Herman Miller

       Originally known for it's cheap to medium priced furniture, Michigan Star Furniture Company sold Victorian style residential furniture. In 1923, DJ Depree bought the company with the help of his father-in-law who he immortalized by naming changing the company name to Herman Miller. 

       With Depree as President, he brought on many famous designers with whom Herman Miller collaborated.  Gilbert Rohde was contracted by Depree and in 1933, the first line with modern furniture pieces came out. Furniture designer George Nelson designed the famous Herman Miller logo.

       Herman Miller teamed up with designing couple Ray and Charles Eames. They were a  husband & wife duo that was both eccentric and avant garde in their visions. The team produced fabric designs, furniture designs,  and even movies. Charles even designed a leg splint for the War of the time.

       Other designers like Alexander Gerrard and Robert Prost were invited to collaborate with the Herman Miller designers as well.

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Peer Review

Emma:  She pointed out all the important aspects and key points of the Art Deco style. Her pictures were interesting too.

Amanda M: She did a good job explaining the style of the time period and I also liked her pictures as well.

Art Deco

       The 1920's is only known for the era of the prohibition, it is also known for the beginning of the design movement known as Art Deco, a shortened version of the French phrase "Arts Décoratifs". In France, this period is actually referred to as "les années folles" meaning  'the crazy years.' During this time, many ideas of the international avant-garde in the fields of architecture and applied arts were brought together. Originating in France, this style was well-known for not being concerning itself with functionalism and technology. It was a fashion-oriented style that was strongly decorative and influenced by Art Nouveau. 

       It all started with l'Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The event received 4,000 guests on the day of inauguration with thousands of visitors each of the following days. The style later would become known as "Art Deco" a modern style characterized by a streamlined classicism, and geometric and symmetric compositions, The public however, was not as excited about this new style. they were a quite hesitant to accept it.

       Chevron shapes, zigzags, large mirrors, glass, and prominent light fixtures are the most noted characteristics of Art Deco. The transition of horizontal and vertical lines that create the silhouette of a staircase step were also used and very common during this time. Materials like ebony, zebra wood with inlays of ivory, tortoise-shell, leather, and polished metals are all examples of luxury materials that are commonly used when designing Art Deco interiors. 

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EXTRA CREDIT:

It's in French, but the man basically takes you on a tour around the city of Paris, talking about the different buildings that were constructed during the Art Deco period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j63-tY3okk&list=PLGYKyocXgHJLhj84fYZrogiPhi4hLCAKf

Peer Review

Ashley: I thought the images that Ashley  posted were really interesting. My favorite ones were of the Barcelona exhibition and the recreation of  the Villa Tugendaht.

Miryam: Miryam summed up the characteristics of the International Style well and focused on Mies Van der Rohe. The images provided were nice as well.

The Emergence of Modernism: Le Corbusier

       With the end of the first World War, certain characteristics in the interior design field emerged. There was a simplification of forms, rejection of ornamentation, adoption of glass, steel and concrete, transparancy of buildings, "honest construction", and the acceptance of industrialized mass-production techniques. These characteristics were the basis of what was soon to be referred to as " the international style."

      One of the architects who was a major player during this time was Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, formerly known as Le Corbusier. He was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, and writer, but he was most known for his urban design. He was born in Switzerland but became a French citizen in 1930. His career lasted 50 years with the construction of buildings across Europe, India, and the Americas. Le Corbusier's philosophy was to improve the industrialized urban cities such as Paris. 

       Le Corbusier respected historic design in the sense that he combined his passion for classical Greek architecture with the modern machine. He published his ideas in a book titled "Vers une Architecture" meaning "towards one architecture."In his book, he refers to the house as a "machine for living." What Le Corbusier meant was that homes were essentially an industrial product that should include functional furniture. In his mind, the industrial processes responded to human needs.

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Below are examples of homes that in my opinion were inspired by Le Corbusier's work like Villa Savoye and how it's elevated off the ground.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A07NnUu6x0