[hackerspaces] Historical Note: Manufacturing & Architectural Design: Paul Clark & Julian Freeman

[Nathan Cravens]

I was gifted a wonderful book while staying in Hospital in London titled
'Design'. I would like to share excepts with you as a group if, by chance,
you have yet to read this fantastic little jewel.

Quoted to follow will be particular passages I think may be of particular
interest. Other areas of the book as it remains in print can be scanned and
pirated from Pirate Bay, hopefully soonish. (As a reminder to haters:
'power of suggestion')

My particular interest in regurgitating this work is to inform the 'history
of things' in a way to make the present more pertinent. Historically, for
example, and based on the economic defaults inherited, we are due for
another War. That should at all costs be avoided. Such is the reason for
this short and re-cut history lesson:

(In British English:)

'
1870-1920

And So Say All of Us
The Arts and Crafts Movement

'The Arts and Crafts Movement wasn't exactly a design historical 'ism', but
it comes close. In real terms it was made up of several committed Morris
supporters spreading the gospel of common aims and regional variations in
design, and joy in labour (hallelujah). Yes, folks, you too can enjoy
folksy, vernacular buildings and authentic Olde Englishe furnishings. Ye
half-timbered houses and ye olde bearded men in smocks.'

Some of the most fervent Morrisites even headed for the country with their
converts, in an attempt to discover design purity. No wonder Morris
disavowed them. 'And' those tediously middle-aged guilds.

So, under 'Arts and Crafts' please file the following: the Century Guild
(1882), and its founder A.H. MACKMURDO (1851-1942), who deserves a
name-check for his chairs: the Art Worker's Guild (1884); and a big hand,
please, for C.R. ASHBEE (1863-1942), who Guild of Handicraft (1888)
achieved enormous success with its silverware and jewellery in London's
East End, and ended its days in the Oxfordshire countryside in 1908, where
the locals were as friendly as Monet's were at Giverny. Not.
'

'
1860-1940

Shocking Developments
Electricity

'If the nineteenth century was the age of steam, the twentieth was the age
of electricity. Among other new wonders, this made the electric chair a new
humane way of disposing of criminals. What had begun as scientific novelty
in the early nineteenth century emerged as the new 'clean' energy source of
twentieth. Coal and gas didn't disappear in a flash, so to speak, but were
gradually replaced by this much more acceptable, mysterious stuff that came
down wires.'

Its first dramatic impact was in lighting. Joseph SWAN (1828-1914) had
invented the first working lightbulbs with carbon filaments in 1860,  and
when Edison caught up with him in the 1880s in a blaze of publicity, they
settled their patent disputes out of court. Swan's house was the first in
Britain to be lit by electricity, shortly followed by the House of Commons
in 1884. (Prior to the incadescent bulb there had been public spaces lit by
carbon arcs, but these were very harsh and needed constant adjustment.) The
sheer convenience of electric lighting made it very popular and desirable.
No more lamps to fill, or wicks or mantles to light, just the flick of a
switch. Domestic servants had their lives transformed, but they had to be
instructed not to throw water over sparking switches.

The more powerful current needed for heating and cooking didn't become
available until power stations were upgraded to provide electricity for
city trams. The electricity companies encouraged domestic use for cooking
and heading, and a bitter advertising war between gas and electricity
companies broke out. The Electricity Board of London scored an own goal
with the slogan 'Don't kill your wife with work - let electricity do it!'
[ROFL!], for although gas was explosive and poisonous, the electric shocks
were a new hazard.

Primitive versions of many types of electrical gadget had been designed by
1900, but manufactured in very small quantities as only the wealthy had
access to electricity. Early electrical appliances were notoriously
unreliable, but as the technology improved and electrical supplies spread,
more households could enjoy the luxury of labour-saving devices. The
servant shortage following the First World War made these gadgets all the
more desirable.
'

'
1900-1935

Idealism, Pragmatism, Communism
Revolutionary Russia

'There had been artistic ferment in Tsarist Russia long before the October
Revolution of 1917. Although on the outskirts of Europe, Russia had had
close cultural ties with points West, particularly Paris, and the wild new
ideas of cubism and abstraction had inspired the Russian avant garde.'

Creating a new Soviet state gave designer a golden opportunity to
contribute to a new, better, fairer world. However, this led to a classic
clash of art vs. functionalism, and a rash of ideas and concepts rarely got
beyond the prototype stage.

Painter Kasimir MALEVITCH (1878-1935) pioneered a brand of simplified
geometric visions to which he gave the term 'suprematism'. This could also
be applied to architecture or to everyday objects. The
artist-designer-engineer was looked upon as a savior who would create a
comfortable, efficient modern world for the worker state.

Others thought that artists were a bunch of   self-indulgent Bohemians, a
hangover from the bad old days. What place did art have in this brave new
world? The proletariat could design for thier own needs, could they not? It
would   involve blending the ideals of communism, modernity and
technological  efficiency.

Construct it Kit

The new concept that emerged was Constructivism - a design principle that
involved inspired use of mass-produced materials combined into new forms.
Lego plus imagination plus social purpose. This could be applied to the
graphics of El LISSITSKY (1890-1941) or the furniture design of Alexander
RODCHENKO (1891-1956)

Unfortunately little of this creativity had any effect on the lives of the
workers of the new Soviet state, and the avant garde soon fell into
disfavour when Stalin rose to power. Their ideas did travel, however: De
Stijl in Holland and the Bauhaus in Germany listened and - sometimes -
acted.
'

'
2000 and beyond

Virtually Anything
A designed future

'Will designers be needed in the future? Computer programs have written
that can generate a series of design possibilities - a development of
software designed by William LATHAM (b. 1948) that he used to create
fantastic alien biomorphic virtual sculptures in the 1980s when sponsored
by IBM. You feed in the basic parameters, and the machine evolves a series
of designs. If you don't like the look of something it comes up with, ask
it to pour out some more permutations. When you get the result you want,
send it to the rapid prototyping machine: hey presto, a new design.'
'

Thanks to Paul and Julian for their very clever and succinct writing style.

--
Hack On.
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