design history

an important part of design, is also learning it's history and the designs that stem from those styles. in my design history class, using what we had learned, we were then tasked each week to design a particular item inspired by each design period

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Cherub's footwear

a cornerstone of the baroque time period and it's style is the ornate floral pattern often displayed in gold leaf on white or marble background. another important iconography of the baroque style is the prevalence of angelic figures such as cherubs (the winged babies)

with this knowledge, i wanted to design a sandal that combined the highlights of the baroque style while still able to fit with modern tastes.

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beach nouveau

art nouveau is renowned for it's swooping whiplash curve designs and it's heavy inspiration from the natural world. art nouveau is also known for its intricate stain glass work as seen by famous designer louis comfort tiffany, and it's curving bent metal resembling vines like seen in the works of hector guimard, most notably, the paris metro.

with this knowledge, i utilized those sweeping metal curves to be the main base of my street lamp. then, i used stain glass light shade resembling a seashell.

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fragmented shakers

while many people are familair with the cubist movement because of the works of pablo picasso, few people realize that this movement extended beyond jagged paintings. many cubist designs, like the art, utilize simplified geometric forms but abstract them somehow. cubism is also known for it's slicing planes, crstalline shapes, and sharp angles. with these methods, it creates a feeling of fragmentation and ever changing perspectives.

using the common motifs seen in cubism, i created a pair of salt and pepper shakers. the pepper shaker uses a basic geometric shape but it has been sliced in half to create a slanted plane. then opposing sides are decorated with fractured triangles colored monochromatically with chrome accents. then, for the salt shaker, i wanted to push more into the idea of a different perspective with every side. to achieve this it uses lots of sharp curves to connect each layer. then the non-chrome sides are fragmented into colorful traingles with chrome and wood accents to connect it to its pair.

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Miami moderne

art deco has a strong sense of futurism and bright metallic finishes. art deco is also known for its repetition of threes and borrowing concepts and characters from popular mythology. a sub-genre of art deco emerged in miami. this sub-genre leaned more into curves and strayed from too many sharp corners. to match the vibrance of miami, many of the designs in this movement, use bright pastels and bold pops of color.

what is more perfect to represent miami art deco than a beach chair that would fit in perfectly. for this design, i used basic wood accents for the main body, but utilized colored panels inside the arms and repeating that pattern as the chair back.

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schroder boat

the modernist movement goes by many names but is most notably recognized by its connected to the bauhaus, a german art school that heavily influenced the movement. the motto of modernism was that form follows function and that embellishment should be minimal. many of the designs in this period used humble materials, with primary colors, simple geometric forms, and were all about framing the environment.

one of my favorite designs from the modernist movement is the schroder house designed by gerrit reitveld. it was through his designs that i took heavy inspiration when designing my human-propelled transportation device. the main bench of this pontoon boat is inspired by reitveld's red blue chair which has two intersecting planes creating a seat. for the floating device itself i took inspiration from another modernism symbol, the twa flight center, which was designed by eero saarinen

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team disney toaster

as a response to the strict rules of modernism, my favorite design movement was born: post-modernism. post-modernism rejected the rules previously stated by modernism, instead using design as an exploration of people's taste and indulging in personality. some of the highlights of post-modern design is wit, exaggerated detailing, bright colors, modified simple shapes, and most importantly everyday objects becoming more and creating a unique experience.

post-modernism is where many of disney's iconic architecture comes from. some of their most popular designs are the team disney building in burbank designed by michael graves and the team disney in orlando designed by arata isozaki. it was because of this (and my love for disney) that i wanted to work on creating a toaster inspired by a post-modern disney design. i wanted the toaster to be oddly shaped and have some fun aspect that differentiated it from regular toasters: a window to the bread and one single slit. additionally, i simplied down the common iconography associated with the core five of disney characters and used a memphis-design style of patterning to create a fun base

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contemporary cat loft

the contemporary movement is still actively going on and has several various aspects that can be attributed to it. some of these is small aspects of color, accented minimalism, a focus on small spaces, vertical gardens, humble materials, and combinations of texture. one of the focuses of contemporary design is a notion of "biophilia" known as a "love of life" and a connection to nature.

as the final design for this exploration of design history, we were able to choose whatever we wished. so, i, as a cat enthusiast, wanted to create a piece of furniture that rivaled common cat tree houses, but was more aesthetically pleasing. i pulled together common materials from contemporary design (wood, marble, glass) and paired it with cat friendly materials (rattan, hemp) to work on an environment that they would enjoy. i wanted to make sure there were plenty of hiding cuddle spots but also places to play like the rattan hammock, hanging pom pom, scratching wall, and even the vertical cat-grass garden. while the main room is still aesthetic, i also wanted the opposite side to be just as nice so if company was to visit, you could rotate the furniture to create an accent table while cats could still have access.

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