Genius of Design - Designs for Living

Bunda, Nogin C. (130339)                                        

Genius of Design –– Designs for Living

        In between the years of 1920s to the 1930s, the world was facing a very interesting point wherein a lot of powerful countries are in feud to prove who was the most powerful group of countries in this planet. It is also during this time where an interesting point of design where it took turn to dwell in futurism and modernism of the current designs that we are using today.

With the introduction of the video, we were presented to the German design school back in 1926 called the Bauhaus which was the center of new thinking wherein wide variety of disciplines meet together to come out with various things that will take the form of ‘free love’, avant garde and etc. taking in consideration that the designs that were produced during this time were somewhat a result of the aftermath of the world wars in which Germany partook in. but then, this design school was the epitome of education without frontiers wherein architects, furniture makers, engineers, artists, and etc. work together and learn together to share their expertise to each other in order to come up with things that is functional yet stylish at the same time.

        This was also the time wherein several thinking arouse from the rational minds of the artists, wherein one even suggested the removal of ornaments to the utilitarian objects. Wherein he said that the excessive usage of decoration is not good since it promotes the wastage of available resources, and by removing those excess external things, the person is able to focus on the beauty of the product instead. Reflecting on this statement made me realize that there are things that are just aesthetically pleasing but there is no real function or the functionality of the product is rather superficial than of beneficial. In thinking about how this was applied in real life and business, Steve Jobs did a great job (somewhat) of removing the excessive externality of the product so that the person could focus on its functionality instead.  

Along with those things that were mentioned, the example of chair was something very amusing since artists regard chair as the marriage between architecture and design. They have stated that it is the most difficult, the most challenging, and there are a lot of element of compromise in designing one chair. True enough though, that I have seen various style of chair but sacrificed its design for its aesthetics rather than focusing on its ergonomics which deals with its efficiency and comfortability.

        Linking to the ergonomics in which design have really a great part on, the Frankfurt kitchen was the epitome of the domestic architecture since it considered the efficiency of work at a low cost. Designed in 1926 by an Austrian architect (Lihotzky) she has this plan in her mind that can rationalize the work of women. Supported by the claims of Lilian Gilbreth who have proposed the time and motion studies, the Frankfurt kitchen really helps cutting the time of a woman (or a man) to transfer places to places just to get a certain tool or ingredient wherein he or she could have just reached in a short span of his or her hands. With that concept of design, I think it liberates the person on the house which makes him or her flexible to suit the style of living that the person lives.