Cultural

Capital

Design Technology

Very few designs stand the test of

time!!!Things that we owned and looked after even after a few years

rarely have the same appeal now.

• What do you think constitutes good design?

• How many pieces of furniture in your home will still have

the same design appeal in years to come?

Raymond Loewy:

“ Of two products that are the same in price, function, and quality, whichever is more beautiful will sell better” (1929)

Over the next few slides we will be

looking at some of the best iconic

designers and their most

recognisable pieces of work.

Charles and Ray Eames: Husband and wife team. Hugely popular, highly influential, commercially very successful. Designed furniture for the home and office. Also made several films, and other products including graphic design and children’s toys.

Top

designers

Charles and Ray Eames frame structures. The examples above are ergonomically designed in bright plastics, and could be produced relatively quickly and cheaply. Colours and components could be easily swapped or modified to suit the needs of the clients.

Click here to see some current prices of the chairs!

The chairs can be bought here and range from a few hundred pounds toover ten thousand

Eames chairs used in an office canteen of the 1950’s: Ergonomically designed, comfortable, affordable, and stylish design was now available to all.

A design that still looks current even now 70 years later.

List all the things that you can think of that

will look as good in 70 years time as they

do now?

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“La Chaise”: Charles and Ray Eames.

Influenced by the Modern Art of Henry Moore, made possible by new developments in plastics technology.

Lounge chair and Ottoman, 1956: Originally designed for the film director Billy Wilder (“Some like it hot”) who was a friend of the family, these pieces were commercially produced by the furniture company Herman Miller. The shells are plywood, with leather upholstery. A true Design Classics!

The design classic pops up everywhere: )

Harry Bertoia.

Bertoia was one of the new American designers who was influenced by Bauhaus graduates. He was also very much an artist, interested in modern thinking about light and space in sculpture.

His chair designs ( The Side chair at top, and Chair 421 on left) are made from thin steel rods welded together and coated in plastic or enamel finish. They are light, stylish, comfortable, strong, and fairly cheap to mass-produce.

Another top designer with similar principles and ideas.

Bertoia also used modern techniques of plastic- forming to produce shell structures for the seats. In other cases he used synthetic foam upholstery and bright synthetic coverings. The “Diamond” chair,(right) is one of his most famous designs.

Interior: Oasis Hotel, Palm Springs, California.

This room , fitted with Eames and Bertoia furniture, was probably used by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. It represented the ultimate in cool contemporary living.

Your task is to design a piece of

furniture that could be sold in the

Design Museum.

Familiarise yourself with it by taking a

virtual tour.

Design Museum virtual tour

WAGOLLThis is a picture of the iconic Eames chair

You can either give this a modern slant by changing the fabric and the materials,

Or even better would be if you could design a timeless classic piece of furniture

from scratch.