References List

1.Art,Design and Visual Thinking.http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/artcraft/artcraft.htm

2.Art, Crafts Styles. The Arts and Crafts Movement A brief history and description.http://www.arts-and-crafts-style.com/arts-and-crafts-movement.html

3.William Morris-Art and Craft movement.http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/graphic_designers/william_morris.html

4.http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/arts-and-crafts.htm

GD063Name: Eva Chen

Student ID: i133130

Design and Life:

The Art and Craft movement started as a idea to advance the

design of objects, William Morris and his partners started to produce

handcrafted works that could effect every aspect of life. They looked

at everyday decorative objects such as: wallpapers, furnishings,

printed fabrics, jewelry, metal works, ceramics, tapestry art, furniture

and wood carving. Natural materials where popular as well, for

instance, floor and furniture where made of unpainted wood. The

influence of the Art and Craft movement also embodied Color

schemes, frequently using mustard yellows, terracotta shades, deep

blues, deep crimsons, and drab greens.

The Art and Craft movement was a very suc-

cessful design movement in the middle of the

nineteenth Century, It was based on the idea

of opposing the worst aspects of industrial

society. William Morris, a leader of the move-

ment who believed that Designs and Art should

both exist in beautiful and functional objects. He

helped to skill workers and built the decorative arts in a

new way in Europe. The movement brightened the grey life of the

time and it still maintains a great influence and style being popular

utill today.

The Art and Craft movement originated from the late eighteen century and

into the early nineteenth century. It took it’s name after the Art and Craft

Exhibition Society in 1888. And it was the most popular and profound

movement of the time and had a great influence during that period and

the movement was seen worldwide. It was a movement that worked

against the industrialism of the 19th Century in both England and Ameri-

can. It looked to revive and develop the traditional craft skills, which

embodied aestheticism with concept of simplicity, beauty of natural and

sociality.

William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896)

The idea of the Art and Craft movement

was for improvement of the quality of design;

they made objects to a high quality in order to

improve the quality of life. This enabled high-

quality products to be affordable. The Art and

Craft movement was based on the aestheticism

movement which was a growing trend in that

period of time. The beauty of objects was of

great concern. People made things using and

improving craft skills, building features of prod-

ucts that had connections to the decorative

arts and showed decorative functionality.

The ideology of this movement had a

strong impact, and it was influenced by William

Morris, who was called the ‘father’ of the Art

and Craft movement. He was the most influen-

tial and energetic designer during that period of

time, and he was an artist, printer, craftsman,

and writer also.

Morris advocated that hand-made objects

should replace mass-produced objects, and

they should be useful and affordable for all

people, not only for the upper-class. So the

movement concentrated on producing products

for the working class, selling products at lower

prices and getting more profit through quantity. This idea and

Morris’s design style had a great impact on society. He believed

beauty and craft skill should both appear on the works, and he

believed that perfect pattern designs came from God and where

apparent in nature. So he blended two main basic forms: natural

and romantic medieval styles, linking them as a conceptual of

expresseion of the past and present.

Members expanded their vision styles in lots of

ways as abstractionism was starting at that period of

time. Rather than draw pictures in realism, people

preferred to draw objects in a more abstract

manner. So they simplified natural items into

symbols or images with little ornamentation and

repeated them into patterns. Objects, such as flowers,

leaves, birds and stylized motifs where connected with ideas of

Romanticism and the Gothic.

In the early 19th Century, Industrialized society was growing

rapidly and it caused several problems to the environment and

surroundings that people lived in. People normally lived in small,

dark room homes, pollution was progressively getting worse. So

they used beautiful patterns (which where normally inspired form

the British countryside) with soft, contrasting colors. Because they

thought plants where the best elements that could directly

expresses a more positive environment, this gave a connection

between the home and nature. This phenomenon is called biophillia

(the love of nature).

Because Britain controlled the sea and they

became the most prosperous country in

Europe, and reached the peak as an Imperical

power during the late 18th Century. It was then

that the industrial revolution started in England

and soon spread out to the world. Manufactur-

ing and production in full flourish. The quantity

of products that where being made generally

decreased the need for traditional labour. The

movement saw the quality and design of prod-

ucts deteriorating. Thus, in 1888 there were

some artists, philosopher,s and designers real-

izing this situation and they thought the prod-

ucts were destroying traditional craftsmanship,

the quality of artistry and spirit where lacking,

People’s life got more production that are

superfluous and monotonous. So they got

ideas and started want to build up the poor

quality of factory products, increasing the

authenticity of it and build everything in new-

ness. They more looked at products design as

‘Proper’ Art, It means they do not care about

money, only care about product itself

(appearance, use, quality and construction

etc.). This group of people pushed forward of

culture, higher culture with high and perfect

crafts, and making craft skill like a science.

The idea of the Art and Craft movement

was for improvement of the quality of design;

they made objects to a high quality in order to

improve the quality of life. This enabled high-

quality products to be affordable. The Art and

Craft movement was based on the aestheticism

movement which was a growing trend in that

period of time. The beauty of objects was of

great concern. People made things using and

improving craft skills, building features of prod-

ucts that had connections to the decorative

arts and showed decorative functionality.

The ideology of this movement had a

strong impact, and it was influenced by William

Morris, who was called the ‘father’ of the Art

and Craft movement. He was the most influen-

tial and energetic designer during that period of

time, and he was an artist, printer, craftsman,

and writer also.

Morris advocated that hand-made objects

should replace mass-produced objects, and

they should be useful and affordable for all

people, not only for the upper-class. So the

movement concentrated on producing products

for the working class, selling products at lower

History and Aims: Ideas and Impacts: