebrated designers today. He is based in Amsterdam, where his studio designs products and interiors for various international clients such as Moooi, Cappellini, Mandarina Duck, Flos, Boffi, and Magis. Wanders also collaborates in other design-related projects, such as the Vitra Summer Workshop, and acts as a juror for various international competitions, including the Rotterdam Design Prize. He is best known for his Knotted Chair, where macramé meets high-tech, and his work is included in some of the most important design collections and exhibitions around the world. Knotted Chair, 1996 (right).
Ready-made products is a term that covers designed objects that are created by combining often mundane and utilitarian products, such as bicycle seats and car headlights, in a new context. The tradition of using and reappropriating everyday objects can be traced back to the artist Marcel Duchamp’s (1887–1968) early ready-mades. In design this approach has been well used: from Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni’s Mezzadro and Sella stools in the 1950s, to Ron Arad’s Rover Chair in the 1980s to Tejo Remy’s Milk Bottle lamp and Rag chair for Droog in the 1990s. However, a recent trend toward design that addresses the social and political issues of today has begun to emerge. Tord Boontje’s Rough and Ready series of furniture made from materials such as plywood, blankets, and newspapers scavenged from the street aims to create an uncomfortable edge, presenting deliberately unresolved solutions that question society’s notion of consumer products. If designers merely cater for those wealthy enough to afford the latest “designer” furniture, what is left for those who can’t or don’t wish to aspire to such design?
Tree-trunk Bench, designed by Jurgen Bey for Droog, 1999. The bench strikingly illustrates that a fallen tree can serve as a good seat. Bey’s addition of bronze classical chair backs makes it an amazing piece of furniture, which straddles somewhere between nature and culture.
Rough and Ready, designed by Tord Boontje, 1998. This is part of the Ready-made collection which featured furniture made from salvaged and recycled materials. Boontje made the designs easily available to the public by providing free blueprints of each, with tens of thousands distributed to date.
Jonathan Ive
Jonathan Ive (1967–) is widely regarded as one of the most important product designers of his generation. Ive studied design at Newcastle Polytechnic, now Northumbria University, before co-founding Tangerine, a design consultancy where he developed everything from power tools to televisions. In 1992, one of his clients, Apple, offered him a job at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Working closely with Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, Ive developed the iMac. As well as selling more than two million units in its first year, the iMac transformed product design by introducing color and light to the drab world of computing. Apple have since applied the same lateral thinking and passionate attention to detail to the development of equally innovative new products such as the Cube, the iPod, the PowerBook G4, and much more. iPod touch, 2009 (right).
DesignArt: 2004 to present
Today, it is often difficult to make a clear distinction between art and design. Increasing overlap has provoked serious concern from art critics who fear that it signals the demise of critical space. At the same time, a growing number of artists are using the intersection of art and design as a site for experimentation, exploring how the interchange might provide a unique vehicle for critical intervention in the commercial sphere. Contemporary art, in all its various manifestations, involves the conception and production of objects, experiences, performances, concepts, and images, which, like designed products, can be commercial activities.
Alex Coles supports the concept of DesignArt and the notion that it is art itself that is inevitably “designed.” The problem is no longer the difference between art and design, therefore, but rather the collusion of art, design, and commerce. Artists and designers who exploit this fuzzy line between art and design include Donald Judd, Scott Burton, James Turrell, Jorge Pardo, Hella Jongerius, Marcel Wanders, Zaha Hadid, Ron Arad, and Tord Boontje.
Campana Brothers
The brothers Fernando (1961–) and Humberto (1953–) Campana combine found objects with advanced technologies to create vibrant, energetic design art inspired by Brazilian street life and carnival culture. Since 1983 Fernando, who graduated in architecture, and Humberto, who studied law, have worked together in the field of design, somewhere between art and design. In their joint studio in São Paulo, Brazil, they develop furniture, products, and industrial goods. Their clients include Cappellini and Alessi. Corallo Chair, 2003 (right).
Crystal Candy Set, designed by Jaime Hayon for Baccarat, 2008. These limited-edition glass vases cross the boundary between product design and art.
The rapid growth of design in Asia
In 1978, the Four Modernizations policy (agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defense) was outlined, marking the beginning of China’s reform era. Around this time, foreign investment and the import of foreign products such as VCRs, computers, cars and cosmetics gathered pace, giving Chinese people their first taste of modern commodities and modern design.
Of all design activities in China, advertising and graphic and interior design have had a comparatively faster development than product design, which still lags behind. However, new design centers are now being built in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai that include product design. China is focusing its attention on being an innovation-led country, spending greater amounts of money on research and development activities, and building a capability based on high-level skills and knowledge. A growing number of Chinese manufacturers are aware that the future of design in China depends on understanding better the way that Chinese people live and behave and designing and developing products that meet their needs and desires. At the forefront of these innovative approaches to new product design and development are companies such as the computing and electronic giant Lenovo, Philips China, cell phone manufacturer Ningbo Bird, and China’s largest white goods producer, Haier. Moreover, during the next decade China will enter the global market as a key player in the design and development of products including automobiles, cell phones, gaming, and entertainment.
Today, South Korean companies such as Samsung and LG Electronics continue to design and produce innovative technologies, unique products, and cutting-edge designs. LG Electronics is now a global leader and technology innovator in home entertainment, mobile communications, home appliances, consumer electronics, and business solutions, employing more than 84,000 people around the world. Similarly, Samsung continues to grow as a major international brand and has now overtaken the likes of Sony, Canon, and Apple in Business Week’s yearly analysis of global brands. Samsung’s products are regularly reviewed as being among the best on the market, especially their cell phones and televisions.
HD-31100EG Microwave, produced by the Chinese white goods manufacturer Haier.
Samsung Go N310, 2009. The company continues to grow as a major international brand.
INTERVIEW
Satyendra Pakhalé
Biography
Satyendra Pakhalé is an industrial designer who was born in India but now lives in Amsterdam. He set up his own design practice in Amsterdam in 1998. His design emanates from cultural dialogue, synthesizing new applications of materials and technologies with great ingenuity. He conveys a message that could be defined as “universal” through his designs. Since 2006, the Design Academy Eindhoven, NL, has invited him to devise and head the master's program in Humanitarian Design and Sustainable Living. His works are in several public collections, including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the Pompidou Centre, Paris, among others.