How Arts and Crafts Era Industrial Design Influenced Me

Craftspeople and artists often have a personal and distinctive style that is all their own.  I want to put down in writing the principles that define the underlying structure behind my designs.  I realize that sounds fancier then it seems like it needs to be - but bear with me - I promise this will be interesting. :)

While I was planning the beginning of my woodworking studio (Artfully Functional), I decided I wanted to develop some overall design principles that I would try and apply to everything I designed and built.

I've always been an admirer of the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century.  The Arts and Crafts movement, however, doesn't have anything to do with modern arts and crafts (It's important to make a distinction between the 100-year-old movement, and the modern vernacular).   Modern arts and crafts is gluing together pretzels to make model log cabins, making figurines out of Sculpey, or really doing anything with supplies from Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or any crafts supply store (try not to support Hobby Lobby - they have proved themselves to be anti-transgender).  As a contemporary crafts-person, I often engage in all kinds of modern arts and crafts actives (although no more gluing together pretzels). ;)

Back to the Arts and Crafts movement - which basically involved 'traditional craftsmanship using simple forms.'  There was, of course, lots more to it then that - but I'm not Wikipedia, and I know you can just click over and read its fairly well-written article on the Arts and Crafts movement.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

While my design style has many different influences, it was while researching the Arts and Crafts movement that I learned about the concepts of craft-based and industrial design:

Crafts-based design is when a crafts-person is designing an object as they are crafting it.  This is commonly used by craftspeople making one-of-a-kind pieces where the piece develops as the crafts-person creates it.

Industrial design is where the object is carefully designed before being constructed (often many are constructed from the same plan - think 'assembly line').  This is commonly employed for commercial objects, but can be employed by craftspeople too.

Part of my background was working as the scenery shop supervisor for a university theatre department (Spellcheck keeps pestering me.  As I use it, 'Theatre' is the institution and 'Theater' is the physical place).  When a production is being created, there are plans and drawings created to reflect the designers artistic vision.  Further plans and drawings are created to show the same artistic vision, but from a technical point-of-view.  Artistic drawings are great - but you really need something more technical to actually build anything.  That's where I came in - I made what was drawn on the technical plans real.  It's therefore not surprising that my design principles would be influenced by my time in the theatre.  Not influenced artistically (although I suppose there was some of that), but influenced technically.  Long story short, I find great value in having technical drawings of an object before it is built.  This is very much in line with the concepts of Industrial Design.  Typically, my design process is iterative, and I'll draw a number of versions of an idea before finalizing the one I'm actually going to build.

Modern Industrial Design has evolved and become more complex - but the concepts of Industrial Design developed during the early 20th century are those I draw my design principles from. (How many times can I use the word 'design' in a sentence?)  To sum up, here is a graphic from a depreciated version my 'Artfully Functional' website:

I'll restate things here so I can elaborate my ideas on them.

From the venerable William Harrison Varnum's work entitled 'Industrial Arts Design' comes this quotation: "In order to start successfully upon a design, it is necessary to know what qualities a good industrial article should possess."  He refers to three principles:

I have a little trouble with this principle.  On the surface, it is pretty straightforward, but whenever I think about what 'service to the community, or to the individual' means - I think about how, exactly, this potential community or individual might use my crafted article. 

Usually, I decide my designs must have a function, and not be purely art for arts sake (ars gratia artis).  For example, I might design a really good-looking and artistic side table, and it is of service because it is a table (and we all need places to put things).  I  would not design a really good-looking and artistic side table that couldn't function as a table.  

I want to clarify, I'm not against pure art.  I do think that 'art for arts sake' is valid.  Art can certainly be of service to the community and individuals just by being what it is - evoking emotions and making us think.  However, I try to make my art serve a specific physical function (i.e., the side table where I can put down my wine glass - in order to refill it, of course).

Some crafts are intended to be fleeting (i.e., Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas).  While others last for generations (your antique Louis XIV chair).  The point is, you want your crafts to last as long as is appropriate, and the material you make it out of will dictate that.

Generally, I want my crafts to last as long as possible.  Much of what I design is furniture or fixtures, and no one wants to have to buy a new dining room table every year because I don't make the last one durable enough.  Durability is a quality that can be designed into something, and that is exactly what I try to do.

This one is more complex than it seems.  Boiled down, it seems to be saying your craft should 'look good'.  This is a laudable goal, but whether or not something looks good is incredibly subjective.

Everyone has different tastes, and you can't satisfy everyone's artistic sensibilities at the same time.

William Harrison Varnum has much to say on what proper proportion, outline, and color are (check out the book), but he was writing about a fairly narrow set of design concepts from 100 years ago.  That isn't to say his ideas aren't valid (I happen to be a big fan of them), but I think this principle can be taken as reminder that the item you're creating should be in harmony with itself and your own design style.  Personally, I try to follow some of Varnum's rules for proportion, outline, and color - but I often stray into my own style as well.

When I'm designing (and drawing) a new item, I try to keep these three principles in mind.  I find this keeps my style consistent, and ensures I've thought out the entire process of actually building the item. (For example, I need to decide what I'm making something out of to know if it is going to be durable.)  I'll generally end up with a drawing like this one (where I try to detail the item from every angle and consideration):

Finished drawings make finally building the thing much, much easier.  Not to mention more efficient, and allows for the possibility of building another (or a derivative) in the future.  Take a look at my post about designing and building a Fireplace Mantel for another example. 

Hopefully I've clarified some of my design and style principles - and by doing so, made you think about your own. :)

 -Lia

  Contact Me

  My Writings  (Transgender Woodworker content)
  Artfully Functional  (my studio)
  LiaZero.com  (all my online content)