![CRAFTS
1850-19:
| Ne designer |s in
Seer] ay arict
GEORGE NELSON, INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/27308721-250520170545-e8f1113a/85/Design-The-Definitive-Visual-Guide-1st-Dk-33-320.jpg)
Design The Definitive Visual Guide 1st Dk
- 1. Design The Definitive Visual Guide 1st Dk download https://ebookbell.com/product/design-the-definitive-visual- guide-1st-dk-54617442 Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com
- 2. Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be interested in. You can click the link to download. Human Design The Definitive Book Of Human Design The Science Of Differentiation Ra Uru Hu https://ebookbell.com/product/human-design-the-definitive-book-of- human-design-the-science-of-differentiation-ra-uru-hu-12101448 Ipsec Vpn Design The Definitive Design And Deployment Guide For Secure Virtual Private Networks 2nd Vijay Bollapragada https://ebookbell.com/product/ipsec-vpn-design-the-definitive-design- and-deployment-guide-for-secure-virtual-private-networks-2nd-vijay- bollapragada-10626966 The Definitive Guide To Shopify Themes Master The Design Skills To Build Worldclass Ecommerce Sites 1st Ed Gavin Ballard https://ebookbell.com/product/the-definitive-guide-to-shopify-themes- master-the-design-skills-to-build-worldclass-ecommerce-sites-1st-ed- gavin-ballard-6729804 The Definitive Guide To Davinci Resolve 15 Editing Color Audio And Effects The Blackmagic Design Learning Series Dion Scoppettuolo Paul Saccone Scoppettuolo https://ebookbell.com/product/the-definitive-guide-to-davinci- resolve-15-editing-color-audio-and-effects-the-blackmagic-design- learning-series-dion-scoppettuolo-paul-saccone-scoppettuolo-25319824
- 3. The Definitive Guide To Editing With Davinci Resolve 125 Blackmagic Design Learning Series Paul Saccone Saccone https://ebookbell.com/product/the-definitive-guide-to-editing-with- davinci-resolve-125-blackmagic-design-learning-series-paul-saccone- saccone-25319826 Asking Questions The Definitive Guide To Questionnaire Design For Market Research Political Polls And Social And Health Questionnaires Research Methods For The Social Sciences Revised Norman M Bradburn https://ebookbell.com/product/asking-questions-the-definitive-guide- to-questionnaire-design-for-market-research-political-polls-and- social-and-health-questionnaires-research-methods-for-the-social- sciences-revised-norman-m-bradburn-1472810 Aws Administration The Definitive Guide Design Build And Manage Your Infrastructure On Amazon Web Services Second Edition 2nd Edition Yohan Wadia https://ebookbell.com/product/aws-administration-the-definitive-guide- design-build-and-manage-your-infrastructure-on-amazon-web-services- second-edition-2nd-edition-yohan-wadia-22009544 The Complete Rib Manual The Definitive Guide To Design Handling And Maintenance Dag Pike https://ebookbell.com/product/the-complete-rib-manual-the-definitive- guide-to-design-handling-and-maintenance-dag-pike-5676474 Handbook Of Fluorinated Coatings Finishes The Definitive Users Guide Plastics Design Library Handbook Series Pdl Handbook Laurence W Mckeen https://ebookbell.com/product/handbook-of-fluorinated-coatings- finishes-the-definitive-users-guide-plastics-design-library-handbook- series-pdl-handbook-laurence-w-mckeen-2614722
- 5. * SSosbidokyesabetel NESVAY [SiO ON =f =a mi O m a = = < mi = WY) Cc > = Q) = O m
- 6. Pristine, + gtr 2aetlid,
- 7. MID-CONTINENT PUBLIC LIBRARY 15616 E, 24 Hwy Mui iggy 7 ——— tia F ae = 5 ne ee ta par . P - at en ~~ By : J ate . j ie 7 a
- 8. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/designdetinitiveOQ000unse
- 9. THESDEEINIVEsVvila WA mG UIDE
- 11. THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL GUIDE
- 12. Senior Editor Senior Art Editors Project Editor Editors US Editor Designers Picture Researchers Managing Editor Senior Managing Art Editor Producer, Pre-production Senior Producer Jacket Designer Design Development Manager Publishing Director Associate Publishing Director Art Director Deputy Art Director Consultants Penguin Random House Angela Wilkes Gadi Farfour, Jane Ewart Hugo Wilkinson Anna Fischel, Sammy Kennedy, Stuart Neilson Jennette ElNaggar Stephen Bere, Phil Gamble Sarah Smithies, Liz Moore Gareth Jones Lee Griffiths Nikoleta Parasaki Mandy Inness Mark Cavanagh Sophia M.T.T. Jonathan Metcalf Liz Wheeler Phil Ormerod Karen Self Keith Baker, Professor Jonathan Woodham Writers Alexandra Black, R. G. Grant, Ann Kay, Philip Wilkinson, lain Zaczek Delhi Team Senior Editor Sreshtha Bhattacharya Senior Art Editor Anjana Nair A tant Editor |ra Pundeer Project Art Editor Art Editor Assistant Art Editors Managing Editor Managing Art Editor Production Manager Pre-production Manager Senior DTP Designer DTP Designers Picture Researcher Smithsonian President Senior Vice President Vice President Licensing Manager Key Accounts Mar Product Development Manager Neha Sharma Akanksha Gupta, Namita Meenal Goel, Priyansha Tuli Pakshalika Jayaprakash Arunesh Talapatra Pankaj Sharma Balwant Singh Sachin Singh, Vishal Bhatia Syed Md Farhan Surya Sankash Sarangi Enterprises Christopher A. Liedel Carol LeBlanc Brigid Ferraro Ellen Nanney Chery! Stepanek Kealy Gordon This American Edition, 2021 First American Edition, 2015 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 1450 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, NY 10018 Copyright © 2015, 2021 Dorling Kindersley Limited DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC 21 22 23 24 25 10987654321 001-316696-March/2021 All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-1-4654-9137-4 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 1450 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, NY 10018 SpecialSales@dk.com Printed and bound in China For the curious www.dk.com This book was made with Forest Stewardship MIX Council ™ certified paper—one small step in Paper from , responsible sources | DK'S commitment to a sustainable future. ha Fsc™ C018179 | For more information go to www.dk.com/our-green-pledge ontents IGN? Origins 12 Chronology 14 Color 16 Proportion 18 Shape and Form 20 Pattern and Texture 22 24 Sa ie ESS ce eae) WHAT ISDE ARTS & CRAFTS 1850-1920 Introduction 26 The Age of Revivals 28 Glass and Iron 30 William Morris 32 Handcrafted Furniture 34 Gustav Stickley 36 The Aesthetic Movement 38 Aesthetic Movement Furniture 40 Japonisme 42 Thonet 44 Evolution of Chairs 46 Art Pottery 48 Rookwood 50 Evolution of Bicycles 52 Metal Tableware 54 Silver Footed Bowl 56
- 13. Wop r) A Metal Homeware Christopher Dresser Fabric and Wallpaper Liberty ART NOUVEAU 1880-1910 Introduction Curved Furniture Louis Majorelle Secessionist Furniture Antoni Gaudi Baltic Pearl Charles Rennie Mackintosh Colorful Ceramics Sinuous Metalware WMF Art Nouveau Jewelry Josef Hoffmann Guardian Angels Decorated Vases Table Lamp Electric Lighting Evolution of Lighting Louis Comfort Tiffany Furnishing Fabrics Art Nouveau Posters Evolution of Cameras 100 102 104 106 108 ART DECC 1919-1940 I ePTFEGOS SESE aes Introduction Functional Furniture Luxurious Contours Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann Bold Ceramics Clarice Cliff Domestic Metalware Georg Jensen Streamlining Evolution of Trains Deco Dome Product Design Early Plastic Pieces Elegant Timepieces Evolution of Clocks Ekco Radio AD-65 Machine-Age Products Lincoln-Zephyr Opulent Gems Statement Glassware René Jules Lalique Art Deco Lighting Words and Images Shanghai Artists’ Fabrics All That Glitters SES 148 150 152 154 156 158 160 162
- 14. MODERNISM 104 1910-193 Introduction 166 The Bauhaus 168 Tubular Metal Furniture 170 New Forms 172 Marcel Breuer 174 Barcelona Chair 176 Charlotte Perriand 178 Modern Living 180 Frank Lloyd Wright 182 Early Modernist Ceramics 184 Eileen Gray 186 Geometric Metalware 188 Peter Behrens 190 Pure and Plain Glass 192 Alvar Aalto 194 Modernist Product Design 196 Evolution of Audio 198 Modernist Graphics 200 Penguin Paperback Covers 202 Constructivist Graphics 204 Evolution of Writing Machines 206 MIDCENTURY MODERN oDe 8 1940-1959 Introduction 210 Festival of Britain Ze Soft Modernism 214 Scandinavian Style 216 Scandinavia and Italy 218 Mant Holistic Hotel 220 Charles and Ray Eames eee Molded Furniture 224 Restrained Ceramics 226 Domestic Metalware 228 Lucienne Day 230 Plastics 232 Domestic Appliances 234 Evolution of Vacuum Cleaners 236 Dieter Rams 238 Postwar Homewares 240 Decorative Glassware 242 Model 5380 Oriente Vase 244 Scandinavian Glass 246 Desert Heat 248 Sculptural Lighting 250 Midcentury Posters 252 Helvetica 254 Evolution of Cars 256 CULTURAL REVOLUTION 1960-1979 208 LE AUS (oS SPENSER TAI De Introduction 260 Concrete Curves 262 Evolution of Televisions 264 Experimental Furniture 266 Innovative Furniture 268 Verner Panton 270 Herman Miller 272 Platner Coffee Table 274 Habitat 276 Cathedral of Light 278
- 15. Vitra Inventive Ceramics Sleek Metalware Achille Castiglioni Artistic Glass Radical Lighting Flos Dalilios Sofa Kartell Audio-Visual Technology Home and Office Kenneth Grange Psychedelic Posters Exhibition Poster Evolution of Guitars Advertising and Signs Bright Textiles POSTMODERN & CONTEMPORARY 1980s onward Introduction Ettore Sottsass Postmodern Furniture IKEA Experimental Furniture Knoll The Spread of Postmodernism Marc Newson Office Equipment and Computers The Art of Ceramics Experimental Metalware Pee SESE 280 282 284 286 288 290 292 294 296 298 300 302 304 306 308 310 312 Broke316 318 320 322 324 326 328 330 332 334 336 Ron Arad Tangled Angles Studio Glass Orrefors European Glass Northern Lighting Postmodern Lighting Tide Chandelier Muji Plastic Homewares Philippe Starck James Dyson Product Design Jonathan lve Postmodern Posters Thomas Heatherwick New Technology Evolution of Telephones Fluidity of Form Glossary Designers A-Z index Acknowledgments in the arts, sciences, and history. € Smithsonian Established in 1846, the Smithsonian—the world’s largest museum and research complex—includes 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park. The Smithsonian is a renowned research center, dedicated to public education, national service, and scholarship
- 16. Industry, invading like a river that rolls (o its destiny. brings us new tools. Le Corbusier
- 17. Man loves everything that satisfies his comfort. Adolf Loos Furniture designer
- 19. WHAT IS DESIGN? Design |S an attitude. ROGER TALLON, INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER
- 20. 012 | WHAT IS DESIGN? > though design is essentially a 20th-century term, objects have been designed for more than a million years. Paleolithic hand tools are perhaps the world’s oldest designed things: the first tools had been found, rather than made, but humans eventually realized that they could create a better tool by designing it. Strategic chipping away at a piece of rock resulted in a shaped tool with a vastly superior cutting edge. This early act of design was an important step in the transition of Stone Age people to modern society. Aesthetics Design progressed from its initial, single goal—functionality—to a process in which an object’s appearance and its cost were just as imporiant, if not more so, than its usefulness. The classical civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome elevated the aesthetics of design, establishing principles of balance, harmony, and symmetry that have held sway ever since, notably during the Renaissance and the classical revivals of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Ancient Greek currency is one example of the classical emphasis on graceful form and ornamentation, and the elegantly decorated coins of Athens set the standard for modern money design. Developing typography The notion that an object’s appearance was intertwined with its function also became embodied in the printed word. Around 1439, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, using a movable typeface he had designed, and as print technology developed over subsequent decades, people became interested in typography. Frenchman Claude Garamond created a Roman typeface that combined readability with style rather Anglepoise® lamp |George Carwardine, 1934, UK. This lamp’s elegant appearance is derived from its versatile functionality. It is a classic design that has given rise to many variants over the years. than simply mimicking handwriting as previous fonts had done. As the first designer to develop and sell typefaces to printers, Garamond was a pioneer of graphic design, a field that came into its own from the late 1800s, spurred by the fledgling advertising industry. The meaning of design A century after the printing revolution, “design” entered the languages of Europe. According to etymologists, the word came from the Latin designare, meaning to mark out or devise. The root of the word, signum (sign), conveys the original intention: to design meant to translate an idea into a written or drawn plan and then sign your name to it. Like the designer, an artist also signs their work, but what sets design apart from art is the purpose: functionality is not essential to art, but It is crucial to design. American designer Charles Eames defined design as “a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” He also // believed that design, unlike f_ art, possesses constraints: “... Of price, of size, of strength, of balance, of surface, of time ...” From craft to design Until the 18th century, objects were usually made by craftsmen in a workshop. In the late 1700s, however, the production of goods became increasingly mechanized and the designer became removed from the hands-on process of creation. To produce objects in a factory setting efficiently, it was essential for the designer to devise a comprehensive master plan for workers to follow..At the same time, the growth of towns and cities, and a rising middle class, fueled demand for products. Eager to win a share of this lucrative market, manufacturers had to pay careful attention to their costs. Price, materials, and production technology became critical to the success of a product, indeed sometimes more so than its
- 21. Chandelier |Gio Ponti, 1946, Italy. In this hand-blown chandelier, Ponti takes a classic lighting form and gives ita modern twist with vibrant colors. usefulness or appearance. During the 20th century, mass-production techniques made design an even more complex task. A designer working in industry now had to collaborate closely with engineers, technologists, and managers to come up with products that would suit the demands of a company’s particular market and satisfy expectations regarding quality, visual appeal, and cost. Rising standards The spread of industrialization, and the establishment of laws to regulate quality control and safety, brought design to the fore in the second half of the 20th century, and it became a subject that was studied and debated. ORIGINS |013 Some designers, including Dieter Rams and Terence Conran, have therefore come up with guidelines as to what constitutes good design: the criteria vary a little from one person to another, but most generally agree that good design means something that works well and is easy to use, is pleasing in appearance, and is good value for money. Good design should also be innovative and create objects that last. Design is now big business, because everything people use has been designed. This focus on design has led to a revival of the designer as craftsperson— someone who is able to produce objects that not only work well and are beautiful to look at but also meet customer expectations.
- 22. 2 014 | WHAT IS DESIGN? = oe Good design is innovative. Good design : makes a product — useful. Tongue chair |PierrePaulin for Artifort, 1967, ~~ Netherlands. Foamed tubular stee! upholstered instretch fabric. 1850 |1860 —‘1870
- 23. Cnronclogy Design as we know it started around the mid-19th century when industrialization made it possible to mass- produce household goods. Then, as now, objects designed for the same purpose could differ widely in appearance, depending on the market for which they were created. Often, however, there was a prevailing style that defined an era, something that is especially clear in hindsight. Sometimes, several styles were in fashion concurrently— Arts and Crafts Influence and ideology spread from the UK to the rest of Europe, especially Austria and Germany, and to the US, where the movement had real strengths Aesthetic Movement Notion that beauty need serve no purpose; popular in the UK Art Nouveau Sinuous style in France, Belgium, and UK spread to Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia; known as Jugendstil in Germany and Austria, Stile Liberty in Italy, and Modernisme in Spain Wiener Werkstatte Vienna Workshops in Austria, inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement Deutscher Werkbund German Association of Craftsmen, also inspired by Arts and Crafts, founded in Munich, closed by the Nazis in 1938, and reestablished after World War II Modernism International, particularly a after World War Il: Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and Asia. Before World War Il, Modernism was associated with social utopianism; after World War Il,itbecame the style of multinational corporations De Stijl First issue of avant-garde art review De Stijl published in the Netherlands in 1917. One of its leaders, Theo van Doesburg, died in 1931, and the magazine ceased publication CHRONOLOGY |015 for example, the Aesthetic Movement took place within the Arts and Crafts era and streamlining is associated with Art Deco. Most styles developed in one place and gradually spread to other countries, giving them a regional flavor. Some styles were named after a publication, group, workshop, or cultural shift that gave rise to them; other titles were affixed retrospectively or called by different names in different languages. The Bauhaus Began in 1919; many teachers and ex-students from this German educational institution emigrated with the rise of the Nazis in Germany, spreading its influence Art Deco Swept across Europe, the US, = China, India, New Zealand, Australia, and South America, with many aspects of ittracing roots back to the 1910s Constructivism Term conceived in early 1921 in Russia, taken up internationally in the 1920s, for instance, in Poland where the Blok group was set up in 1924, and in the UK and other European countries, as well as South America Streamlining Fluid aerodynamics applied to product design in the US and Europe Space Age Characterized by decorative features inspired by the space race between the US and Russia and the moon landing Pop Art Subject matter featured everyday objects, sometimes physically incorporated, in art in the US and UK Minimalism Extreme simplicity of form and objective approach taken up in the US, Europe, Japan, and elsewhere Postmodernism New use of decorative elements and modern materials, inspired by dissatisfaction with Modernism | Contemporary = Worldwide | 1990 [20009 2010 2020
- 24. 116 | WHAT IS DESIGN? er Because it creates an instant impact, color is one of the most powerful elements of any design. It is also a critical commercial consideration, attracting or repelling buyers and often overriding other criteria such as materials, shape, and proportion. When choosing colors, designers consider three factors: the hue itself, such as red, yellow, or green; how light or dark the hue is; and its saturation or intensity. Artist Wassily Kandinksy was instrumental in developing modern color theory, assigning particular emotional and psychological attributes to each color. Teaching at the Bauhaus in the 1920s, Kandinsky influenced generations of designers—his ideas about color were expanded by the De Stijl movement and became part of architectural and industrial design practice. From the mid-2O0th century, designers and manufacturers also began to use colors as branding for their products. The three secondary colors—violet The primary pigments—red, The color wheel illustrates the relationship purple), green, and orange—are formed yellow, and blue—cannot be formed between the three primary colors, the three by mixing equal amounts of two primary by mixing any other combination of : : colors together. On the wheel, they are +NRY PRin, colors. All other colors are derived secondary colors, and the six tertiary colors. positioned between the primary hues ass ARy from these three. Itis based on the circular diagram devised by Isaac Newton in 1666 to prove that light comprises a spectrum of rainbow colors with varying wavelengths. When he spun the circle, itappeared white, proving his theory. pS & a _Q & Shade is made Tint, also called a by adding black pastel, is the pure (base) toa pure color. The color, with white added result can range to dilute it. Tints can be from almost black to used to create a soft; a barely shaded hue. feminine impression. AVL Ys) > Tone is created Pure colors are the 1 by adding gray (both 12 undiluted hues that white and black) form the full spectrum to a pure color. on the outer edge of A tonal palette is the wheel. Pure colors complex and subtle. are bright and bold. The six tertiary colors are formed by combining a primary and a secondary color and are always referred to by the two combining hues, such as blue-green. Ay
- 25. Primary Artists and designers use a theory called subtractive color, which starts with the idea that light is white and that the three primary pigments appear that way because they absorb or subtract the wavelengths of other colors. In design, the primary hues are considered the boldest and are often used sparingly as accent colors. Of the three primaries, red has the highest visibility. It can indicate danger, positive energy, strength, love, and war. Yellow is linked to happiness, creativity, and sunshine, while blue is perceived as conservative, tranquil, and trustworthy. Complementary Hues on opposite sides of the color wheel complement each other and can be used to create a dramatic, bold scheme. Complementary pairings always include a primary and a secondary color, one warm and one cool, for maximum contrast—for example, red and green, yellow and violet, blue and orange. Because of the high contrast between complementary colors, they are used for products requiring high visibility, such as an orange lifeboat on a blue-tinted sea, and for designs intended to generate visual tension. Analogous Positioned next to each other on the color wheel, analogous colors are also referred to as harmonious because there is little contrast between them and they tend to be either cool or warm, not mixed. Designers often use analogous colors in groups of three, with one color more dominant than the other two. Although they are not as eye-catching as a complementary color scheme, analogous combinations can appear elegant and project an image of richness. Monochrome A monochrome color scheme takes a slice from the color wheel from one hue and uses some or all of the tints, tones, and shades within that hue. Because of its simplicity, amonochrome palette is well suited to streamlined design. It allows for high contrast—using the lightest tint and darkest shade together, for example—and is especially useful in graphic design, where legibility is the most important factor. The minimalist design trend of the 1960s and 1970s, which recurred in the 1990s and 2000s, made wide use of monochrome schemes, especially in interiors. Violet Violet Blue-violet Yellow Designers of De Stijl, active during the 1910s and 1920s, used only primary colors. Gerrit Rietveld’s chair is a classic example. COLOR |017 BETHHOTPECT Constructivist artist Alexander Rodchenko believed that by using primary colors he could distill art and graphic design into their purest forms. Marco Zanini’s ceramic uses violet and yellow as its main color scheme, conveying vibrancy and energy. ) Re This classic Unikko print for Marimekko is mainly yellow, paired soothingly with its neighbor, yellow-green. Shirley Craven designed this fabric in the 1960s for UK manufacturer Hull Traders. She balanced bold shapes with a monochrome palette. Red dominates Yoichi Ohira’s glass vase, layered thickly over its opposing green to undercut the heat. Flavio Poli creates depth with blue-green and blue in different intensities framing a blue-violet center in this vase. t Finnish designer Kaj Franck highlighted the form of his 1958 glass decanter by strategically using monochrome coloring.
- 26. 018 | WHAT IS DESIGN? Hrooorton Although proportion and scale are not always the first Leonardo da Vinci is credited with defining what the “ideal” elements to catch the eye, they are integral to the overall proportions were, and his ideas provide the basis of modern impression a design conveys. They are separate but design practice. Applying the ancient Greek mathematical interrelated concepts: proportion refers to the position of principle of phi to the human figure, Leonardo proposed each component in a design, and the relationship between that the height from foot to navel should be 1.6 times that all of its constituent parts, while scale is the relative size of navel to head. He applied the same calculations to art of each component in a design. It is also the size of the and architecture, setting the ideal ratio of height to width design in its entirety compared to the size of the viewer. as 1.6. This is known as the golden ratio. The golden ratio demonstrates that when a line is divided into two parts, the longer part divided by the smaller part is equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. ; { } a —— = © =1.61803 The architects of : Leonardo da Vinci drew ancient Greece used ; eg a figure, known as Vitruvian phi, which became Man, to apply his theory to known as the human physical proportions. mathematical In his ideal person, the main divine proportion intersecting line created by or golden ratio, to applying the golden ratio falls design the Parthenon. on the navel.
- 27. symmetry Symmetrical designs have order, stability, and harmony. The simplest type of symmetry is bilateral, in which elements are positioned on either side of an imaginary axis to mirror each other—the axis can have any orientation: vertical, horizontal, diagonal. A love of symmetry is often thought to be ingrained in human nature and forms the basis of conventional notions of beauty. Marcel Wanders’s Tulip armchair (2010) is symmetrical along a vertical axis, with each half a mirror image of the other. Radial symmetry Derived from circular arrangements found in nature, such as the sun, dandelions, and sea anemones, radial symmetry (also called rotational symmetry) is achieved when design elements radiate out from a central core. Radial symmetry can be used to give a sense of speed and motion and guide the eye in- or outward from the middle. / Patricia Urquiola | applies the principle | of radial symmetry to bring unity and balance to her Jelly plate for Kartell. Asymmetry The opposite of symmetry, asymmetry can interrupt an otherwise symmetrical design to create a visual hierarchy that directs attention to a specific point. Unlike a symmetrical arrangement with its mirror imagery and formal harmony, asymmetrical balance is informal and relaxed, relying on elements that are different but have the same visual weight. While repetition is important to symmetry, contrast is integral to |This poster by Kasimir | Malevich uses asymmetry to create movement and | draw the viewer's eye wm toward the typography. | asymmetrical design. Symmetrically arranged objects tend to have the greatest appeal, since the human body is broadly designed this way. With radial symmetry, viewers focus on the center of the circle and then move their gaze to the outer edge. In an asymmetrical design, harmony can be achieved by placing elements off-center but giving each part an equal visual importance. PROPORTION | 019 Scaling up One of the most dramatic design techniques available is to exaggerate the scale of an object in relation to the person viewing it. This was a common device of the 17th-century Baroque period, with architectural decoration and interior objects scaled up to create a sense of power and awe. Experiments in size were also a feature of design in the 1960s, inspired by the Pop art movement. The supersized A simple visual trick, scaling up can heighten the impact of a design by giving itan element of surprise. Joe armchair accurately scales up a baseball glove to seat a person. Playing with scale Design is generally expected to adhere to human scale, but when designers alter the relative size of elements they can create unexpected effects, such as distortion, that grab the viewer's attention. The size of a design can be varied in relation to the user or the environment around it. Alternatively, individual parts of the design can be scaled up or down for visual tension. Graphic designer Josef Muller- Brockmann exaggerates one element to grab the viewer's attention. The scale and placement of each component can indicate importance within the overall design scheme. Ergonomics Design is ergonomic when it is based on the principle that objects should be suited to the physical needs of the human user. Ergonomics takes into consideration the height, limb length, hand grip, lumbar construction, strength, sensory perception, and movement patterns of the user. The intention of ergonomics is to make products easier to use, safer, and more comfortable, and centers on the points nea: of contact between re the designed object The science of ergonomic design began and the user. with a focus on the workplace but has since The Aeron chair of spread to other areas of product design. 1994 was designed to be fully adjustable in order to fit varied body types.
- 28. 020 | WHAT IS DESIGN? Geometric shapes have two dimensions and regular contours, and their internal and external ! measurements have a uniform mathematical relationship. Rendered in three dimensions, geometric forms have the same width and height as their ! two-dimensional counterparts but with the added dimension of depth. Organic forms are derived from nature and typically havea , flowing, irregular — outline with few Straight lines. Circular or curvilinear forms are bounded by curved lines. In design, they can indicate a rotating function, such as a wheel or spinning chair. Triangular forms can add strength and dynamism to design. They are associated with arrows and pyramids as well as futurism and science. The five-sided polygon is based on the five-fold division of a circle and is a variant of the five-pointed star. In design, itis often used for surface decoration. Squares are symmetrical and stable, implying familiarity and solidity. They are the building blocks of architecture, typography, and industrial design. Shaoe and Form The starting points for any design are shape and form: shape Is two-dimensional—the outline of an object; form is three-dimensional—the volume that fills out a shape. The brain processes the shape first and then the form, in an attempt to recognize it, drawing on past experience. For this reason, shape is the design variable most closely connected to the end use of an object. Shape can immediately convey the function of an object based on convention and expectation, and designers can play with presumptions of how an object should be shaped for humorous or shocking effects. Designers may innovate by making products that require new processes or that use materials not previously associated with a particular form or shape. But in mass manufacture, logistics and costing generally demand that shape and form are compatible with existing production processes and materials.
- 29. Geometric The most common types of shape and form in the design world, geometric objects and structures have been made since the earliest times. They generate symmetry and a sense of order—a visual attempt to eliminate the randomness and irregularity that is found in nature. Circles, polygons, and lines are the building os . blocks. Geometric .. designs are linked k with the classical, “= neoclassical, Art Deco, and Modernist styles and movements. Bauhaus designers used geometry for clean, simple lines, as in Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s lamp. Isometric An isometric design creates a pleasing sense of symmetry because all of its dimensions are the same. The classic isometric shapes are the triangle and square, notably used in design patterns from the 1960s and 1970s to create the optical illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface, such as wallpaper or fabric. Aldo Rossi turned a humble kettle into a sleek designer object with an ~ isometric form. Combined Mixing organic and geometric forms together in one design generates a sense of energy. The juxtaposition of the two different shape categories creates visual tension to make a design more dynamic and interesting. Flowing organic elements can soften the crisp lines of a geometric design, and a sense of geometry can order an otherwise organic scheme. Poul Henningson’s 1931 Snake Chair merges a swirling frame with circular forms for the base, seat, and chair back. The polygon is a basic geometric unit, comprising squares and triangles. Its name derives from Greek, meaning “many angles.” An isometric shape is defined as having equal dimensions on each side, whether in a flat format such as a triangle or its three- dimensional counterpart, the pyramid. Individual geometric elements are concentrically arranged to create the impression of an organic floral structure found in the natural world. Organic Derived from nature, organic shapes are suited to crafted designs, in which production is largely carried out by hand. Ceramics and glass, for example, lend themselves to the fluid, free-form lines that are typical of organic structures. However, some organic forms are also geometric, such as a snowflake, starfish, or crystal structure. Panasonic’s Toot-a-Loop radio is made from two swiveling sections loosely based on a teardrop outline. They form an “S’- shape when twisted open. Zoomorphic Shapes that resemble animals bring humor and playfulness to design, and zoomorphism is a recurring motif in postmodernism, with the intention of challenging accepted ideas about taste and the role of design itself. A greater environmental awareness in design since the 1980s has inspired furniture and home wares that connect with the animal world. Ettore Sottsass’s Tahiti lamp from 1981 is an example of postmodern Zoomorphic design. Biomorphic Abstract and organic, biomorphic forms and shapes are drawn or designed in a free-form style to resemble a living organism. The concept of biomorphism was developed in the 1930s by the surrealists and particularly celebrated spontaneous and irrational design. With irregular outlines, rounded forms, and asymmetry, biomorphic design looks comfortable yet unconventional. This glass form by Marvin Lipofsky is organic and abstract, inspired by human organs and the volatility of nature. SHAPE AND FORM |021 The teardrop or raindrop is instantly recognizable as an organic shape. Itcan be found in designs as varied as jewelry, Cars, ceramics, and furniture. Just as zoomophorism is used in literature to compare humans and animals, so itis applied in design to contrast the natural world with the human-made. Biomorphic designs are often based on the outline of an amoeba, the single-cell organism that randomly changes shape.
- 30. 022 | WHAT IS DESIGN? Patem and texture Texture and pattern are both vital considerations in creating the look and feel of a design. Pattern is the most flexible element, capable of transforming any object through surface decoration. Used to add interest to the mundane and to express individual beliefs or taste, patterns have historically been applied to household objects, textiles, domestic interiors, and public buildings. In modern times, VERTICAL STRIPES printing techniques have expanded the possibilities for the use of pattern, from wallpaper to high-tech plastics. Texture can be integral to the design structure itself: for example, a wooden spoon is hard to the touch and displays the grain of the wood; or it can applied on the surface, regardless of the underlying material. A sofa covered in velvet upholstery is one such example. PERUVIAN ws i [ened . “A Vf Paty yPy Two important features of ie Keli Kaa patterning are repetition and Bsa) ‘i Nae contrast, both of which are ‘ Pops go 3fetal A. evident in the artifacts of early en MTB nm MNT civilizations: for example, tiles and screens have complex patterns -, an a * a: - nr" | q )es ode4moked aM7 based on eight-pointed stars or ‘wee: i P be Oey )pe arabesques in traditional Islamic MFM ) N er See >>. io ” design. Texture depends on the MN StH ms materials used to make an object. 7 PEACOCK FEATHERS INDIAN PAISLEY AFRICAN ISLAMIC ES ies PEBBLE LEATHER SLATE WOOD TEXTURED STEEL
- 31. Regular The human brain is attuned from an early age to detect patterns—it is adept at recognizing repetition in a sequence of visual or audio cues. Repetition has therefore been a commonly recurring artistic device since prehistoric times, is visible in early ceramic decoration, and Still remains one of the main techniques used by designers to create objects with symmetry and order. : yor e »> >. » DD when a motit be <j he <| , is repeated at » 4 e 4 the same intervals, the Graphics that display an even, resulting pattern looks Symmetrical placement of repeated elements » : > > . b pleasingly symmetrical, Provide familiarity and visual stability. p > evident in Lucienne » g/d qii4ti Irregular Patterns that follow asymmetrical lines are irregular. They lack the predictability of symmetrically ordered graphics, but irregular patterns can be used to focus the eye, create a sense of movement, and differentiate the points of a design. One of the most important uses of asymmetrical patterning is to make a visual hierarchy, drawing attention to specific design features. Irregular or asymmetric patterning is often found in nature, making ita useful device for designs with an organic feel. Random patterning in the Campana ) brothers’ Harumaki i chair gives it a strong { sense of spontaneity. Contrast By highlighting differences in materials, color, or shape, designers can create visual dynamism. They juxtapose opposing elements to establish order and invigorate both the surface and structure of a design. Examples of contrasting design components include light and dark, soft and hard, small and large, plain and patterned, and organic and human-made. Contrasting light and dark colors or light and dark shades of the same color adds energy to flat designs. By contrasting a hat in natural straw with a base in metal, this Philippe Starck piece offers a playful twist on the table lamp. Hardness PATTERN AND TEXTURE |023 Texture A key point of interaction with a design is how its surface feels to the touch. This element can be communicated in two ways: first, through the textural appearance, which tells potential users of an object what to expect when they come into contact with it; and, second, through the actual texture—how it feels to drink from or sit on, for example. Texture can be conveyed purely by how an object looks on the surface, though this is not always how itfeels to the touch. Tapio Wirkkala’s glass vase from 1950 mimics the appearance of ice, with a texture that is cool, hard, and smooth to the touch. The softness of a design is visible from a distance by the amount of light that reflects on the surface or is absorbed by it. A highly reflective surface is hard, while a surface with no highlights and a visible pile is soft. Designers can choose hard materials to evoke masculinity or soft ones to create a sense of femininity. Masanori Umeda’s velvet-covered chair looks welcoming and comfortable because of its layers of soft upholstery. When deciding which materials to use, a designer must take into consideration how hard or soft they feel, something that is often closely allied to their texture. Sheen In past centuries, the glittering surface of precious metals often indicated the value of an object and the wealth of its owner. Fine metals such as gold and silver had a lustrous sheen, as did expensive fabrics such as silk and satin. Modern production processes can give a rich sheen to even the most inexpensive object. A shiny or polished surface can communicate a feeling of luxury. Itis also associated with cleanliness, modernity, and technological mastery. An Iranian ewer from the 17th to 19th centuries combines a high gloss glaze with a burnished metal lid and spout, the sheen suggesting wealth.
- 33. CRAFTS 1850-19: | Ne designer |s in Seer] ay arict GEORGE NELSON, INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER
- 34. 026 | ARTS AND CRAFTS ARTS AND CRAFTS mtrocuction he Arts and Crafts movement promoted traditional craftsmanship, the use of locally available materials, and integrity in the way things were made. It began in late 19th-century Britain, when writers such as John Ruskin and William Morris rejected mass production and the often poor-quality, machine-made Items that were found in many stores and homes. Morris, in particular, believed in the importance of the individual craftsman and advocated a return to hand craftsmanship, which, he argued, would not only produce better furniture, pottery, textiles, and other items but also help people lead better, more fulfilling lives. Mass production, he maintained, was responsible for a decline in values. STAINED GLAS Ww) William Morris trained as an architect and was passionate about medieval stained glass. Arts and Crafts designers revived the craft, using colored glass in domestic windows, light fixtures, and churches. Knots, swirls, Celtic crosses, and entrelac (interlaced designs) inspired by ancient Celtic art featured in the work of many Arts and Crafts designers, notably Archibald Knox, especially on metalwork. Followers Morris found many followers in Britain, from craftsman- designers such as William de Morgan to architects like C. F. A. Voysey, who designed houses and their contents according to Arts and Crafts principles. Soon, Morris’s writings and designs, and the work of these followers, became known in Europe, and the movement spread there. Morris’s visionary ideals were also embraced in North America and were adapted to create an American version of the Arts and Crafts style. French chairs by Léon Jallot and Arts Furniture by Americans such as Gustav Stickley look subtly different from pieces made in Britain but remain true to Arts and Crafts values. ISLAMIC ORNAMENT v Some Arts and Crafts designers were admirers of Islamic art, with its huge variety of richly colored patterns, and borrowed motifs from Islamic tiles and ceramics, as well as Moorish architectural features.
- 35. == aS Mm Morris Influences Many Arts and Crafts designers drew on the influence of medieval craftsmanship, and their objects and interiors exploited the distinctive qualities of natural materials, from beautifully finished oak to hand-woven tapestries. Others, however, looked farther afield for inspiration, incorporating vivid colors inspired by Middle Eastern art or Egyptian motifs in their work. Decoration was used sparingly, however, as Arts and Crafts designers rejected the ornate, cluttered interiors that were typical of Victorian middle- class homes. Arts and Crafts rooms, by contrast, were sparingly furnished,and carefully designed so that every piece of furniture, ceramics, metalwork, and floor covering pes MEDIEVAL INFLUENCE |027 man’s t worth making, » made by labor formed part of a harmonious whole—the perfect setting, in fact, for the simple life that Morris and Ruskin advocated and that was so central to their ideals. Truth to materials Although William Morris wanted Arts and Crafts design to be accessible to everyone, many of the objects produced were too expensive for those on low incomes. However, the movement had a strong influence, creating a craft revival that lasted throughout the 20th century and encouraged designers to see their work in terms of “truth to materials.” This notion inspired later design movements such as the Modernism of the 1920s. The Arts and Crafts movement held that work crafted by hand, using traditional techniques, had a special virtue and integrity. Furniture was therefore plain, with features of the joinery clearly visible. Morris harbored a romanticized vision of the medieval period as a golden age of craftsmanship. The influence of Gothic architecture and medieval paintings and tapestries is evident in much Arts and Crafts work. William Morris sparked a revival of handweaving and needlework, in reaction against the mass-produced cloth of the Industrial Revolution. Arts and Crafts fabric designs were inspired by the natural world.
- 36. 028 | ARTS AND CRAFTS |Shaped apron with floral marquetry Louis XV revival center table |c. 1860, UK. Rich marquetry in anumber of colored woods, metal decorative mounts on the legs, and a curvaceous serpentine form mark this Victorian table as a piece in the Louis XV revival style. Tapestry shows scenes from Aesop's Fables | Carved and molded frame Rococo revival sofa |c. 1875, France. The 18th-century rococo style was known for lightness and elegance and the use of scrolls, curves, and floral carving. This 19th-century sofa is upholstered with 18th-century tapestry. Ornate back carved with scrolls Rose-carved cabriole leg Kidney-shaped caned seat Louis XV revival love seat | 1905, UK. Many Louis XV-style pieces, such as this Edwardian love seat, are entirely made up of curves—even the caned back panel is a sweeping curve. The gilding gives the piece an opulent feel. Floral carved apron Frame carved with clusters of grapes Cabriole leg Renaissance revival sofa |c. 1865, US. Renaissance-revival furniture could be highly opulent, combining very decorative carving with striking shapes. The three- section back of this sofa, with its distinctive silhouette and carved mask crest, shows the contemporary taste for elaborate ornamentation. Finial Crocket Quatrefoil panel with floral carving Gothic revival dining chairs |c. 1880, UK. Inspired by details of medieval architecture, the pinnacles, crockets, and decorative finials on these pitch-pine chairs are derived from the Decorated Gothic style of the 14th century. Carved multifoil arch from the Islamic tradition Spanish Renaissance revival bedstead |c. 1910, Spain. Although pieces such as this are usually labeled “Renaissance revival,” they often drew on several past styles, using carving, painted decoration, and gilding to sumptuous effect. Sheraton revival commode | c. 1890, UK. British cabinetmaker Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) made light and elegant neoclassical furniture, often with painted decoration. His style is replicated in this Victorian satinwood commode. Shaped back Lion-head terminal Foot in the form of a dolphin Italian Renaissance revival chair |c. 1910, Italy. Witha richly carved walnut frame and shaped, padded back, this chair was designed to imitate the furniture seen in the palace of an Italian Renaissance prince.
- 37. THE AGE OF REVIVALS |029 Cast putti From furniture to architecture, the 19th century was a period of historical revivals. Architects and designers looked to the past for inspiration, and much furniture was based on the work of the neoclassical cabinetmakers of the 18th century, on the lighter, more ornate rococo designs of the same period, and on earlier Renaissance styles. There was also a long-standing fashion for reviving the highly ornamental Gothic manner of the Middle Ages. Since little medieval furniture had survived, cabinetmakers and designers drew on the architectural details of Gothic churches and cathedrals, incorporating pointed arches, pinnacles, and even window tracery into their work. Revival pieces satisfied the 19th-century appetite for lavish decoration and a connection with the past, and cabinetmakers, gilders, and painters were kept busy producing some of the most elaborate furniture in the history of design. Leather-fronted drawers Kingwood body with marquetry in lighter woods Ormolu mount Louis XV revival desk and cartonnier |Unattributed, early 20th century, France. This flat-topped desk and cartonnier (drawer unit) is made in the Louis XV style of the mid-18th century. The features of this ornate style include the desk’s distinctive inward-curving and outward-bulging bombé shape and its ornate marquetry and ormolu (gold-colored metal) decoration.
- 38. 030 | ARTS AND CRAFTS n 1851, London’s Hyde Park was home to the Great Exhibition, an all-embracing international showcase of industry and manufacturing. The exhibition was housed in the Crystal Palace, a massive building conceived by engineer Joseph Paxton, a specialist in designing huge greenhouses. With its iron frame and hundreds of thousands of glass panes, the Crystal Palace was a pioneering example of industrial prefabrication and a typical piece of Victorian ingenuity. The glass and iron parts were made in distant factories, then brought to Hyde Park, where an army of workers assembled them into a cathedral-like structure. The building’s modular construction meant that it could be erected quickly: 80 men could install 8,000 panes of glass in a week. At the end of the exhibition, it was equally easy to take the palace apart and move it, in pieces, to South London. The vast, light building was ideal for showcasing displays from around the world. Cossack cavalry armor was exhibited in the same space as jewel- encrusted Indian costumes, the latest reaping machines, and the huge Koh-i-noor diamond. lt is a wonderful place—vast, strange, new, and impossible to describe. Charlotte Bronte, 1851 Transept of the Crystal Palace, London, UK, Joseph Nash, 1851 The cavernous interior of the Crystal Palace resembled a cathedral built from glass and iron. Packed with around 100,000 exhibits, the building was large enough to accommodate two tall trees that were already growing on the site
- 40. 032 | ARTS AND CRAFTS 4 The beautiful curving stems, swirling leaves, and finely drawn flowers make Loddon (1884) one of the most enduring of Morris's fabric designs.
- 41. Villian ritish writer, designer, and socialist William Morris was one of the most influential figures of the 19th century. He was especially known for his vibrant wallpaper and fabric patterns, often based on observation of real plants and birds, and hand-printed with wooden blocks. Morris was fascinated by traditional art and craft techniques and the medieval artisan’s vision of design as a holistic process. He therefore championed the idea of the designer- craftsman, a creator who could actually produce the objects. Morris revived traditional techniques, learning to weave, embroider, and dye using plant-based pigments. In 1861, he and a group of friends founded a business (originally called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., later Morris & Co.) to produce Morris’s fabrics and wallpapers, alongside items that Morris lacked the skill to make, such as furniture and stained glass. The company’s furniture, which was often brightly decorated, drew on medieval designs, and its stained glass on Pre-Raphaelite paintings. William Morris had a deep influence on the Arts and Crafts movement but, despite his “art for all” philosophy, his hand-printed wallpapers were expensive and far from accessible to everyone. However, his knowledge of traditional crafts, together with his comprehensive approach to design, was admired by teachers and students at the Bauhaus in the 1920s, and many of his designs are still produced today. Upholstery is Morris's Bird fabric Artichoke tile |c. 1870. Morris produced a number of tile Adjustable armchair |Philip Webb, c. 1870. British designs in delicate blues and grays. The strong, clear outline of : architect Philip Webb based this ebonized wood-framed chair on the stylized flowers and leaves creates a series of organic curves. : anold English design. Morris’s firm made itfrom 1869 to 1890. WILLIAM Lif 1834-1896 1834 Born in| Walthamstow, London, UK I 1856 Begins an architecture apprenticeship with the Gothic Revivalist GE. Street!..... 1862 Designs his first wallpaper: Trellis 1877 Founds the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings 1891 Starts the Kelmscott Press to produce hand-printed books | Bexleyheath, U MORRIS |033 1853 Eniers Oxford University, meets Edward Burne-Jones, andstarts 4 reading John Ruskin 1859 Marries Jane Burden and commissions Philip Webb to design their new home, the Red House, “| 1861 Cofounds Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. 1890 Publishes his utopian socialist romance ..|News From Nowhere |1896 Dies in London Evenlode |1883. This fabric design, named after a tributary of the Thames River, features stylized roses, sunflowers, and carnations entwining with Persian-style flower heads. {
- 42. 034 | ARTS AND CRAFTS The Arts and Crafts movement, spearheaded in — Great Britain by William Morris and his followers, promoted handcrafted furniture that was solidly built and functional. Many of their pieces were unornamented and based on vernacular designs—designers relied on the appeal of woods, such as oak and elm, and traditional form. Other items were one-of-a-kind pieces made of more costly woods, with ornament drawn from nature, sometimes inlaid or with elaborate metalwork hardware. The Arts and Crafts values of good workmanship and truth to materials spread widely, both to Europe, where designers were also inspired by the Jugendstil movement, and to the US, where a plainer style prevailed. Although Morris rejected machine-made work, some designers did use machinery to produce furniture more cheaply, making it available to a wider market. . : } ( Swan-neck terminal for side support CAs Back splat ee Voysey 1857-1941 n 1892, Charles Voysey stated: “Begin by casting out all the useless ornaments ... Eschew all imitations. Strive to produce an effect of repose and simplicity.” Influenced by William Morris, Voysey strove to use natural motifs and honest materials in his work. His furniture emphasized the innate beauty of fine pieces of lumber, especially unpolished oak, and it often had tapered legs and restrained pierced decoration. Birds and plants inspired both the motifs on his furniture and his wallpaper and fabric designs. Voysey also worked as an architect, and he is best remembered for the elegant vernacular style of buildings such as Dixcot House, which set the tone for many British suburban homes. Flat board seat Curving legs harmonize with swan-neck form Swan chair |C. F. A. Voysey, c. 1905, UK. Architect-designer Voysey designed his original oak Swan chair in the 1880s, but this is a later variation. He exploited the arched form of the bird's neck in both the side supports and the back, with its pair of symmetrical swans. Dixcot House, Wandsworth, southwest London, designed in 1897.
- 43. Oak lamp table |Roycroft, 1880-1920, US. The solid construction istypical of furniture by the Roycroft community of East Aurora, New York. The table has a molded apron and feet based on a design by British architect A. H. Mackmurdo. Flare side with scalloped top Demi-lune cutout Oak magazine stand |Charles Limbert, 1905-1910, US. The demi-lune cutouts in the sides of the stand show the influence of Mackintosh and the Vienna Secession, evident in much of Michigan-based Limbert’s furniture. Curve-ended stretchers Table |M. H. Baillie Scott, c. 1900, UK. Baillie Scott favored plain wooden furniture based on vernacular pieces. Several of his tables had three legs with diagonal, curved stretchers that added strength and created a subtle visual rhythm. Carved brackets in flowing Art Nouveau style Settee |Charles Rohlfs, 1900, US. Rohlfs specialized in individual pieces, usually in richly colored oak, that drew on both medieval and modern sources for inspiration. This dark-stained oak piece has Art Nouveau-—style carving. Slightly curved rail Square-section tapered and splayed leg Side chair |Harry Napper, c. 1905, UK. Known mainly as a textile designer, Napper also designed some furniture. The strong, linear style of this beech and elm chair, with its rows of spindles at the back, is similar in style to his fabrics. HANDCRAFTED FURNITURE |035 Draft screen |Morris & Co., c. 1890, UK. The mahogany frame has ball finials at the top and a pierced section at the bottom. The fabric panels are worked with flowers in the Morris tradition, possibly by the textile artist J. H. Dearle. Nickel-plated pull Gentleman’s pine commode |Richard Riemerschmid, c. 1905, Germany. Riemerschmid made simple pieces in inexpensive materials featuring straight lines, sometimes with ornamental metal or mother-of-pearl inlays.
- 44. )Badia Nad ot) | The living room
- 45. Gustav merican furniture manufacturer Gustav (originally Gustave—the “e” was dropped in 1908) Stickley was one of the most important figures in the craft revival in North America in the early 20th century. After a number of short-lived business ventures making typical 19th-century revivalist furniture, he set up the Gustave Stickley Company in Eastwood, New York, and started to produce items influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. Stickley was attracted to the movement’s ideals of truth to materials, its stress on fine workmanship, and its use of local woods for furniture. His chairs, tables, and cupboards were made of oak and other native woods, colored so as not to obscure the natural grain, and had joints in which dowels and dovetails were exposed. The furniture also featured beautifully crafted hardware (often in patinated copper) and chair coverings that were mostly simple leather or canvas. To promote his work and values, Stickley published The Craftsman magazine, named after his workshop. Stickley’s work proved successful, particularly after May 1903, when he employed the talented architect Harvey Ellis to produce new furniture designs. Ellis died a few months later, but his influence was profound and his furniture sold well. In spite of this, Stickley went bankrupt in 1915, but his designs spawned imitators, who continued to produce furniture in his American Craftsman style. Legs have slightly seat pad chamfered corners Chest of drawers |Harvey Ellis for The Craftsman Workshop, c. 1903. The overhanging top is typical of Harvey Ellis. Tapering sides and fine handles give the piece afluid feel. Leather-covered Cube chair |1907. Stickley used oak slats to form the sides and backs of many of his chairs. This example is made of light oak and its narrow vertical slats create a strong linear design. GUSTAV STICKLEY |087 Life E501 942) | 1858 Born in | | Osceola, Wisconsin 1876 Employed in his uncle's chair-making factory in Brandt, ..| Pennsylvania i 1883 Forms Stickley | Brothers & Company, the first of various | furniture businesses 1898 Sees Arts and Crafts | 1900 Brings out his first and Art Nouveau furniture | } illustrated catalog, showing the influence of Arts and Crafts | designs on his work 1.4 in Europe; relaunches his business as the Gustave .| Stickley Company 1903 Harvey Ellis begins to work for Stickley “| 1904 Ellis dies, but Stickley | | | 1901 Begins to publish | } } | continues to produce his | The Craftsman, the magazine of the American Arts and Crafts movement designs successfully 1915 Files for bankruptcy | 1942 Dies in Syracuse, New York Pierced pattern creates an effect of lightness Tabouret table |c. 1910. The stylized organic form of this mahogany table’s legs and the curvaceous outline of the tabletop and stretcher show Art Nouveau’s influence on Stickley.
- 46. orcad = The Arab Hall of Leighton House,
- 47. A Oscar Wilde |1854-1900 ASstnetic he Aesthetic Movement began in Great Britain in the 1870s, both as a reaction to the stiffness and poor quality of contemporary Victorian design and to celebrate the pleasure that can be found in beautiful everyday objects. Itwas an informal movement, inspired in part by the idea of “art for art’s sake,” a phrase popularized in English by the speeches and writings of Oscar Wilde. The movement inspired designers, such as E. W. Godwin and William de Morgan, and artists, including the British Lord Leighton and James McNeill Whistler. Favorite Aesthetic motifs included the peacock, valued for its rich blue-green feathers, and the sunflower, which appeared in realistic depictions on ceramics and in-terra-cotta panels on exterior walls. The predominant colors were strong: bright blues, greens, and yellows were favored, often in combination with ebonized furniture. Styles from around the world were adopted and combined in new and original ways, so it was not uncommon for an Aesthetic vase to have a Persian shape and be decorated with Japanese or Egyptian patterns. The initial impact of Aestheticism was felt mainly in Great Britain. However, the desire to elevate an everyday object to a work of art through quality craftsmanship and design influenced other movements, including both Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau, which helped carry Aesthetic ideas around the globe. Circular spout Scroll decoration on the handle Flat base Moon flask |Ming Dynasty, early 15th century. East Asian art was very fashionable among aesthetes, especially Japanese prints and blue-and-white porcelain from China. Engraved banding Plated metal pitcher |c. 1880. The organic, twisted, branchlike handles of this pitcher contrast with its more formal rounded shape and its delicate, engraved garlands. | | | { Aesthetic Movement products |....... 46 } THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT |039 ‘Key dates 1818-1894 1818 Philosopher Victor Cousin coins the phrase 1848 The Pre-Raphaelite art pour Vart (“art for Brotherhood of painters is art's sake") founded and champions ideals of beau + ; 1862 Japanese objects ee eeshe are displayed in London's Room in London's Victoria international Exhibition, andiAbert useuriin ..| influencing Aesthetic tastes he Aesthetic style 1. 1873 Walter Pater explains 1875 Liberty shop at the philosophy of beauty in his book of essays on the Renaissance Regent Street, London, becomes an outlet for 1881 Gilbert and Sullivan atirize the Aesthetic (ovement in their light opera Patience! "" 1882 Oscar Wilde gives | his influential lectur “The House Beautiful,” in Ontario, Canada “| 1877 The Grosvenor Gallery, specializing in ) |Aesthetic Movement painters, opens in London's Bond Street ie) Ka) “| 1894 The journal ea, |[Ne Yellow Book is } |launched to promote Aesthetic ideas Tile |William de Morgan, c. 1890. The vibrant designs of William de Morgan's handcrafted tiles were lighter and more subtle than the prevailing elaborate Victorian style. | }
- 48. 40 | ARTS AND CRAFTS AA A AA AA A A AAT AM AS ——_— Vaulted top in calamander wood Brass hinges ae al i= Vie gies aie hapere yelal Rar we Cabinet |T. E. Collcutt for Collinson & Lock, c. 1871, UK. This cabinet in rosewood and calamander would have been used to display Aesthetic Movement objects like silverware and ceramics. Its design combines architectural details such as the vaulted sections with finely turned columns. The pierced trefoils along the cabinet’s top gallery hark back to the Gothic style. Collinson & Lock made similar, more highly decorated cabinets for international exhibitions in the 1870s. The Aesthetic Movement of the 1870s and 1880s drew its inspiration from the doctrine of “art for art’s sake.” Aesthetic Movement designers, such as the architect E. W. Godwin, wanted to create interiors that were beautiful in their own right and full of objects that were pleasing to the eye. Their most costly pieces of furniture often featured Striking woods such as calamander, although a more common choice was ebonized (black-painted or stained) wood, often with turned legs or stretchers. This ebonized furniture was sometimes enlivened with gilding or decoration featuring motifs such as stylized flowers (especially sunflowers), peacock feathers, or fan shapes. There was a strong Japanese influence on this movement, manifested in dominant rectangular shapes and in openwork features, such as galleries, designed like a series of rectangles.
- 49. Corner cabinet |Bruce Talbert for Gillows, c. 1875, UK. The decorative panels on the central door of this rosewood cabinet are made of gilt-tooled leather. Stylized flower motifs were especially popular among Aesthetic Movement designers. Molded edge of ebonized wood Column comprising a cluster of turned uprights Turned and splayed feet Tripod table |c. 1880, US. Pietra durais an inlay technique using colored stone. Itworks especially well with the floral designs popular in the late 19th century, such as the spray on this table that is set into a black background of ebonized wood. Turned bobbin Front leg with turned banding Side chair |Bruce Talbert for Gillows, c. 1880, UK. Ebonized wood was often used to set off the rich colors of decorations and upholstery fabrics. Dark wood also displays the art of the turner—this chair has several ornate turned details. AESTHETIC MOVEMENT FURNITURE |044 Waisted splat formed of nine slender spindles Rush seat Turned front stretcher Armchair |Dante Gabriel Rossetti (attributed) for Morris & Co., c. 1875, UK. This chair, based on vernacular French styles, may have been refined by the British artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti for the company of his friend William Morris. Octagonal calamander top Stretchers radiate like the spokes of a wheel Octagonal-topped table |c. 1880, UK. Aesthetic Movement cabinetmakers prized the beautiful striped grain of calamander wood. This table also has striking curved legs in ebonized wood that match the molded edge of the tabletop. me top rail Lower rails separate from the chair legs as in Japanese furniture Lattice sides Parlor chair |c. 1880, UK. This chair’s proportions, with uprights that are close together near the corners and farther apart in the center, creates a pattern typical of the Japanese- influenced furniture that was popular in this period. Upholstered Lacquer panel set in embossed leather paper Sideboard |E. W. Godwin for William Watt, c. 1878, UK. Details such as the openwork gallery, upturned finials, and lacquer panels show both the Japanese influence on this mahogany sideboard and Godwin’s considerable craftsmanship. Leather lion head decoration Rocking chair |c. 1880, UK. Tooled leather was widely used in the 19th century, and the leather decoration is the outstanding feature of this rocking chair. Ithas panels arranged in a striking checkerboard pattern featuring floral designs. Bright colors contrast with the rich, dark wood Walnut and parcel giltjardiniére stands | c. 1890. The birds and flowers on the foliate-painted, mirrored, and silkwork patterns of these jardiniere stands were popular motifs of the Aesthetic Movement.
- 50. Takamizawa woodblock print 0! Moun! ts from Japan showin landscape scenes with asvmmet t . B) ipe scenes with asymmetric trees and branches were especially popular in Europe
- 51. JAPONISME |043 he French word Japonisme is widely used to refer to the fashion for Japanese art and design that spread across Europe and North America in the late | 1854-1890 19th century. It began after Japan, which had been closed to international trade, opened its ports to western ships in the 1850s. Japanese prints, KOy ONES 1854 The Tokugawa| P1850 | pottery, lacquerware, and fans flooded onto the European market and were soon Rees =— being shown in major exhibitions and sold in expensive shops such as Siegfried | with the West... | dager ys Bing’s Maison de I’Art Nouveau in Paris and Liberty in London. Some of the prints |PSG2 EOS TO and Japan signa | Exhibition features an @........1 Major trade treaty from less scrupulous dealers were fakes, or faded, older examples touched up with | extensive Japanese Section: | grat ; ; ‘ La Porte Chinoise, a shop for 1860 | modern paints. Inlays of lacquer and ivory, Known as Shibayama, were also popular. Oriental items, opens in Paris 1.......f@ | 1867 The Japanese ; : | tand atthePari Artists from Whistler and Beardsley to Gauguin fell in love with Japanese prints, | : eroosion Urverele admiring their strong lines, asymmetrical composition, and striking colors. Some | g ----!proves extremely popu western painters and designers also began to depict Japanese subjects—the 1875 Claude Monet | REY CO popularity of cherry blossoms, water lilies, and dragonflies in Art Nouveau ornament | fee at Owsioharreso is largely due to this Japanese influence. Some European glassworkers, including | NRSC) | Daum and Gallé, and potters such as Dammouse began to make or decorate their a its | wares in the Japanese style, and numerous cabinetmakers created lacquered | 1885 The ices chen L 1880 | furniture. Some of the best work was by designers such as Christopher Dresser, | and Sulivan's comic opera | 1888 Art dealer Siegfried Bing begins to publish his journal Le Japon Artistique set in Japan, is premiered who did not imitate eastern models but were inspired by Japanese art and created items with clean lines, asymmetrical designs, and simple shapes. | 1890 A major exhibition of ukiyo-e prints is held at the | Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris Distinctive, beaklike spout Shibayama : Inlaid panel style inlaid panel Bracketed support Inlaid cabinet |Koike Art Shop, c. 1875-1900. This cabinet < Writing cabinet | Gillows, 1880s. The bracketed supports of Tea service |Raoul Lachenal, c. 1920. The striking shapes, features ivory inlaid with various colored and asymmetrically > this cabinet’s stretchers and legs give it aJapanese appearance, black butterfly handles and finials, and asymmetrical eucalyptus composed relief images in the Shibayama style. : reinforced by the Shibayama lacquer and ivory panels. ‘ — leaf patterns on these pieces show a Japanese influence.
- 52. This detail of a bentwood chair
- 53. ichael Thonet was a Prussian furniture maker who created the bentwood chair. Trained as a cabinetmaker, he began experimenting with bentwocd furniture in 1830. His breakthrough came when he devised a method of shaping solid beechwood by steaming it and then bending it to the required curve with metal molds and tools that he had designed himself. Using this method, Thonet discovered that he could make a chair cheaply out of bentwood components that could then be assembled using screws. The resulting furniture was lightweight, strong, inexpensive, and unornamented—its beauty came from its attractive curves and simple, balanced shapes. In 1853, Thonet set up as a manufacturer, Gebruder Thonet, with his five sons. They developed a range of bentwood furniture—dining chairs, armchairs, rockers, sofas, stools, tables, even cradles for babies—and established a factory in Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), where local beechwocd provided much of the raw material. In the same decade, the company exhibited its furniture widely, expanding steadily and producing millions of items per year by the early 20th century. The secret of Thonet’s success was in the elegance, low cost, and portability of its designs: the parts of chairs could be shipped around the world and assembled with ease by distributors. Today, the company is still owned by the Thonet family. Pattern of three pierced holes above three Components slats, a typical are put together : Secessionist motif Cane seat is using screws Leather seat both light and lightens effect comfortable of ebonized wood os No. 14 chair | For Gebriider Thonet, 1859. Simple, light, Ebonized beechwood chair |For Gebriider Thonet, and inexpensive, the No. 14 chair was the most successful of all c. 1905. The curved supports of this Secessionist-style chair Thonet’s designs, used in cafés and homes all over the world. : sweep elegantly upward to create a U-shaped back. THONET |045 ‘Key dates 1796-1930 1796 Michael Thonet ae born in Boppard, Germany | | 1810 | } 1856 Austrian court grants Thonet a patent for his steam-heating method 1859 Produces first | a |of bending wood No. 14 chair at Thonet | | factory in Moravia (now | part of the Czech Republic) 1853 Establishes the | GebrUder Thonet company |. 1860 Develops a huge range of bentwood items, which sell in outlets 1 all over the world 1869 Exclusive license to make bentwood | furniture runs out “| 1871 Michael Thonet dies in Vienna, Austria ~ 11913 On the eve of World ) | War |,the company is ~ |producing 1.8 million 1922 Company merges with | No, 14 chairs a year the Mundus furniture company and continues to make Thonet's trademark bentwood furniture |....... 4 |1930 The total production of No. 14 chairs reaches 26 ) about 30 million Cane back Ornate spiral supports strengthen seat Rocking chair |For Gebriider Thonet, c. 1890. Bent beechwood was an ideal material to form this rocking chair, which features side elements that curve to form the rockers.
- 54. 046 | ARTS AND CRAFTS EVOLUTION OF CHAIRS decorative scheme and trend, and should preferably be straightforward to manufacture and The chair is one of the most familiar objects in the world, and one that is used by everyone, every day. Chairs have to be comfortable, have to fit in with any store. Designing a chair therefore poses a major challenge, one that most designers have taken on. The results of their experiments have varied. They have exploited new materials and techniques, such as bent wood, tubular steel, or plastic at some point during their career, and have found different ways to make seats comfortable, affordable, and attractive. The chair is an emblem of its era, reflecting contemporary tastes and concerns, and therefore the story of the chair is the history of design itself. Standard Chair |Jean Prouvé for Vitra, France. Prouve used hollow- section steel for this chair’s weight-bearing rear legs. The chair was light, strong, and easy to assemble, unlike earlier metal furniture, which had to be shaped by hand. 1934 |O45? The Bird Chair |Harry Bertoia for Knoll, US. This chair is one of the most striking results of Bertoia’s experiments with industrial materials. The bent metal rods supporting the foam upholstery give the piece a sculptural grace. Splayed armrests resemble bird wings uprights qO 3 Artek 69 |Alvar Aalto for Artek, Finland. Aalto was one of the pioneers of bent plywood. With his wife, Aino (also a designer), Aalto founded Artek to sell pieces like this chair and to promote interest in plywood as a material. Form-molded laminated wooden seat © { ¢ ie (S.c15 Hansen, Denmark. This lightweight, stackable, bent-plywood chair was named for the shape of its back, which resembles an ant’s body. Itwas an influence on later biomorphic designs. The Ant |Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Flexible plywood Carved strapwork splat Cabriole legs |16 Side chair |Thomas GC, Chippendale, US. Chairs such as this example with symmetrical scrollwork appeared in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, Chippendale’s pattern book for furniture makers. Leather cover fits over the frame at each corner BKF chair |Antonio Bonet, Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, and Juan Kurchan for Artek-Pascoe, Argentina. The BKF’s innovative structure, based on two bent steel rods, inspired other designers to use rods to create dramatic new chair shapes. 193 Clean lines typical of midcentury modernism _ jO 5 Tulip armchair |Eero Saarinen for Knoll, US. Rejecting “the slum of legs,” Saarinen designed Tulip in a revolutionary pedestal form. He combined an aluminum base and a fiberglass seat to produce a comfortable chair with a futuristic design.
- 55. Random documents with unrelated content Scribd suggests to you:
- 56. The footman was again at the door. Dr. Fortune was wanted at the telephone. “There’s one here, isn’t there? Put me through.” The footman, hardly able to speak at the sight of the dead Archduke, retired gulping. The bell rang. Reggie took up the receiver. “Yes. Yes. At once,” and he put it down. “I must be going. Serious case. Mrs. Jones’s little girl may have German measles.” CASE II
- 57. B THE SLEEPING COMPANION IRDIE screamed like a sea-gull and leapt on to the stage. The audience rumbled the usual applause, and Dr. Reginald Fortune put up his opera-glasses. He considered himself a connoisseur in the art of music halls, and Birdie Bolton was unique and bizarre. She was no longer young, and had never been pretty. A helmet of black hair, a gaunt face which never smiled, a body as lean as a boy’s, which sometimes slouched and sometimes jerked—such were her charms. She wore nothing much above the waist but diamonds, and below it barbaric flounces in a maze of colour. She began to sing in a voice wildly unfit for the strange creature she looked—a small, sweet voice—and what she sang was a simple ditty about her true love forsaking her. And then she went mad. There was a shrieking chorus—can you imagine a steam whistle playing rag-time?—and a dance of weird, wild vehemence. The lean body was contorted a dozen ways at once, the long white arms whirled and stabbed. She seemed to be a dozen women fighting, and each of them a prodigy of force. It was not a pretty dance, but it had meaning. Birdie sank down panting on her crazy rainbow flounces and nodded at the audience which thundered at her. Dr. Reginald Fortune shut up his opera-glasses. “She’s a bit of a wonder, you know,” he said to the naval lieutenant who was his companion. “It’s a wild bird,” the lieutenant agreed, and as the rest of the revue was merely frocks and the absence of frocks they went off to supper. In the morning, which was Sunday, Birdie Bolton came to see Dr. Reginald Fortune. It was her remarkable creed that she could not live in a noise, and so for years she had owned a house in the still rural suburb of Westhampton where Reggie and his father practised.
- 58. The elder Dr. Fortune at first looked after her, but when Reggie came on the scene Miss Bolton, declaring with her usual frankness that she liked her doctors young, turned herself over to him. By daylight Miss Bolton dressed, and even overdressed, the part of a brisk British spinster. She was very tailor-made and severely tweedy, and thus looked leaner than ever. But her eyes retained a gleam of devilment. “You gave us a great show last night,” Reggie said. “Were you in front?” said Miss Bolton, and made a face. “Oh, Lord! Sorry. I was rotten.” Reggie understood that his professional interest was required. “What’s the trouble?” he said cheerfully. “That’s your show,” said Miss Bolton. “Put me through it.” The conversation then became confidential and dull upon the usual themes of a medical examination. At last, “Well, you know, we don’t get to anything,” Reggie said. “This is all quite good and normal. What’s making you anxious?” “Dreams,” said Miss Bolton. “Why do I have dreams? I never dreamed in my life till now.” “What sort of dreams?” “Oh, any old sort. Bally rot. One night it was a motor-bus chivvying me on the stage. One night May”—May Weston was her companion —“May would keep parrots in the bathroom. Then I hear a noise and wake up and there isn’t any noise.” “Do you have this every night?” “Snakes! Not much. Now and again. But I say, doc, it’s not fair. I don’t drink and I don’t drug. But I’ll be seeing pink rats if this goes on.” “Is there anything worrying you just now?”
- 59. Was it possible that Miss Bolton blushed? Reggie could not be sure. “You’re a bright boy, doc. Be good!” She shook hands and gripped like a man. The big emerald she always wore ground into his fingers. “Birdie, the strong girl. Bye-bye,” she laughed. On the next morning Reggie was just out of his bath when he was told that Miss Bolton’s housekeeper had rung up. Miss Bolton had had an accident and would he go at once. “Tell Sam,” said Reggie, and jumped into his trousers. Samuel Baker, a young taxi-driver whose omniscient impudence had persuaded Reggie to enlist him as chauffeur and factotum, had the car round and some sandwiches inside it by the time Reggie was downstairs. Neither he nor Reggie lost time. Normanhurst, Miss Bolton’s house, stands by itself in an acre or so of garden, and is in the mid-Victorian or amorphous style. As Reggie jumped out of the car, the housekeeper opened the door. She was a brisk, buxom woman; she looked, and perhaps was, just what a housekeeper ought to be. “What’s wrong, Mrs. Betts?” Reggie said. “It’s very serious, sir. This way, please.” She led the way to Birdie Bolton’s boudoir, stopped, took a key from her apron pocket, and unlocked the door. “Hallo!” Reggie said. “I’m afraid you’re going to have a shock, sir,” said Mrs. Betts, and opened the door for him. Reggie went in. The sunlight flooded Birdie Bolton’s face, which was white. She lay on a sofa. She was in evening dress. There was an open wound in one side of her throat, and from it a red line lay across her bare shoulder, down her arm, to a purple stain on the carpet. Reggie went across the room in two strides and bent over her. She had been dead for hours. “Who found her, Mrs. Betts?”
- 60. “The upper housemaid, sir. She’s been having hysterics ever since.” “Bah! Was the room just like this?” “No, sir. Miss Weston was asleep in that chair.” “What?” Reggie stared. The mistress murdered and the companion placidly asleep by her side—perhaps that would not have startled his calm mind. But he knew May Weston, and had written her off as a dull, simple creature—a cushion of a girl. “Miss Weston was asleep in that chair,” the housekeeper repeated. “I saw her myself. I came in, sir, when Amelia—when the housemaid screamed. Miss Weston was in evening dress too. She didn’t wake at the screaming either—just stirred. I went to her and shook her, and ‘Miss Weston,’ I said, ‘whatever’s this?’ I said, and she woke up and looked round her, sort of heavy, and she saw Miss Bolton lying there and the blood, and she screamed out, ‘I did it—oh, I did it,’ and she looked at me very queer and she fainted.” Mrs. Betts stopped and stared at Reggie, waiting for him to express horror. “So what did you do with her?” said Reggie. Mrs. Betts swallowed. “I had her carried to her room. Dr. Fortune,” she said with dignity. “I am told she’s come to and been crying.” “Well, that’s natural, anyway,” said Reggie. “Natural, indeed!” Mrs. Betts tossed her head. “And what did you do next, Mrs. Betts?” “I had nothing touched, sir. I locked up the room. And I telephoned to you and the police.” “I’m sure you behaved admirably, Mrs. Betts,” Reggie murmured. Mrs. Betts was appeased. “I could hardly bear it, sir. Such a sweet, good mistress as she was. A perfect lady with all her little ways, as you know, sir. And that Miss Weston! So soft and quiet as she seemed. I don’t mind saying, sir, I felt as if I was stone. Oh!” She shuddered and shook. “Vicious, I call it.”
- 61. Reggie was looking round the room. “I suppose it is murder, sir?” said Mrs. Betts in a tone that suggested she would like to have the hanging of Miss Weston. “I suppose it is,” Reggie said. He crossed to the chair in which Miss Weston had been found sleeping and picked up from the floor close by a pair of scissors and a pointed bodkin with an ivory handle. Both were clotted with blood. Ugly things. “Ah!” Mrs. Betts said. “That’s what did it. Put ’em down, sir. I left them there by her chair for the police to see.” “You think of everything, Mrs. Betts,” said Reggie, and put them down and went back to the body of Birdie Bolton. That stab in the throat, it was “not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door”; it was a small wound to be mortal. A small neat wound which had rare luck to slit the jugular vein. Reggie looked back at the bodkin and the scissors. He noticed that Mrs. Betts had gone out. There were other wounds. In half a dozen places the pallid shoulders and breast had bled. No one of these gashes was serious. They were just such as might be expected of those unhandy weapons, scissors and bodkin. It was that neat, lucky stroke at the throat which determined the fate of Birdie Bolton. The minor wounds suggested a struggle with some one in a passion, and that Miss Bolton had struggled Reggie found other evidence. The black evening dress had been dragged from one shoulder and torn, and there on that right shoulder were the blue marks of a hand that had gripped. Reggie’s examination became more minute. Two men bustled in. A hand tapped Reggie’s shoulder. “Now, sir, if you please.” Reggie stood up and confronted a pompous, portly little man. “I am Dr. Fortune,” Reggie said. “Miss Bolton was a patient of mine.” “Was,” said the little man, with emphasis. “She is a case for an expert now, Dr. Fortune.”
- 62. “That’s why I was examining her,” said Reggie sweetly. The little man laughed. “A general practitioner is not much use to her now. Rather beyond you, isn’t it?” “Well, I’ve not made up my mind,” Reggie said. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry.” He waved Reggie off, but Reggie did not go. “You’ll only be in our way, you know. We’ll let you know if we want you at the inquest. Just for formal evidence.” Still Reggie did not move. “I am the divisional surgeon, sir,” said the little man loudly. “I was wondering who you were,” Reggie murmured. The little man swung round. “We’ll have the room cleared, inspector,” he said. The detective inspector, who looked more like a policeman than seemed possible, strode heavily forward. “Hope you’re not meaning to give trouble, doctor,” he frowned. “Or I’ll have to take steps.” “Fancy!” Reggie said. “Well, look where you’re going.” He walked across to the window and looked out at the roses. “Clear out, please.” The inspector followed him. “Zeal, all zeal,” Reggie murmured, and went. There were two doors to the room. He did not use that by which they had come, but the other. He happened to know that it opened into Birdie Bolton’s bedroom. There was some one in the bedroom. A startled dark face peeped round the screen by the bed. It belonged to a smart lady’s maid. “Dear me, I thought this was the passage,” Reggie said. “It is Miss Bolton’s bedroom—poor Miss Bolton.” The maid had a slight foreign accent. “Of course it is. And you’re her maid, of course. Flora, isn’t it?”
- 63. “Yes, sir. Yes, doctor. Ah, you have seen Miss Bolton! You cannot do anything—no?” “Miss Bolton is dead, Flora.” “I was so fond of her,” Flora sighed. “Well, I liked her. I suppose you heard nothing last night?” “Ah, no. She have sent me to bed. And I sleep so sound.” Reggie nodded. “It’s a bad business, Flora. Take me to Miss Weston’s room, will you?” “Miss Weston! Ah!” Flora said, with tragic intensity. “H’m. You think she——” “I do not think. I feel,” Flora said. “It’s a bad habit. Well——” And Flora led the way. She was a plump woman of some age, but still comely enough in a dark, heavy fashion. A tap at a door. “It is the doctor, Miss Weston,” from Flora. A sullen voice, “You can come in,” and in Reggie went. May Weston was a squalid sight. Her natural prettiness, the prettiness of fresh youth, the bloom of pink and white, the grace of full, soft line had all gone from her. She lay a shapeless heap on her bed, her evening dress still on and all crushed and crumpled and awry, her yellow hair half down and tousled, her face of a bluish pallor. “What do you want?” She stared at Reggie heavily. “Well, this won’t do, will it?” Reggie smiled cheerfully and sat down beside the bed. “So why are you like this?” “Haven’t you heard?” she cried. “I’ve heard and seen,” Reggie said. “I can’t do any more there. But perhaps I can here.” He began to feel her pulse.
- 64. “I’m not ill.” “Well, you never know.” He let her wrist go and bent over her. “Sleep rather sound, don’t you?” “Oh!” She shuddered. “Why do you look at me like that?” Reggie bent suddenly closer, and as suddenly sat up again. Then he laughed. “Like what, my dear?” She stared at him and her lip quivered. “You—you! Oh, do you think I can be mad?” Reggie shook his head. “Let’s begin quite at the beginning. Let’s preserve absolute calm. You dined with Miss Bolton last night alone? After dinner you went to her boudoir? That would be about nine?” “Yes, yes. Mr. Ford came just after the coffee.” “Ah! And who is Mr. Ford?” May Weston blushed abundantly. “We—he has been here a good deal,” she stammered. “Oh, Dr. Fortune, it isn’t his fault.” “Young or old, rich or poor—what is he?” “Of course he’s young. I suppose he’s rich. His father makes engines or something in Leeds, and he is in the London office.” “Sounds solid,” Reggie agreed. “And why does Mr. Ford call at nine p.m.?” Miss Weston’s blushes were renewed. “He has been very often,” she said, and wrung her hands. “I shall have to tell, doctor, shan’t I? Yes. He met Miss Bolton once at supper and then he used to come here.” “Ah! Good-looking fellow, is he?” “Oh, yes. He is very big and handsome.” “And Miss Bolton liked him. Well, well.” Reggie understood now why poor Birdie Bolton had been dreaming dreams of nights. “Yes,” said May Weston faintly. “Oh, it’s a shame! But I must tell. She thought he came to see her, but——”
- 65. “But it was really to see you. Now, let’s get back to the coffee.” “He came last night. We were so gay. Miss Bolton—oh, poor Birdie!” “We can’t undo that, my dear. Let’s do what we can for her. Did he stay late?” “Rather. I don’t know. I was sleepy. But Birdie was so gay. And then —and then he went away and Birdie began to talk about him. I don’t know how it happened. She said something—and I felt I just had to tell her—I told her he had proposed to me. And then she was furious. Oh, have you ever seen her in one of her rages? She was terrible. She said dreadful things. And I—I felt as if I couldn’t do anything at all. I was dazed and faint and just sat. I know she hit me.” “I saw the bruise,” Reggie said gently, looking at the blue mark on her neck. “Then she stormed out of the room, and—oh, doctor, I don’t know— perhaps I fainted—it was as if I was all lead in that chair. I thought I was asleep. And then it was like a horrible, horrible dream—I saw her being killed. She was on the sofa, and some one was hitting at her. Oh, doctor, did I do it? Was it a dream? Did I really do it?” “You saw—or you dreamed—who was it struck her in your dream?” “Oh, I don’t know. It was just like a dream when you can’t tell. I know it was Birdie. But was it me killed her?” The door was flung open. The detective inspector strode in. “May Weston?” He was more the policeman than ever. Reggie stood up. “How civil you are!” he said. “You make yourself very busy, don’t you?” The inspector glared. “Don’t you interfere with me. May Weston—I shall charge you with the murder of your mistress, Birdie Bolton. Get up off that bed now.” “He’s forgotten the rest of his part—‘anything you say may be used in evidence against you,’ Miss Weston. So you’ll say nothing, please.”
- 66. The inspector grew red and puffed, and advanced upon Reggie. “Here, you—you clear out of this. You’re obstructing me in——” “Is it possible?” Reggie drawled. “Well, it isn’t necessary, anyway.” and he left the inspector still swelling. It is fair to him to add, what he has since protested, that he never liked May Weston. Pussy-cat is his name for her, and he is not fond of cats. From her room he went to the telephone in the hall, and there the inspector, still rather flushed, found him again. “And what might you be doing now, if you please?” said the inspector, with constabulary sarcasm. “Oh, I’m talking to Miss Bolton’s solicitors. Hadn’t you thought of talking to Miss Bolton’s solicitors?” “Never you mind what I thought of. Don’t you use that telephone again. I won’t have it.” “Oh, yes, you will. Now I’m going to talk to Superintendent Bell.” The inspector was visibly startled. For Superintendent Bell was near the summit of the Criminal Investigation Department. “Any objection? No? How nice of you. . . .” He conferred with the telephone, and at length: “Dr. Fortune. Yes. Oh, is that you, Bell? So glad. I wish you’d come along here, Normanhurst, Westhampton. One of my patients murdered. No, not by me. Quite unusual case. Yes, it is the Birdie Bolton case. The inspector in charge is such a good, kind man. Sweet face he has. You’ll come right on? So glad.” Reggie put down the receiver and smiled upon the puzzled inspector. “That’s that,” he said, and went out. Samuel, the chauffeur, put away his picture paper. “I want my camera,” Reggie said, and Samuel touched his hat and drove off. Reggie sauntered into the garden. Normanhurst, as you know, is a low, spreading house of a comfortable Victorian dowdiness. There are—don’t count the attics— only two stories. It is old enough to be quite covered with climbing plants—ivy on the north, roses and a wistaria on the other sides.
- 67. Birdie Bolton’s bedroom and boudoir looked to the south, and were on the ground floor. On the north of the house is the approach from the high road, a curling drive through a shrubbery. Birdie Bolton’s rooms looked out upon a rose-bed and a big lawn. About her windows climbed a big Gloire de Dijon. The roses beneath were of the newer hybrid teas, well cultivated, well chosen, and at their best —a fragrant pomp of red and gold. “How she loved ’em, poor soul,” Reggie thought, and began to feel sentimental. That singular emotion was interrupted by the sound of a motor-car. He went back to the front of the house to meet it. A big car was drawing up. It contained two people—a uniformed chauffeur and a large young man who jumped out, rather clumsily, before the car stopped. He had the good looks of a hero of musical comedy, but an expression rather sheepish than fatuous, and a pallid complexion. “I think you are Mr. Ford.” Reggie came close to him. “I am Dr. Fortune. Miss Bolton was a patient of mine. I hardly expected to see you so soon.” “Miss Weston sent for me, sir.” Mr. Ford recoiled, for Reggie’s face was very close to his. “Did she, though!” Reggie murmured. “Did she really?” Miss Weston had forgotten to tell him that. Pussy-cat! “Well, Flora telephoned for her. She said something terrible had happened, and Miss Weston wanted me. I say, doctor, what has happened?” “Jolly kind of Flora,” Reggie said. “Well, Mr. Ford, Miss Bolton has been murdered.” “My God!” said Mr. Ford, and became livid. “And Miss Weston has been charged with the murder.” “Oh, my God!” Mr. Ford said again. “Oh, damn!” and put his hand to his head. “Here, let me go to her.”
- 68. “I don’t mind,” said Reggie, and Mr. Ford plunged into the house. Reggie remained on the steps waiting for fresh arrivals. The goggled chauffeur moved his car on out of the way, descended, and behind a laurustinus lit a cigarette. Reggie, who never smoked them, sniffed disapproval and began to fill a pipe. A taxi-cab drove up, and out of it bounced a plump little man whose coat looked as if he wore stays. “I am Dr. Fortune,” Reggie said. “And I’m Donald Gordon, doctor,” said the little man, who was emphatically a Jew. “Moss and Gordon.” It was the name of Miss Bolton’s solicitors. “Many thanks for letting us know. Poor, dear Birdie. She was a peach. Let’s have all the facts, please.” He had an engaging lisp. “There’s a detective inspector inside. Like a bull in a china-shop.” “Had some,” said Mr. Donald Gordon. “Come on, doctor. Hand it out.” “Well, let’s see the flowers,” Reggie said, and walked him into the garden and began to tell him all that he knew. “So he’s pinched Miss Weston, has he?” the little Jew lisped. “He’s a hustler.” “Oh, I expect he’s arrested Ford too, by now. Me and you in a minute. He’s a zealous fellow. By the way, Gordon, who is Ford?” “Yes. He’s a dark horse, ain’t he? I only met him once, doctor. You could see poor old Birdie was sweet on him.” “Oh, so Miss Weston was telling the truth about that.” “Why, didn’t you believe her, doctor?” “D’you know, I wonder if I believe anything I’ve heard in this house.” “Like that, is it?” Gordon lisped. “Just like that,” said Reggie. A gravity had come over the perky little Jew, which he found very engaging.
- 69. Mr. Gordon nodded at him. “Birdie was the one and only,” he said, and Reggie nodded back. “Nice flowers, doctor,” a new voice said. Reggie turned to see the small insignificance of Superintendent Bell, greeted him heartily, introduced Mr. Gordon. “Am I de trop, as the French say?” said Superintendent Bell. “No? Thought it might be a council of war.” “Oh, is it war?” Reggie said. “Well, you know, you’ve quarrelled with Inspector Mordan.” The Superintendent shook his head at Reggie. “I wouldn’t dare. He quarrelled with me.” “Such a pity.” The Superintendent smiled and rubbed his hands. “I ought to tell you, doctor, I quite approve of everything that Inspector Mordan has done.” “Splendid force, the police,” Mr. Gordon lisped. “Wonderful force. So forcible.” “Including the arrest of Miss Weston?” Reggie asked. “Well, well. Any one else you’d like to arrest?” “Any one you suggest, doctor? Now I ask you—what would you have done?” “Oh, I’m not in the force.” “We do have to be so careful,” the Superintendent sighed. “That’s a handicap, that is. I wonder why you wanted me, doctor?” “I’m frightened of your inspector. He’s not chatty. I want to photograph the body.” The Superintendent turned to Gordon. “It’s a taste, you know, that’s what it is. He likes corpses. Speaking as man to man, doctor, are you working with us?” “May I?” “That’s very handsome. Yes. Inspector Mordan, he has a kind of a manner, as you might say. I’ll speak to him. Is there anything you’d
- 70. like to tell me, doctor?” “Nice flowers, aren’t they?” Reggie nodded to the rose-bed under Birdie Bolton’s window. It was minutely neat. “Look as if they’d been brought up by hand,” said the Superintendent, but he looked at Reggie, not the roses. “Anything queer, sir?” “There’s that,” Reggie said. He pointed to a spray of the Gloire de Dijon beside the window. It bore a bud; it had been broken, and the bud was limp and dead. “That wasn’t broken last night,” said the Superintendent. “No. That’s what’s interesting,” said Reggie, and turned away. At the door and in the drive there was some congested traffic. Mr. Ford’s big car still waited. Reggie’s humbler car had come back with his camera. The taxis of Mr. Gordon and Superintendent Bell took up more room. And yet another taxi was trying to get to the steps. “Who’s this, Superintendent?” “I dare say it’ll be for Miss Weston.” “Taking her to Holloway at once? Well, well. I dare say it’s all for the best.” But Miss Weston was not to go without a noise. Mr. Ford saw to that. At the head of the stairs he conducted an altercation with Inspector Mordan in which defiance, abuse, and profane swearing were his chief arguments. It was beastly stupid and it was damned impudence to arrest Miss Weston, and it was also beastly impudence and damned stupid, and so forth. In the midst of which the wretched girl was shepherded by two detectives downstairs. “My God, you might as well arrest me!” Mr. Ford cried, in final desperation. “Perhaps I will,” said the Inspector heavily, and glowered at him. Mr. Ford paled and drew back.
- 71. On the stairs below Miss Weston stopped and turned. “Oh, Edmund, don’t,” she said. “They can’t hurt me. You know they can’t.” Superintendent Bell drew Reggie aside. “Think that throws any light?” Reggie said. “Well, not a searchlight,” said the Superintendent. Miss Weston was driven off. Mr. Ford, looking dazed, came slowly downstairs, and to him went Gordon. “Better get her a solicitor, you know,” Gordon said. “By Jove, that’s it!” Mr. Ford cried, and plunged out. The Inspector and the Superintendent exchanged glances and looked at Gordon. “Why did you put him on to that, sir?” said the Superintendent. “Professional feeling, dear boy,” Gordon smiled. “Nice girl, ain’t it? I fancy my firm are Miss Bolton’s executors, and I fancy that bird is sole legatee.” The Superintendent pursed his lips. The Inspector laughed. “It grows, don’t it, sir? Just grows,” he said. “I would like to get on,” Reggie yawned. “That’s right,” said the Superintendent, and took the Inspector aside. Mr. Gordon, following Reggie to the boudoir, was distressed by the sight of the dead body, and said so. Reggie went on with his photography—first the stab in the throat, then the minor wounds, then the bruise on the shoulder. At which last Inspector Mordan found him. “Taking the wrong side, aren’t you?” he sneered. “Oh, I’m taking all sides. Ever try it?” Reggie said. “Well, have you done, doctor?” the little Jew broke in. “Can’t we have her covered up?”
- 72. “I’ll have the body removed, sir. If the doctor has quite done.” said the Inspector. And so at last the body of Birdie Bolton was taken away to the mortuary, and Mr. Gordon, much relieved, flung open the windows and turned to his business, the secretaire and its papers. He worked quickly. . . . “Nothing there but love-letters. Wonder where she kept her will?” “There’s a safe in the bedroom, I think,” Reggie said. “You bet there is. She had all her jewels in the house, I know, and she had some good stuff, poor old girl. Well, come on; here’s her keys.” They went into the bedroom, and the little Jew made for the safe. Reggie wandered across the room. It was a parquet floor with Persian rugs on it. He shifted one by the bedside. There was a small dark stain on the floor still not dry. An exclamation from Gordon made him turn. Gordon had the safe open, and the safe, but for some papers in disorder, was empty. “Not one bally bangle left!” Gordon cried. “Not a sparkle of the whole outfit! Remember that ruby and diamond breastplate! Remember her pearls! And the stuff that Indian Johnny gave her! My hat! Somebody’s had a haul.” A spasm crossed his face. “I say, doctor, you were here when I opened the safe!” “I was here,” Reggie said stolidly. “I wasn’t surprised.” The little Jew gasped. “You remember that emerald she always wore? It wasn’t on the dead body.” “Oh, God!” said Gordon, and with unsteady hands turned over the papers. “That’s her script. More or less all there, I should say. Where’s the will? I know she had her will. Drew it myself.” “What’s that?” Reggie said. The one untidy thing in that very tidy room, a paper lay by the fireplace. Gordon picked it up. “Here we are! Yes, ‘May Grace
- 73. Weston, my companion.’ That’s the document. Crumpled up and torn!” He whistled. “As if Birdie was destroying it and then—biff!” “Just as if she’d been destroying it,” Reggie agreed. “That puts the lid on, don’t it!” said the little Jew. “Miss Weston-oh, lor, there’s a soft kid if you ever had one. Just shows you you never know with girls, doctor. Girls, girls, girls! Well, we’d better tell these bally policemen.” So Inspector Mordan, vastly to his satisfaction, was told, and Superintendent Bell, appearing from nowhere, heard, and agreed to search the house for the stolen jewels. “You gentlemen come too, please.” He cocked an eye at Reggie. “Want to keep me under observation?” Reggie grinned back. “Want you to identify what we find,” said the Inspector. “You’ll find something all right,” said Reggie. But he showed little interest in the search, mooning after their men in and out of servants’ bedrooms and yawning in corners. Inspector Mordan had gone straight to Miss Weston’s room, and from it he came glowing with triumph. He called for his Superintendent, he collected Reggie and Gordon. “You gentlemen happen to recognize that?” He opened his big hand and showed the ring with the big emerald which Birdie Bolton had loved. “That’s it,” Gordon cried. “That’s Birdie’s. Coo! What a stone, ain’t it?” “In Weston’s room,” the Inspector proclaimed, “on the floor; just under the bed, in Weston’s room.” “Only that and nothing more?” Reggie murmured. “Yes, where’s the rest, Mordan?” said Superintendent Bell. The Inspector smote his thigh. “By George, I see it! I let that rascal Ford see the wench alone. He’s gone off stuffed with the swag.”
- 74. “That’s a thought,” Reggie admitted, and the Superintendent lifted an eyebrow at him. “You ought to have Ford watched. No, I mean it. If I was you, Inspector, I’d have his place watched night and day.” The Inspector was visibly gratified. “I know my business, thank you,” he said. “I say, doctor—it is growing, isn’t it?” “Oh, yes, as if it was forced,” Reggie smiled. “What do you mean?” The Inspector flushed. “You see, you’re so witty, Mordan,” said the Superintendent. “And that’s that,” Reggie yawned. “You don’t really want me any more. Good-bye. Oh, Inspector—I don’t want you to be disappointed. The murder wasn’t done in that room where you found the body. Good-bye!” “Wasn’t done——” The Inspector stared after him. “Good Lord, he’s mad!” “Better get him to bite you, Mordan,” said the Superintendent. * * * * * * That party did not meet again till the day of the inquest. Before the court met, Superintendent Bell called on Reggie and found him in a bad temper. This was unusual, and equally unusual in the Superintendent’s experience was a pallor, a certain tension, across Reggie’s solid, amiable face. A civil question about his health brought a snappish answer. It seemed to the Superintendent that Dr. Fortune had been making a night of it. “Well, what is it?” Reggie snarled. “Got anything to tell me?” “I’ve been rather disappointed,” the Superintendent said meekly. “More fool you. I told you to watch Ford.” “That’s it, sir. Were you pulling my leg?” “Oh, damn it, man, this is serious! Miss Bolton was a patient of mine. I don’t let any one but me kill my patients.”
- 75. “Very proper, I’m sure,” the Superintendent agreed. “But we have watched him, doctor. Nothing doing.” “Set a man to stand on his doorstep, I suppose. What’s the good of that?” “As you say,” the Superintendent agreed. “We’ve picked up one thing, though. Just before the murder his father turned him down for wanting to marry this girl Weston. He hasn’t a penny except from his father. That might have made him desperate—him and the girl. It does grow, you know, doctor.” “Queer case,” Reggie grunted. “Going to the inquest? Sorry I can’t drive you down. My chauffeur’s taking a day off.” So they walked to the coroner’s court, and on the way Superintendent Bell used his large experience in the art of extracting confidences in vain. But Reggie mellowed, perceptibly mellowed, as he baffled Superintendent Bell. The court was crowded to its last inch. The coroner was conscious of his importance, and made the most of it in a long harangue. The divisional surgeon was more pompous than ever, and made it a point of honour to use terms so technical that all his evidence had to be translated to the jury, and the coroner and he argued over the translation. “What a life, ain’t it?” Mr. Gordon murmured in Reggie’s ear. At last came what the evening papers called “Dramatic Evidence”: the housemaid who had found the body and had hysterics over again as she described it; Mrs. Betts, who had found May Weston sleeping beside it, waked her, and heard her say, “I did it—oh, I did it!” “Sensation in Court” was the cross-head for that. The coroner looked over his glasses at the jury, and the jury muttered together, and May Weston came into the box. With the manner of a chaplain at an execution the coroner warned her that she need not give answers that would incriminate her. “I want to tell you everything,” she said.
- 76. Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world, offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth. That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to self-development guides and children's books. More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading. Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and personal growth every day! ebookbell.com