The Arts and Crafts Movement

Short Introduction

The Arts & Crafts Movement was one of the most influential movements. It emerged in Britain circa 1880, and then it spread through Europe, America, Japan, etc. It was a start of new ideas.
Some of the characteristics of this movement are; spiritual harmony, honest, simplicity, fidelity to function, national pride, regionalism and individualism. Important persons of this movement were William Morris and John Ruskin. Products of the arts and crafts are normally done by hand. So the arts and crafts movement was a good change in the working conditions for some people as the craftsmanship was given a boost.This movement was focused to produce these following; furniture, textiles, glass/stained glass, wallpaper, pottery, metal objects, interiors and little architecture.

William Morris

William Morris was the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement. Morris was a textile designer, artist, writer and a socialist from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was also trained as an architect and studied theology at Oxford. His dedication was mostly towards patterns and motifs on wallpaper, which made him popular. During the industrial revolution, as mentioned in a previous blog, workers were treated badly and with cheap wages. Therefore Morris wanted to change this; he also didn’t actually like the idea of everything being mass-produced, which as a result the products were insignificant and of no value of art or design.  Some of his inspirations were from John Ruskin’s and from The Pre-Raphaelites. Also he was inspired by nature as could be seen on the wallpapers of leaf motifs he creates. One of his very first projects was the Red House in Bexleyheath, which was previously designed by Philip Webb and then furnished by him and his colleagues. Meanwhile he started his own business which was called Morris & Co., and it's still running as retail company.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

― William Morris

Wallpaper design by William Morris

Red House 1859

This house was very important for the Arts and Crafts movement and was one of the very first projects for William Morris. It was also very influential for the next half century. It was built and designed specifically for William Morris which was furnished by himself and his colleagues and designed by his friend Philip Webb. The principles of the house’s design were focused on the family’s needs, so it was designed functional and aesthetically pleasing. This house included; Pre-Raphaelite style embroideries/fabric, murals, wallpapers, painted furniture and stained glass. This project of Morris’s house helped him to start off and improve his designs. 

This house is designed in a very simple way, no excessive decorations such as arches, curvatures, etc. were included. It looks as if it's a normal house from the interior and exterior. Obviously, most of the walls are covered in wallpapers, created by Morris himself, this gives a slight difference to the house at that time, while it gives a good use of function when it comes to design in furniture.

Red House - Exterior

Red House - Interior

Red House - Interior - Entrance Hall

References:

Cumming E. and Kaplan W., 2002. The Arts and Crafts Movement. London: Thames & Hudson.

Hauffe, T., 1998, Design A Concise History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Fiell C. and Fiell P., 2015. Design of the 20th Century. Köln: Taschen.

Ireland J., 2009. History of Interior Deisgn. America: Fairchild Publications.

Victoria and Albert Museum, n.d., The Arts & Crafts Movement [online] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-arts-and-crafts-movement/ [Accessed 27 April 2016] 

The Wood Bending Technique

Michael Thonet

Michael Thonet was born in the 1796 in Boppard, Germany. He was a skilled craftsman, who wanted handwork to be again introduced after the industrial revolution where everything was being mass-produced. He took an apprenticeship in cabinet making. He always wanted to seek original design in furniture which he wanted it to be made with real satisfaction by hand.  He then started to experiment a new technique in wood which was wood bending in furniture, this gave him the opportunity to explore different curves in furniture. Wood bending is what made Thonet popular with his designs as for that time it was a very important and interesting invention. The wood bending was done by a couple of veneer wood stacked and then bent. Later he experimented with solid wood bending.

He worked for Carl Leistler, a company that make parquet flooring. Then together with his five sons had their own company which specializes in wood bending mostly for producing chairs, which were all stamped by a personalized stamp. The workshop was situated in Gumpendorf, Vienna. Thus later the technique started to be copied by other carpenters and companies.

An important reason to the success of the chairs he made, was that they could be dismantled and could be easily shipped anywhere in the world. He always made sure that the furniture he creates will be light and practical, therefore aesthetically pleasing. 

How the wood bending technique is done?

Solid wood or stacked wood veneers are to be used for wood bending. The process starts off by putting the wood strip into a pressurized steam chamber, to be heated at higher than 100 °C temperatures. When this is done, the heated wood strips will be placed and bent within metal molds. This is done by using a strip of flat bar supporting the wood strip; it will be clamped to the mold curve. The molding will be left for about twenty hours. Afterwards it will be removed from the mold and will be sanded, stained and polished, ready to be assembled with the other parts of the chair.

The Thonet Chair No. 14, being mass-produced

Sketch designs of curved furniture.

Thonet Chair no. 14 (1859)

It started to be mass produced and started to be sold all around the world at cheap prices, so it became very popular and around 50 million were sold. The production of this chair required to be done by hand and machines. It was done in a way that could be easily assembly and dismantled, which also made it easier to be shipped. It consists of six parts and few screws.  With its simple design it was quite practical and light weight, which was one of the reasons to become popular. It made a change in interiors as many designers started to use the Thonet chair within interiors. It was used in various environments, such as houses, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.

Thonet Chair no. 14 - Parts of the chair, packed for shipping.

Comparison between the Thonet chair and the LCW (Lounge Chair Wood) Eames chair.

The Eames chair was also done with wood bending technique. This was done a long time after the Thonet chair was created. Both chairs are known world-wide and are done with bent wood. The process to do the Eames chair also required a mold so the wood would be bent accordingly. The difference between these chairs is that one is done with strips of solid wood while the Eames chair is done with bent, flat pieces of plywood. The Eames chair is more focused on ergonomic curves which make the chair very comfortable. The Thonet chair is done to be used in any environment while the Eames chair is mostly to be used in for relaxed environments, where one can sit and relax for few minutes on it. The Eames chair is still used in different interiors nowadays, as a replica or has different variations in materials, style or colour. 

LCW Chair

References: 

Hauffe, T., 1998, Design A Concise History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Michael Thonet Biography - Infos - Art Market. 2016. Michael Thonet Biography - Infos - Art Market. [online] Available at: http://www.michael-thonet.com/index.shtml.  [Accessed 10 April 2016].

Fiell C. and Fiell P., 2015. Design of the 20th Century. Köln: Taschen.

Thonet, 2015. Thonet. [online] Available at: http://www.thonet.com.au/history/ [Accessed 10 April 2016].

The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolutions happened in the late 18^th century and early 19^th century in Britain. During this time the world has experienced a huge change. It made a good impact on the economy; new jobs, new ideas and new technologies has emerged. Also living standard and social progress has improved. The country became urban as new roads, railways, canals, etc. were built. In other words the country improved as a whole and which was also a huge improvement to the world. Transportation and communication improved in this period, where new machines were invented such as the steam engine. Also the textile industry has made a huge improvement as new machines’ such as the spinning jenny and loom machines were invented.

Before this revolution, wood was the only source of energy while afterwards coal steam have become a good source of energy as a fuel to machines. This was also the start of mass production were most of the things were made by machines and not by hand, which made the objects produced cheaper.

The assembly Line

A very important invention at the time was the assembly line, were workers are to assemble a specific part to a product on a moving belt. It was invented by Henry Ford.  This invention made it faster in mass production of automobile. People employed were unskilled such as children, women and men, who were treated badly and in bad working conditions.

Ford Assembly Line - 1913

The steam engine

The discovery to the mechanism of steam engines is unknown but James Watt then continued to develop further the same idea and started to mass-produce them in collaboration with Matthew Boulton. The steam engine was a huge impact on the transportation such as railways, ships, etc. this has resulted in a huge improvement in the economy as more people started moving to the city and new jobs had been created, although the machinery took place the production by hand and wages had become lower.

The steam engine made a huge impact on our daily life. It changed the way people used to travel, which at that time they used to travel mostly by animals mostly horses. Today we’re used to having machines everywhere you look, and it’s because of the industrial revolution that we have all these machinery from simple car to huge factory machines, etc. 

Steam Engine

Transport

The Spinning Jenny

During the industrial revolution, the textile industry was becoming more famous by several important inventions to this sector. The spinning jenny was invented during that time by James Hargreaves who was a carpenter and a weaver with no educational knowledge about reading and writing. The spinning wheel was a huge improvement in the textiles industry. The spinning jenny was to create threads from raw cotton. Before this invention people used to make threads by hand using a spinning wheel. By this invention then they were able to create large pieces of fabric which lead to mass production in textiles.  Also fashion design was emerged and started to become as a business. 

The Spinning Jenny

References:

Elizabeth Palermo, Associate Editor, 2014. Who Invented the Steam Engine?. [online] Available at:http://www.livescience.com/44186-who-invented-the-steam-engine.html. [Accessed 3 April 2016].

  

History.com Staff, A+E Networks, 2009. Industrial Revolution. [online] Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution. [Accessed 3 April 2016].

Hauffe, T., 1998, Design A Concise History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Mary Bellis, n.d . Spinning Jenny - James Hargreaves. [online] Available at:http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blspinningjenny.htm. [Accessed 3 April 2016].