International Style

This term was seen first in the catalogue of Alfred J. Barr, the museum of modern art in New York 1931. It is more or less a collection of mutual characteristics, methods, techniques, materials and events which happened concerning designers like Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe. There had been many changes going through at the time. After WW1 we can see an advance in technology, lots of migration and designers moving from one culture to another. People were building houses again and industry was being given more attention.

During the time of the 1930’s, the International Style was best described as the style with use of industrial materials like glass and steel, geometric forms. Later, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen promoted contrast between geometric and organic forms which expanded mostly in furniture and products with function.

Eileen Gray was a designer of rational furniture like for example Transat chair and the E-1027.

She was vey much inspired from the geometric lines of De Stijl and modern principles from the Bauhaus. Also, awareness about the ergonomics can already be felt since the chair incorporates textiles. In addition,  people wanted their designs to be industrialized and functional, they had to make the design as simple as possible with flat clean surfaces.

Mies van Der Rohe was a designer, exponent of the International style and also the last director at the Bauhaus. In fact he worked close to Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier. He designed his own versions of tubular steel such as the MR10 and the MR20 armchair. The black surface is clearly evidence of early influences of Modernism. The International style continued on elaborating on the function aspects of designs and reducing decoration. Natural materials were being used in an innovative way such as bent wood. Ray and Charles Eames had worked and developed initial techniques and we can see some examples from their works.

Eame’s Molded Plywood Chair

Max Bill has also contributed to this style. He studied silver smiting and was inspired by Cubism and Dada. Like Walter Gropius, he was related to the Bauhaus were he valued the belief of approaching function to design. He also founded the School of Design where he emphasized Bauhaus characteristics of geometric forms and believed that works based on Maths laws, endorsed an aesthetic purity. From his industrial designs, there is a particular one of his popular works which are his wall clocks. We can see some examples such as the one of 1957 with Model No. 32/0389 .  The clock gives the impression of formality and is simple with geometric lines and shapes. Nowadays, designers are sill producing similar clocks with a more dynamic approach. Black, white and silver are the key colours which make the work look formal and give it a sense of standard and discipline.

Reference

International Style of Modern Architecture, 2015. Origins, Characteristics. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/architecture/international-style.htm.> [Accessed 27 January 2015].

Fiell, C. and Fiell, P. (1999). Design of the 20th century. Ko¨ln: Taschen.