Modern furniture design reflecting the time

Added: 02/07/2006

There are some principles singled out by specialists that should be reflected by the modern furniture design. First of all, the design should reflect the spirit of the time. It should also be functional. It should use new technologies and materials. There are some designs, which have become legendary. They are the designs of the Bauhaus furniture and Shakers furniture. The latter one was inspired by ascetic religious beliefs.

Contemporary furniture design is the design that applies the latest ideas, the design that involves recent techniques and methods. Specialists single out several principles that should be followed by modern furniture design. Modern furniture design should fulfill different practical needs of the modern life. It should express the spirit of the epoch. It should draw on contemporary advances in sciences and fine arts. The modern furniture design should use new techniques and materials as well as to develop those, which are familiar.

Modern furniture design should be able to reflect the purpose of the object. The design should reflect the beauties and qualities of the material used for the object. Modern furniture design is supposed to reflect the method of making the object. It is not recommended to show mass production as the handicraft. The design should manage to blend the process, materials and utility into a whole. The furniture design should be pretty simple. The structure is supposed to be evident and should avoid extraneous enrichment. The design should consider the limited costs and modest needs.

It goes without saying that Bauhaus furniture is considered to be a legendary design and real works of art. The design appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in Germany. At that time very few people expected that the design was going to become the carryover to the next century. There is another movement in America today, which is opposite to the Bauhaus furniture design. It is called cocoon boom. According to this movement, people use their homes for informal dining and entertainment. But it is necessary to mention the fact that the two movements have a lot in common. The Bauhaus design is perceived to be a kind of reaction to the aesthetic relevance and social transformation. As for the cocoon boom, it introduces social changes by applying aestheticism to change the way people live.

Bauhaus furniture is characterized by such outstanding and prominent features as smooth slim forms, straight lines and absence of superfluity. It is necessary to say that prudent use of processes and materials in order to satisfy functional needs of the epoch are preserved up to nowadays. Besides, the Bauhaus design offers a lot of examples of how nature, machine and man can live in a single organism.

In a nutshell, Shakers furniture is a certain furniture style, which was founded by the Shakers, a religious sect which in its turn was founded by James and Jane Wardley. They came to the United States from England in 1774. They were led by Mother Ann Lee. The furniture is appreciated for its functionality, quality, innovative joinery and simplicity. It is necessary to mention the fact that Shakers design was inspired by ascetic religious beliefs of this society.

Furthermore, different collections of Shakers furniture are exhibited in a lot of Art Museums both in England and in the United States. The design appeals to the modern eye and inspires a lot of finest designers of the modern furniture for creating their own designs and masterpieces.

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