Bauhaus and Memphis

1
Setting the scene
In 1907 artists and those working in industry set up the
Deutsche Werkbund in Munich. It’s aim to improve the economy
by improving design.
Designers and Architects took into consideration new
production processes
Designers and industry worked closely during the design
process in order to produce both well designed and well made
mass produced goods.
A young architect, Walter Gropius became a leading figure in
the Werkbund.
2
Principles behind the Bauhaus
Walter Gropius (the young Architect) founded the design school
in 1919 in Weimar, Germany. It was to be:
• A design school which brought together all of the Arts to create a
‘total’ work of art
• Encompass all types of design, decorative arts and fine art
• Opposed to the Arts and Crafts movement - Bauhaus wanted to
produce cheap but well made mass produced objects that looked
good
• Form follows function
• The artist and craftsman are one
3
The Bauhaus was based in three German cities
Weimar 1919-25
Forced to close due to state funding being halved
Dessau -1925-32
A politically socialist school, Bauhaus closed when the
Nazi party gained control of Dessau council
Berlin 1932-33
Operated for 10 months before the Gestapo closed
them down
4
Every student completed a compulsory preliminary course and then
entered a workshop of their own choice
And they were taught by instructors at the highest level of skill and
understanding in their given genre
Wassily Kandisky and Paul Klee
The Bauhaus's curriculum was organised on the understanding that crafts
and arts had equal importance - as they had in medieval times.
Students were taught by masters of the subject.
Klee and Kandinsky were among the school's first teachers at the
Bauhaus.
Naum Slutzky - Russian jewellery designer
Slutsky Led the Bauhaus metal workshop
His work was based on function and pure form without decoration
His interests were machine technology and the new Modernist movement
Due to the price of gold he used base metals and new combinations of
cheaper metals in his work - brass with chromium plating.
Marcel Breuer - Hungarian architect and furniture
designer
• Marcel Breuer studied at the Bauhaus in Weimar,
Germany
• Noticed as having great talent Gropius put him in charge
of the furniture workshop
• Marcel Brauer worked on the public housing designed by
Walter Gropius’ Architects practice
• 1927 he designed the "Type B3 steel Club Chair". Later
this model was renamed “Wassily" because Kandinsky
admired its design
“Type B3 steel club chair”
Tubular steel and
canvas, 1927
designer by Marcel
Breuer
Renamed the “Wassily chair” because Kandinsky admired the
design
Only made possible by brand new manufacturing processes able to
produce seamless tubular steel
9
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe - German-American Architect
Director of the Bauhaus 1930-33
His architectural designs had extreme clarity and simplicity
They made use of new materials:
• Industrial Steel
• Plate glass
The framework was minimal and the spaces were open and airy
He said ‘less is more’
11
Gunta Stolzl - German Textile Artist
Stolzl was the only female master at the
Bauhaus. She became the senior master of
the weaving department in 1927.
Graphic Design
Bauhaus poster designs often included geometric shapes and often used
sans serif lettering (fonts without decoration)
A popular sans serif type face is Futura designed by Paul Renner in
1927.
Herbert Bayer
designed the
signage for the
Bauhaus, Art and
Design College,
building in Dessau
The New Bauhaus
In 1937 former instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy founded the New Bauhaus in Chicago,
America. It was based on the exact same principles
It is now named the Illinois Institute of Technology - Institute of Design
The Memphis Group
15
Memphis Group
• Founded in 1981 in Milan, Italy
• Aim - to shake up the design world
• Reaction against the slick, black, minimalist and
humourless design of the 1970’s
• Designs were in your face - big, bold, bright, shocking
• Named after a Dylan song that was playing during a
meeting
• Inspiration was taken from Art Deco, Pop art, African
symbols, comic strips and the kitsch designs of the
1950’s
• Objects were to intentionally clash or mesh with other
objects
Carlton Bookcase
Designed by Sottsass, 1981
Wood and laminated plastic
A leading member of the group Ettore Sottsass called Memphis
design the ‘New International Style’
17
Memphis Furniture
.
Watch straps and faces designed for the Swatch Watch
company in the Memphis style
Memphis Pattern
designed by, Nathalie du Pasquier
Miu Miu 2006 Spring Collection
21
Ceramics
Lights
Jewellery
Memphis design influenced Dior’s design collection in 2012