- Perhaps the most important influence
on contemporary design is the Bauhaus.
The Bauhaus was a school in Germany
training designers in all fields.
To this day, most design education
is based on the Bauhaus teaching method.
The Bauhaus was the place where
all the previous movements and styles came together.
At the core of all these prior movements,
constructivism, futurism, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil,
and arts and crafts was the idea that design
could make the world a better place.
This was the guiding principle at the Bauhaus.
Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in 1919.
Like the leaders of the other movements at the time,
he believed the old order of aristocracy and corruption
had led Germany into the catastrophic war.
Design would create a new society
and a better way of life.
He saw the solution as a return to an earlier medieval time
when artists and craftsmen worked as one.
But he wasn't interested in medieval romantic forms.
Like the constructivist, he viewed the machine
and an industrial civilization as the way forward.
These tenants of the Bauhaus created a style
that would dominant the rest of the 20th Century.
They are the central ideas of modernism.
First, a designer should strive for the highest quality
and craftsmanship.
Herbert Bayer's poster for subject as ordinary
as a collaborative housing project
adopts perfect geometric forms
and highly refined typography.
Second, less is more.
Ornament was corrupt and unnecessary.
A brochure for the town of Dessau's tourist office,
doesn't show the details
of the heavily ornamented town hall,
the Rathaus Dessau,
it focuses on a modern airplane
and the simple Bauhaus building.
Third, work should be true to its materials.
Wood should look like wood
and steel should look like steel.
The metal on this chair is metal.
The straps are leather.
Internal forms of the chair are all exposed.
Nothing is hidden under heavy fabrics
or pretends to be anything other
than metal and straps.
Next, form follows function.
The design of something should be functional,
never decorative.
The invitation to the inauguration of the Dauhaus campus
is divided into specific areas
for image and information.
Times are highlighted in red
and the typography has a clear hierarchy.
And good design manufactured with mass production
ensured equality and harmony.
Marianne Brandt's tea and coffee set
is based on pure geometry and uniform materials.
There are no meaningless flowers or any ornamental details.
The simple forms could be mass produced
and bring harmonious beauty into an average home.
The Bauhaus building at Dessau
is a good example of these ideas.
It is not a grandiose structure
filled with statues and marble.
It is a machine for education, a factory to teach.
Graphic design at the Bauhaus was minimal
and lacked any unnecessary decoration or elements.
The Bauhaus was the central point where the old world ended
and the new world began.
It was a culmination of World War I, industrialization
and all the previous movements.
The way we live, work and design today,
is either a direct result of the Bauhaus
or a reaction against it.
The fact that much of the work still feels fresh and clear
is a testament to the solid principles of Bauhaus modernism.