From: IN%"kbid@xxxxxxxxxx" "Katherine Bennett" 20-AUG-1994 18:48:46.73
To: IN%"HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx" "Howard Lawrence"
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Date: Sat, 20 Aug 1994 15:52:39 -0700
From: Katherine Bennett <kbid@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: gmokrejon@xxxxxxxxxxx
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To: Howard Lawrence <HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-to: Katherine Bennett <kbid@xxxxxxxxxx>
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Gustavo Morejon asks for info for his project:
"this project is about how funcional forms and forms in general
comunicate socio-cultural reality,..."
...and then goes on to ask for info on new theroies of design, etc. This
quote is not new, but it relates to form as a cultural expression, by the
master of expressive form, Eva Zeisel (who taught at Pratt for years and has an
amazing body of work, and an equally amazing life story):
"All lines and forms, whether the gnarled branch of a tree, or the gentle
contour of a vase, evoke emotional responses through associations, which
within the same culture are similar. The designer, sharing common
associations with his audience, communicates his feelings." (New Yorker
magazine, April 13, 1987)
Or how about this one, one of my favorites...
[a reaction against contemporary design] "There has been so much
patricidal sarcasm, so many empty efforts to mock one's forebears."
(House and Garden magazine, July 1992)
Look this designer up, those of you who don't know her work. She is not
one who chases after publicity, so she's not as well known as she ought
to be. The New Yorker article is a good survey of her life, and the
catalogue of her work from a show in '87, "Eva Zeisel- Designer for Industry"
Is a fairly complete retrospective. It's still available from the
Brooklyn Museum bookstore. They do mail-order.
She may be a good reference for you, because she is not only a modern
master, but also a supremely eloquent writer and lecturer. There is a
complete bibliography in the catalogue.
Reason why I bring her up, is that she talks about (and has since the 30's)
the need to return to what I call "personality" in design. If there is a
common theme these days, it is away from stark, unemotional modernism and
toward products that provide a richness of experience, associations, and
references. Especially important is the richness of the experience in
observing and using the product. Look around you. You'll see it in the
new design everywhere. People are rejecting sterility. Here's more
Zeisel (from the catalogue, this time):
"The designer must understand that form does not follow function, nor
does form follow a production process. For every use and for every
production process there are innumerable equally attractive possibilities."
Another designer who writes regularly and eloquently (and often on this
topic, as well, which is nice), is Bill Stumpf. I can't place my hand on
the source, but he wrote for one of the journals of design - does it come
out of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis? - an issue a few years ago
in which he talks about the richness of experience in such products as
the Wooten desk, the Morgan auto...maybe someone else can find the
source. We're just ending a term here at Art Center and I don't want to
clean off my desk until it's necessary to start the fall term. It's
in there somewhere. If you can't find it, let me know in about 3 weeks.
I'll have done an archaelogical excavation of my desk and maybe I'll have
found it by then.
But. In any case. If you want my read on the trend, if you want to call
it that, that's it. Richness of experience, and expressive form. (and not
a superficial, decorative pastiche, like Po Mo, either. I'm talking
something more substantial, and more lasting.)
Regards, Katherine
____________________________________________________________________
Katherine Bennett kbid@xxxxxxxxxx
Katherine Bennett Industrial Design
To: IN%"HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx" "Howard Lawrence"
CC:
Subj: RE: gmokrejon@xxxxxxxxxxx
Return-path: <[email protected]>
Return-path: [email protected]
Received: from Jnet-DAEMON by ARCH.PSU.EDU (PMDF #12866) id
<01HG554I9I8K95MLSB@xxxxxxxxxxxx>; Sat, 20 Aug 1994 18:48 EDT
Received: From PSUVM(MAILER) by PSUARCH with Jnet id 0799 for HRL@PSUARCH; Sat,
20 Aug 1994 18:48 EST
Received: from PSUVM.PSU.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@PSUVM) by PSUVM.PSU.EDU
(LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 7020; Sat, 20 Aug 1994 18:54:24 -0400
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 1994 15:52:39 -0700
From: Katherine Bennett <kbid@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: gmokrejon@xxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <199408192243.PAA15854@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: Industrial Design Forum <[email protected]>
To: Howard Lawrence <HRL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-to: Katherine Bennett <kbid@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-id: <01HG554I9I8K95MLSB@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
X-To: Industrial Design Forum
<IDFORUM%YORKVM1.BITNET@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Gustavo Morejon asks for info for his project:
"this project is about how funcional forms and forms in general
comunicate socio-cultural reality,..."
...and then goes on to ask for info on new theroies of design, etc. This
quote is not new, but it relates to form as a cultural expression, by the
master of expressive form, Eva Zeisel (who taught at Pratt for years and has an
amazing body of work, and an equally amazing life story):
"All lines and forms, whether the gnarled branch of a tree, or the gentle
contour of a vase, evoke emotional responses through associations, which
within the same culture are similar. The designer, sharing common
associations with his audience, communicates his feelings." (New Yorker
magazine, April 13, 1987)
Or how about this one, one of my favorites...
[a reaction against contemporary design] "There has been so much
patricidal sarcasm, so many empty efforts to mock one's forebears."
(House and Garden magazine, July 1992)
Look this designer up, those of you who don't know her work. She is not
one who chases after publicity, so she's not as well known as she ought
to be. The New Yorker article is a good survey of her life, and the
catalogue of her work from a show in '87, "Eva Zeisel- Designer for Industry"
Is a fairly complete retrospective. It's still available from the
Brooklyn Museum bookstore. They do mail-order.
She may be a good reference for you, because she is not only a modern
master, but also a supremely eloquent writer and lecturer. There is a
complete bibliography in the catalogue.
Reason why I bring her up, is that she talks about (and has since the 30's)
the need to return to what I call "personality" in design. If there is a
common theme these days, it is away from stark, unemotional modernism and
toward products that provide a richness of experience, associations, and
references. Especially important is the richness of the experience in
observing and using the product. Look around you. You'll see it in the
new design everywhere. People are rejecting sterility. Here's more
Zeisel (from the catalogue, this time):
"The designer must understand that form does not follow function, nor
does form follow a production process. For every use and for every
production process there are innumerable equally attractive possibilities."
Another designer who writes regularly and eloquently (and often on this
topic, as well, which is nice), is Bill Stumpf. I can't place my hand on
the source, but he wrote for one of the journals of design - does it come
out of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis? - an issue a few years ago
in which he talks about the richness of experience in such products as
the Wooten desk, the Morgan auto...maybe someone else can find the
source. We're just ending a term here at Art Center and I don't want to
clean off my desk until it's necessary to start the fall term. It's
in there somewhere. If you can't find it, let me know in about 3 weeks.
I'll have done an archaelogical excavation of my desk and maybe I'll have
found it by then.
But. In any case. If you want my read on the trend, if you want to call
it that, that's it. Richness of experience, and expressive form. (and not
a superficial, decorative pastiche, like Po Mo, either. I'm talking
something more substantial, and more lasting.)
Regards, Katherine
____________________________________________________________________
Katherine Bennett kbid@xxxxxxxxxx
Katherine Bennett Industrial Design