How Designs Have Changed Throughout History
CULTURE | November 5, 2019
Dining_Room-Examples-of-Ancient-and-Modern-Furniture-1876. Source: (pinterest.com)
Ever thought about becoming an interior designer? Looking back in time, some of the designs that we consider to be antique designs are still used today to purposely create unique atmospheres. For example, some people love to have their home designed in an early American style to remind them of those days. What was common to the people back then is unique to us today.
Take this bedroom from medieval times – it looks like a bedroom that Granny Clampet would feel right at home in. This is a very basic design using mostly wood.
Interior designers began designing as far back as the Ancient Egyptians with their mud huts decorated with sculptures, murals, and animal skins. Romans and Greeks decorated their homes with simple items such as ironworks of pots, pans, and other related utensils. Then there was the era of the French Renaissance where decorators decorated with paintings, marble, and expensive furniture. After that, there was the Italian style that included stained glass. By the 19th century, there were numerous styles such as Art Deco, Bauhaus, and others.
This Chinese design is a more modern design that features a specific culture. Many interior designers will focus on culture or specific time to portray that era. Besides this Chinese design and Early American designs, there are many others like the French-Provincial designs and British style designs. Each culture has specific features that are unique to add a certain flair to attract the attention of the buyer or client.
Born in Hungary in 1902, Marcel Breuer was a designer of unique furniture that he made out of various types of wood and metal. He lived in Berlin, Switzerland, and England before he came to America in 1937 when he became quite successful in the area of architecture.
He created various types of chairs such as the Wassily chair (1960s) which became a modern chair made out of tubular steel. As early as 1925, he designed cantilevered chairs using bent metal tubing.
Using plywood, Breuer designed various other pieces of furniture including this unusual chair called the Long Chair. He created this piece while living in England. Despite the simple contour and form of it, it has passed the test for durability and strength.
Born in 1886 in Aachen, Germany, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe started off in his father’s stone carving shop. From there, he went on to work with other designers such as Walter Gropius and Bruno Paul until he eventually became an independent designer. He started off designing upper-class homes. He later became the director of the Bauhaus design school until he relocated to America. When he moved to Chicago, Illinois, he became the head of the architecture school at Chicago’s Armour Institute of Technology. He was able to design many of the buildings there.
The Seagram Building in New York was just one of Ludwig’s awesome modern design projects. He had many wealthy clients that included the construction of other buildings such as the Farnsworth House, Crown Hall, Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the One Charles Center (23-story building made of aluminum and glass) in Baltimore, and many others.
Interior, as well as the exterior designs, have become more and more fascinating and unusual as people come up with different creative ideas.
