Created in 1900, the 'Thonet' chair can still be found today.

A brief history of the design and possible interpretation of its essential "nature".

Considering the various definitions of design, it is difficult to summarize the function and objective of such an activity. According to the Florentine Alliance of Designers, design is “an intellectual, multidisciplinary and humanistic process, the purpose of which is to address and find solutions to problems of daily life, regardless of their magnitude, related to economic, social and environmental concerns.” Larousse’s definition is more concise: “a discipline aimed at harmonizing the human environment, from the conception of major objects to urbanization.” From a commercial perspective, design also consists of “making things beautiful so that they sell,” taking into account what the designer responsible for the LU logo, Raymond Lowry, has emphasized, that “what is ugly does not sell.”

Regardless of the definition you might associate design with, one thing is certain: the term covers a wide range of practices and concerns that are on the frontier of art and technology.

However, design, as we consider it today, was born in the 1950s. The Industrial Revolution and mass commercial production were what pushed the discipline forward. In the 1920s, while some artists were building around Futurism, Suprematism, and Cubism, the Bauhaus School emerged in Germany.

The creator of this chair, introduced in 1929, was the last director of the Bauhaus, designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. With the end of this school of thought, production of this piece of furniture was only realized in 1953.

For all its innovations, the Bauhaus was a forerunner of modern design because it introduced the idea that art should respond to the needs of society and thus there was no need for any distinction between an artist and a craftsman. In the 1920s and 1930s, while Art Deco was very popular in France and the Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto delved into organic design, the Bauhaus was violently rejected by the Nazi regime.

In fact, it was before the post-war period that the used objects of everyday life began to be considered as cultural products. Beginning in 1949, the Syndicate of Modern Artists created the Association of Utilitarian Forms, which encouraged the detachment of industrial aesthetics and the appreciation of an object's function. At this time, functionalism was very widespread and promoted the belief that part of a piece of furniture's form should follow its function. This movement is at the heart of modern design...

The main argument for rejecting design as an art form lies in the fact that the discipline is more related to execution than to imagination.

Ultimately, design is an applied art form that seeks to find a balance between function and aesthetics. In this sense, the designer is neither an artisan – he does not master the material (or materials) he works with – nor a technician – he does not master the techniques he uses – nor an engineer – he has a cross-disciplinary perspective. To conclude, here is how the famous Philippe Starck conceives of the profession of designer...

We owe this egg chair, a cult object of industrial design, to Danish designer Arne Jacobsen, who designed it in 1958.

“It’s like being a cleaning lady: I ??have a broom in my hands (you think it’s a pencil, but it’s a broom), which helps me try and clean the lives of my family, my friends, my society and sometimes the broom handle itself. Since I have little time to dream, I show you the way. That’s my job. While I clean people’s lives, I have some visions, I build some projects and sometimes I show or denounce some directions. For me, design is a way to express myself with a political purpose, in its broadest sense.”

Source and Copyright of the Article - Artsper Art Magazine: https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/design-art-technique/