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CRITICAL DISCOURSE OF POSTMODERN AESTHETICS IN CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE: AN EXAMINATION ON ART AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN ART EDUCATION

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Sun-Ok Moon *****

The Ohio State University

1999

Dissertation Committee: ^Approved by

Dr. Vesta A. H. Daniel, Advisor

Dr. Arthur Efland ' Advisor

Dr. Georgianna Short Department of Art Education ÜMI Number: 99413 91

UMI Microform 9941391 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.

This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ABSTRACT

In this study I investigate how contemporary furniture, as an expression of

postmodern aesthetics, can be made accessible to the largest number of people as

particularly through an examination and realization of art and everyday life in art education. I use qualitative content analysis as the principle methodology to explore postmodern aesthetics of communication in contemporary furniture from around 1980 to the present. Through literature review, this study focuses on a variety of approaches to the postmodern aesthetics of communication in contemporary furniture in terms of striking a balance between the function and aesthetics of contemporary furniture called

New Design furniture, especially pieces that are considered one of a kind as is characteristic of painting or sculpture. 1 will investigate three areas related to the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture: 1) background of New

Design furniture, 2) characteristics of New Design furniture, and 3) critical discourse about New Design furniture. From the results of this study examining the aesthetics of postmodern furniture as metaphor, 1 will develop a unit of instruction for an aesthetics class in art education.

For use in an examination of art and everyday life in art education, this unit of study attempts to address the socialization of a piece of furniture representing postmodern aesthetics in terms of revival, réintroduction, and reinterpretation of ideas from historical references and the adaptation of fine arts. Therefore, this study will examine the integration of theory and practice in fine arts and furniture design in the postmodern era for art education, in that artwork must be close to, appreciated and, imderstood by, and communicate with the broadest possible public, who will be able to enjoy and use the furniture in their daily living spaces. For My Mother, Father, and Three Younger Sisters

IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, from the bottom of my heart I thank my advisor and three committee members for giving me the best of encouragement during my study. My advisor. Dr.

Daniel, is one of the nicest persons I have ever met in my life. Her words have given me comfort and pleasure so that I did not have any problem in developing my ideas for the study. She always offered her opinion in such a way that she did not discourage me from keeping on. Her efforts in responding to my work enabled me to go forward without any hesitation in completing it. Dr. Efland has given me invaluable advice for my work. I have been surprised that his knowledge covers any field from fine arts to design or craft.

He pointed out the needs of my work sharply. And I can not forget Dr. Short and Dr.

Morris, who gave me important advice for developing my study. Dr. Short’s specific response to my lesson plans helped me improve my dissertation. Dr. Morris has always been thoughtful in helping me with my study. I am so proud to have worked with these people. In fact, I think I can not be here without their help so that it is so lucky for me to have known these four people in my life. I can not ever forget their thoughtful and insightful words. Their words and perspective will be kept in mind when I am teaching my students in Korea. Second, I thank my mother, father, and three younger sisters for their support during my study. My mother and father have supported me from their hearts. My mother especially has believed in and has made sacrifices for me. As I am her first child, I would like to dedicate my Ph.D. degree to my mother. As a woman rather than a mother, she has a different view to her first child and beyond encouragement always had high expectations of me. Finally, I thank my teachers in Korea, Professors

Choi, Park, Kwak, and Choi. They have given me encouragement from the beginning of my study in Korea till now. VITA

1984...... B.F.A. Woodworking and Furniture Design,

Hong-Lk University, Seoul, Korea

1990...... M.F.A. Woodworking and Furniture Design

Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea

1995-1996...... Graduate studies in Furniture Design, Rhode

Island School of Design FIELD OF STUDY

Major Field: Art Education

Studies in Contemporary Furniture in the Postmodern Era Studies in Aesthetics Studies in Curriculum Theory (Education)

VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Abstract ...... ii

Dedication...... iv

Acknowledgement...... v

Vita...... vii

List of Tables ...... xiii

List of Pictures...... xiv

Chapters

1. UNDERSTANDING POSTMODERN AESTHETICS OF NEW DESIGN

Need for the Study ...... 1 Statement of the Problem/Research Question ...... 7 Related Literature...... 10 Purpose of the Study ...... II Definition of Terms...... 12 Limitations...... 13 Summary...... 14 Organization of the Remainder of the Dissertation ...... 16

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Introduction...... 17 Defining Postmodern Furniture ...... 19 Defining Pre-Modem Furniture ...... 20 The Machine Age ...... 23 Arts and Craft Movement ...... 25 Art Nouveau ...... 26 Art Deco...... 27 Defining Modem Furniture ...... 28 Background of New Design furniture ...... 31 Characteristics of New Design Furniture ...... 34 ix Critical Discourse about New Design furniture ...... 36 Summary...... 39

3. PORCEDURE

Introduction...... 42 Design of the Study ...... 43 Location of Research/Method of Data Collection ...... 44 Description of Methodology for Content Analysis...... 45

4. A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE IN POSTMODERN ERA

Part One: The Background of New Design Furniture Introduction...... 53 General Description of Three Furniture Designers’ Postmodern Aesthetics ...... 56 Charles Jencks ...... 56 A Definition of Postmodernism...... 56 Pluralism and Eclecticism...... 56 Decoration...... 57 Semantics (meaning)...... 58 Symbolic Object ...... 58 Example 1: Architecture ...... 58 Example 2: Furniture ...... 60 Conclusion...... 62 Robert Venturi ...... 64 A Definition of Postmodernism...... 64 Pluralism and Eclecticism...... 64 Decoration...... 65 Materials...... 66 Conclusion...... 66 Michael Graves ...... 68 A Definition of Postmodernism...... 68 Pluralism and Eclecticism...... 68 Decoration...... 68 Materials...... 69 Conclusion...... 69 Interpretation...... 71 Implications...... 74

Part Two: The Characteristics of New Design Furniture in terms of the Postmodern Aesthetics of Communication Introduction...... 76 General Description of Characteristics of New Design Furniture 77 Postmodern Aesthetics in New Design furniture ...... 77 X New Design Furniture Designers’ Work and concepts ...... 79 Pluralism and Eclecticism...... 80 Metaphor ...... 82 Narrative ...... 84 Humor...... 86 Symbol and Myth ...... 87 Collaboration ...... 89 Fashion for Upholstery ...... 90 Cultural Consideration ...... 92 Conclusion...... ,96 Roles of the Postmodern Aesthetics of Communication in New Design Furniture ...... 98 The designers’ concept ...... 98 Art Appreciation of Everyday Life...... 99 Problems of New Design Furniture in terms of Postmodern Aesthetics ...... 103 Mass Production...... 105 Materials...... 108 Viewer Accessibility ...... I l l Conclusion...... 113 Interpretation...... 114 Implications...... 116

Part Three: Critical Discourse about New Design Furniture in terms of the Postmodern Aesthetics of Communication Introduction...... 118 General Description...... 119 Philippe Starck ...... 119 Starck’s concept...... 119 Love ...... 120 Politics...... 121 Beautiful and Good ...... ,122 Materials...... ,123 Example: a Plastic and Wooden Chair ...... ,124 Summary...... 125 Critical Discourse about the Postmodern Aesthetics ...... 127 Furniture Design for Our Ecology...... 127 Reusing and Recycling Materials...... 128 Out of Fashion Furniture ...... 128 Durability ...... 129 Mass Production...... 130 Furniture by a New Design Philosophy ...... 131 Design from Reused and Recycled Materials...... 131 Furniture, Habitat, and Sustainability ...... 131 A New Aesthetics ...... 132 Summary...... 133 xi Interpretation...... 134 Implications...... 138 Conclusion...... 140 Conclusion and Implications for Teaching Postmodern Aesthetics in New Design Furniture ...... 145

5. DEVELOPING A UNIT OF INSTRUCTION: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING AN AESTHETICS OF ART AND EVERYDAY LIFE

Introduction...... 167 The Unit of Instruction ...... 168 Lesson One: Everyone in the class needs to personally the postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture as metaphor 181 Lesson Two: Each student is to write about how New Design furniture functions as metaphor in interpretation transformed by his/her perspective on a piece of selected New Design furniture ...... 193 Lesson Three: Creating an object expressive of the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture with recyclable objects or materials to be transformed through each student's interpretation as metaphor in everyday life with students by teams of two or three working collaboratively ...... 207 Unit Evaluation ...... 214 Conclusion...... 215

6. IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 218

Implications in the Context of Fine Arts and Craft ...... 219 Philosophy for Teaching ...... 223 Guideline and Recommendations...... 224

APPENDIX...... 227

List of Pictures...... 228

LIST OF REFERENCES...... 261

X ll LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

I. I Postmodern aesthetics through contemporary furniture ...... 77

1.2 New Design furniture designers’ work and concepts ...... 79

1.3 Collaboration ...... 88

1.4 Cultural considerations ...... 92

2.1 Art appreciation of everyday life...... 99

3.1 Problems of New Design furniture ...... 103

3.2 Mass production ...... 104

3.3 Materials...... 108

3.4 Viever accessibility ...... I ll

xiu LIST OF PICTURES

Table Page

Picture 1. Santa chair. Luigi Serafini, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 228

Picture 2. Suspiral chair. Luigi Serafini, 1989 (Downey, 1992)...... 229

Picture 3. Libabel bookcase. Jeannot Cerutti, 1989 (Downey, 1992)...... 230

Picture 4. Rose chair. Masanori Umedia, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 231

Picture 5. Collection of flower-shaped chairs including prototype, Masanori

Umedia, 1990 (Downey, 92)...... 232

Picture 6. Interior of the Ria Leslau accessary boutique, designed by

Volker Albus with Reinhard Muller and Barbara Szuts, 1991 (Downey,

1992)...... 233

Picture 7. Colosseum chair and stool. Charles Jencks, 1984 (Collins & Papadakis,

1989)...... 234

Picture 8. Colosseum chair and stool. Charles Jencks, 1984 (Collins & Papadakis,

1989)...... 235

Picture 9. The Venturi Collection. Robert Venturi for Knoll International USA, 1984

(Dormer, 1987)...... 236

Picture 10. Queen Anne chair. Robert Venturi for Knoll International, 1984 (Dormer,

1987)...... 237

Picture 11. Lounge chair. Michael Graves for Sunar Hauserman, 1984 (Domer, 1987)

XIV ...... 238

Picture 12. Side table and chair. Michael Graves for Sunar Hauserman, 1984 (Domer,

1987)...... 23

Picture 13. Heart & Industry chair. Ron Arad, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

...... 240

Picture 14. Looming Llovd chair with weighted shoes, Ron Arad, 1990 (Downey,

1992)...... 241

Picture 15. St. Petersburg chair. Marcode Gueltzl, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 242

Picture 16. Sol/Sol garbage can. 18 Aout, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 243

Picture 17. Hotel Ukraina chair and sofa. Siegfried Michail Syniuga, 1987

(Dormer, 1987)...... 244

Picture 18. Antinea console. Cherif, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 245

Picture 19. Bench and stool. Cherif, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 246

Picture 20. Domestic Animals collection exhibition. Museo Alchimia,

Milan, 1985 interior and furniture designed by Andrea Branzi

(Downey, 1992)...... 247

Picture 21. Spine chair. Andre Debreuil, 1989 (Downey, 1992)...... 248

Picture 22. Copper and steel chest with glass breads, Andre Dubreauil,1989

(Downey, 1992)...... 249

Picture 23. Mariposa bench. Riccardo Dalisi, 1989 (Downey, 1992)...... 250

Picture 24. Chamaleon table and stool. Terrv Pecora. 1991 (Downey, 1992)...... 251

Picture 25. Zita table. Epinard Blue, 1985 (Dormer, 1987) ...... 252

Picture 26. Table. Danny Lane, 1985 (Dormer, 1987) ...... 253

XV Picture 27. Table. Danny Lane, 1985 (Dormer, 1987) ...... 254

Picture 28. Flower Polished-aluminum vases, 18 Aout, 1989 (Downey, 1992)....255

Picture 29. Navaronne vase. 18 Aout, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 256

Picture 30. Ane.Ui elastic lamp. Karim Azzabi, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 257

Picture 31. Fiarmla elastic lamp. Karim Azzabi, 1990 (Downey, 1992)...... 258

Picture 32. Moodv chair. Eleanor Wood, 1985 (Dormer, 1987) ...... 259

Picture 33. Sarah chair. Gerard Dalmon, 1986 (Dormer, 1987) ...... 260

XVI CHAPTER 1

NEED FOR THE STUDY

Contemporary furniture in the postmodern era communicates symbol, metaphor,

narrative, animation, fluidity, imagination, humor, or wit at a conscious and physical

level with beholders or people encountering it in their daily lives. The use of

communicative elements in contemporary furniture through ideas from the traditions of

craft and from fine arts is called postmodern aesthetics in contemporary furniture. Today,

furniture design tends to emphasize aesthetics, which can be recognized as beauty,

decoration, and/or craftsmanship, through divergent expressions stressing the designers'

individual environment, rather than functionality or comfort. Hence, contemporary

ftimiture in Postmodernism is variously called "art ftimiture," "handmade flimiture,”

"craft furniture," or "studio furniture" (Corbin, 1998, p. 26). Thereby, contemporary

ftimiture design has made postmodern aesthetics accessible to the public. Thus, when an

aesthetics class in art education is intended to explore art and everyday life, postmodern

aesthetics in contemporary furniture, which brings the social and cultural contexts to our attention, is significant as an example of art appreciation through everyday experience.

According to Charles Jencks, an architect and critic who has been one of the most prolific commentators on Postmodernism,

modernism failed as mass-housing and city building partly because it failed to conununicate with its inhabitants and users who might not have liked the style, understood what it meant or even known how to use it. Hence the double coding, 1 the essential definition of Post-Modernism, has been used as a strategy of communicating on various levels at once. (Jencks, 1986, p. 19)

Focusing on Jencks' communication aspect of Postmodernism, in my study, I intend to draw attention to art education’s general neglect of postmodern aesthetics in contemporary fumiture for everyday life. McFee (1987) argues that art education has a responsibility to devise a program which will enable students "to explore how visual qualities and design are used to influence how they think, how they organize their reality, and how they make aesthetic judgements" (p. 109). McFee's proposition is a significant challenge to current practice.

In his historical and philosophical inquiry about the utilitarian object as an appropriate study for art education, Paul Sproll (1990) states: "I use the chair as device with which I examine the relationship between the everyday world and the art world" (p.

12). Therefore, as the next step after Sproll’s study, I will explore ways through which art education can bring fumiture design in Postmodernism to a broader audience.

Accordingly, I will address questions about how ftimiture expressing postmodern aesthetics can communicate at a sensory and physical level with a broader public in their daily lives.

According to Efland, Freedman, & Stuhr (1996), a single, generally accepted definition of the postmodern theory has not yet emerged. A description of postmodernism involves multiple perspectives. The term ''''Postmodernism''’ used in most arts represents

aesthetics that oppose concepts fundamental to modernism, such as genre, as a discrete style with distinct boundaries.... However, the term is located in the past and present rather than the future. Bits of the past are placed together in a collagelike fashion. The new conception of time and place suggests the way in which a fragmented past continues to exist in the future. (Efland, Freedman, & Stuhr, 1996, p. 28)

This aspect of the postmodern theory has particular relevance for Postmodern fumiture.

Postmodern fumiture has been represented as reactionary anti-Modemism and as historicism. Postmodem fumittue designers have attempted to return to “symbolism, metaphor, wit, and reference” (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 246). These elements are referred to as the aesthetics of communication in postmodem fumiture. Contemporary fumiture styles in Postmodemism embrace ideas from the historical references and the new technology of the current culture. Thus, fumiture styles are expressed not only in

Postmodemism, but also in Neo-Modemism. Collins & Papadakis (1989) mention that

"both Post - and Neo - Modernism have a high 'art' content that can be applied to the exterior of industrial design"; both Post - and Neo - Modernism are subject to “an evolving technology” (p. 246). The pluralistic and eclectic approaches reestablished by fumiture design in Postmodemism are characteristics of the work of the 1980s and 1990s .

This is exemplified in a simultaneous multiplicity of styles such as New Baroque, New

Modem, and Post-Punk, also known as New Design in contemporary fumiture styles.

Fumiture designs of these styles reinterpret and reintroduce the motives of decoration and craftsmanship. This new pluralism is possible in the decorative arts and in fumiture.

Eclecticism is marked by the fumiture designers’ working across some aesthetic lines.

Downey (1992) maintains that this work remains unencumbered by the multiplicity that some call chaos. She observes that some fumiture designers have suggested that those who consider functionality the most important element “have remained in the most primitive stage o f their design development" (Downey, 1992, p. 155). Overall, with the blurring of art and craft distinctions, today's ftimiture designs tend to be characterized by chaos, biases, and disparities, which are largely expressed in one-of-a-kind works with high art content. This type of fumiture is considered anti-functional because of "its use of decoration, quirkiness of form, and towering scale" (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 146). It appears that fumiture designers of the 1980s and 1990s have stressed aesthetics over functionality or comfort in their fumiture designs. This concern for formal aesthetics has made it difficult for the general public to use the postmodem fumiture.

Contemporary fumiture design has been called New Design. Dormer (1987) observes that today there are two areas. New Design and art-craft, in contemporary fumiture; however, Downey (1992) sees art-craft fumiture as New Design fumiture.

Currently, the fields of fumiture as art or craft and fumiture as product design, or industrial design fumiture mainly associated with new technology, are developing in opposing directions. In fact. New Design represents postmodem fumiture in reflecting the 20*- century traditions of political art, the modem movement, surrealism, expressionism, and the imagery of ethnographic collections (Dormer, 1987). In other words, each designer is following his or her own inspiration, apparently outside the established principles of design or craft but within the accepted territories of 20*- century art (Dormer, 1987, p. 130). Thus, in distinguishing fumiture produced mainly in one-offs or limited editions from industrial fumiture mass-produced mainly by an evolving technology, I identify contemporary fumiture in Postmodemism as New Design.

New Design has produced images which can present the profile of a certain fumiture designer. New Design fumiture designers produce work that communicates elements associated with fluidity, animation, dialogue, message, and episode. Their

4 furniture is symbolic, humorous, witty, mystical, narrative, imaginative, or metaphorical.

The designers encourage the public to appreciate, understand, and enjoy their work

through these communicative elements. Downey (1992) suggests that New Design

fumiture designers also work in other creative fields such as music, clothing, jewelry

design, and set design. The designers see fumiture design as an activity that should be

linked to movement, change, fashion, the building of fantasy, rapidly moving images, and even social issues. For example, fashion uses fumiture design to strengthen its own image, to create a packing to surround and present its image. New Design fumiture designers use fashion and upholsteries to stress the representation of their ideas. Fashion, media, and design are combined to create a stage set for living. New Design furniture designers incorporate their fumiture designs and their understanding of the subtleties of color, light, and pattem in restaurants and shops inspired by the social events of their time through communication aesthetics. Light can be used both as an abstract quality and as pattem in postmodem aesthetics.

As a result, for the Postmodern aesthetics of communication in everyday life, on the one hand. New Design fumiture designers express their ideas in their fumiture through animation, fluidity, humor, imagination, symbol, metaphor, narrative, mysticism, etc. On the other hand, by using fashion, media, and design, along with color, light, and pattem, designers of New Design fumiture complement the images of their fumiture in interiors.

For example, according to Downey (1992), the Santa and Suspiral chairs, by Luigi

Serafini, create a characterization of humor, which is narrative in design and minimal in line along with fully animated spirit. Serafini's ability to animate his fumiture, to guide it

5 from pure function to fiction, produces communication through a harmony of simplicity

and provocation (p. 169)(see Pictures 1, 2). The fumiture series called the “Fluid City,”

by Massimo losa Ghini, emphasizes a city connected by communication rather than

physical intention. The furniture designer’s communication is fluid. The lines of

fumiture design ease movement and erase friction, making the New Design fumiture

flexible, sliding, and flowing. Ghini’s intention is to animate his chair, to render the sedentary active. His designs stmcture the phenomenon of communication in New

Design fumiture (pp. 173-175). The “Libabel” bookcase by Jeannot Cerutti is omamented with stainless steel stars, spearheads, an accordion-fold arm, a real book and wood supports, which are covered with Greek and Roman letters. The bookcase has the appearance of a modem warrior supported by a little mysticism (p. 171) (see Picture 3).

As narrative chairs, the giant, soft flower chairs of Masanori Umeda are attractive, seductive, and communicative. The natural image is strongly felt even in the manipulated plant life by Umeda. His Rose chair “is in full bloom, with just enough space within its layers of plump and plush petals to support one person in an interaction with an object that is at once unnatural because one does not sit on flowers and magical” (p. 103).

Umeda's flowers speak in a poetic imagery beyond the chairs’ function. The flower- shaped chairs embrace natural forms and colors, which may create a natural poetic space.

Downey (1992) claims that Umeda's chairs have attempted a new dimension in the narrative of New Design fumiture, “one which infuses interior space with memory and poetry, one which understands the interior impressionistically rather than structurally, as a stage for the event of living” (p. 103). These flower-shaped chairs built with elaborate craftsmanship also show a willingness for reinterpretation in the tradition of craft: “the

6 invitation to sit on the flowers is evident in the form. If one is still hesitant to do so, it is

because of the old injunction not to touch" (p. 103)(see Pictures 4, 5).

Volker Albus has also moved further into interior furniture design. Albus’

imaginative places for communication become reality through color, light, and pattern.

Albus' message is about animation in space, which is shown through a red folding screen,

moody chandelier, and red puffy stool in the "Molto Decadente" installation. In another similar interior, AJbus incorporates furniture with jewelry, through a partially inflated wall, a lively flower, and an S chair in his accessory boutique shop. His interiors harmonize color, light, and pattern for his imagined places (Downey, 1992, p. 187)(see

Picture 6).

New Design furniture designers encourage people to approach, appreciate, and enjoy contemporary furniture. These installation spaces include restaurants and shops created to explore the potential of life spaces. This study will examine the necessity of art educators’ becoming aware of postmodern aesthetics communicated through contemporary furniture as an example of art appreciation through everyday experience.

Specifically, for an aesthetics class, 1 will develop a unit of instruction about an alternative approach to teaching the aesthetics of everyday life by using the aesthetics of postmodern furniture.

Statement of the Problem/Research Question

Since ancient times, a piece of furniture has not only been used as a practical object, but also treated as an elaborate and decorative object in our life spaces. As a matter of fact, it is difficult for furniture to express, at the same time, the practical and the beautiful, function and design, comfort and aesthetics. Furniture design commonly tends to take one side and rarely strikes a balance between comfort and aesthetics. According to Watson,

strength is of course a permanent requirement of all furniture. A chair which collapses under the weight of the human body is clearly of little use, however decorative it may be. But strength has sometimes had to be supplied at the expense of other qualities. Mediaeval benches and chairs were always solid and comfortable, but they tended to lack decorative qualities. (Watson, 1982, p. 9)

Today, some pieces influenced by new technology are much too functional; others influenced by the traditions of craft or art are too decorative. Dormer (1987) suggests that while art puts aesthetics first, furniture design must balance aesthetics with utility.

Therefore, in making furniture accessible to the largest public, there are some problems associated with the balance between the comfort and aesthetics of New Design furniture. First, New Design furniture is difficult to mass-produce for the broadest audience. The work is associated with decorative, crafty, narrative, descriptive, imaginative, and metaphorical elements, including various colors and patterns. Second, some furniture designs are roughly finished in materials fi"om found objects. Finally, such furniture may be isolated firom the public after exhibition in galleries and museums, because the objects are regarded as fine arts like painting and sculpture. As a result, in these aspects New Design furniture does not strike a balance between comfort and aesthetics. The lack of comfort or function can discourage the masses from enjoying a piece of furniture in daily life.

New Design furniture can be characterized as postmodern. In fact, communication elements in New Design furniture have the effect of gaining access to a

8 broader audience. On the other hand. New Design furniture has shown problems in mass-

production, materials, and viewer accessibility as stated previously in considering access

to the largest people. Thus, some designers of New Design furniture are exploring,

rethinking, redefining, and redesigning elements communicated through furniture. New

Design furniture is complemented by such elements as color, light, and pattern in

interiors. The furniture designers have introduced their furniture expressions in

restaurants and shops. Designers try to find a balance between comfort and aesthetics in

interiors. Therefore, I think the furniture designers in New Design, who use communication elements (i.e. narrative, symbol, humor, metaphor, fluidity, and animation) in designing their furniture through images in interiors with color, light, and pattern, need to rethink, redefine, and redesign their furniture in order to achieve a suitable balance between comfort and aesthetics. Furniture in restaurants and shops must be accessible and have the ability to conununicate with the public. I believe that this ability to communicate with the largest possible public through a balance of comfort and aesthetics provides the average person with an invitation to have an aesthetic experience with objects (i.e.. New Design furniture) found in one’s daily life.

In order to examine ideas about these three problems, rethinking, redefinition, and redesign of New Design furniture, and in order to explore the necessity of art educators’ becoming aware of aesthetics of Postmodern furniture associated with commumcation with a broader public in their daily lives, I will address the following questions in this study: 1. How are some aims of New Design furniture designers in relation to mass production, materials, and viewer accessibility significant to an exploration of postmodern aesthetics?

2. What are the characteristics of postmodern furniture, and how are characteristics of postmodern furniture typically expressed as communication elements?

3. How have New Design furniture designers such as Philippe Starck rethought, redefined, and redesigned their work, and, as a consequence, how have their postmodern furniture aesthetics been made accessible to the largest people?

Related Literature

From the history of furniture to present, I will briefly take a look at significant sources in the approach to postmodern aesthetics of contemporary furniture design. The review of the history of such periods as pre-modem and modem will give information and knowledge about sources of contemporary furniture design in the postmodem era.

From the literature review, I will categorize and define areas of research that are necessary for better understanding of the proposed questions. However, this study will focus on the following: the backgroimd of New Design fumiture, the characteristics of

New Design fumiture, and the critical discourse about New Design fumiture, in terms of the postmodem aesthetics of communication. Thus, in a brief description of the fumiture of pre-modem, modem, and postmodem periods, I will list and review the major sources used for understanding each area. These areas are related to each other in clarifying and identifying the postmodem aesthetics of New Design fumiture.

10 Purpose of the Study

The objective of this study is to investigate how contemporary fumiture, as an expression of postmodern aesthetics, can be made accessible to the greatest number of people, particularly through an examination and realization of art and everyday life in art education. Postmodern fumiture which places emphasis on aesthetics or beauty or decoration or craftsmanship rather than comfort or function communicates at a sensory and physical level with the public and society. A piece of postmodem communicative fumiture enables the people who encounter it to enjoy a sense of aesthetic pleasure.

However, for daily use, the communicative ability of the fumiture needs to complement comfort or function. The fumiture which is created with attention to both aesthetics and comfort gives the broadest group of people an opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the aesthetics of contemporary fumiture through daily use. Thus, I will show pieces representing diverse postmodem aesthetics expressed as symbolic, narrative, metaphorical, and humorous images from reminiscences of the past characterized by ideas from fine arts. As an art educator as well as fumiture designer, I will investigate the use of postmodern aesthetics to enhance the living environment through communicative fumiture socialized for an approach to the broadest audience. I believe that the study of aesthetics in art education should be designed to enrich a student’s understanding and knowledge of aesthetic diversity. From the results of my study, I will seek ways through which art educators can bring up and explore in their aesthetics classes new representations of the postmodem aesthetics of communication in contemporary fumiture design for everyday life.

11 Definitions of Terms

The following definitions are offered for better understanding of terms to clarify

my intention in subsequent chapters.

1). Aesthetics is “the branch of philosophy studying concepts and issues related to

art and aesthetic experience. The range of the aesthetic is wider than that of art, since not only works of art but natural objects are objects of aesthetic experience and judgement and display aesthetic quality” (Borchert, 1996, p. 13). As Bosanquet (1892) defines aesthetics as the philosophy of the beautiful, the postmodern fumiture aesthetics can depend on the philosophical perspective of the viewer through the experience of fine arts and crafts in the postmodern era.

2). Postmodernism: the postmodem thought appeals to differences—differences in theories, formulations, and identities; postmodem idea rejects hierarchies and genealogies, continuity and progress, resolutions and overcomings; the postmodem signals the end of modernity, but simultaneously it suggests that the modem is necessary

(Borchert, 1996, p. 354). Therefore, Best & Kellner (1991) suggest that new artistic, cultural, or theoretical views, which discourses and practices in Modernism gave up, can be raised in postmodem discourses. They stress that all of these ‘post’ terms function as sequential markers, designating that which follows and comes after the modem (p. 29).

The discourse of the postmodem thus involves periodizing terms which describe a set of key changes in history, society, culture, and thought (Best & Kellner, 1991, p. 29).

Jencks (1986) states that Post-Modernism can be defined as double-coding: the combination of Modem techniques with something else (usually traditional architecture) in order for architecture to communicate with the public and a concemed minority,

12 usually other architects (p. 14). In fact, according to Efland, Freedman, & Stuhr (1996),

Jencks describes postmodernism in art and Post-Modernism in architecture from a

stylistic perspective in several of his essays and books. In 1987, Jencks explained that by

hyphenating the word post-modern, he intended that modem should maintain its integrity

as a word. He uses the hyphenated word because he believes that post-modern art still

contains many aspects of modem art, but these have been added to, adapted, or

embellished (p. 31).

3). Postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design fumiture can be referred to as metaphor, symbol, narrative, or humor ranging in expression “from neo­ primitivism to bolidism, from theatrical to bmtalism, and from abimdant eclecticism to severe minimalism” (Downey, 1992, p. 9). The New Design is defined as the creation of objects essentially with a communication value, objects speaking of a sensory revolution

(Downey, 1992).

4). New Design fumimre mainly involves one-of-a-kind work or limited edition in contemporary fumiture design of the postmodem era. The fumiture, which tends to address the designer’s individual environment, emphasizes beauty, decoration, or craftsmanship rather than comfort or function. Thus, the fumiture tends not to be intended for mass-production by manufacturers using evolving technology.

Limitations

The following are limitations of the study from the research data to be analyzed:

1. The study is limited to work with only related literature, mainly from around 1980 to the present.

13 2. This study is limited to investigation through content analysis according to three

categories: three founders of Postmodernism for the background of New Design

fumiture; the characteristics of New Design fumiture; and critical discourse about New

Design fumiture, in terms of postmodem aesthetics of communication.

3. The content analysis, which is referred to as giving information and knowledge of

contemporary fumiture design, specifically addresses postmodern aesthetics of

communication from the work of Charles Jencks.

4. I include interviews with curators and critics/authors. However, the content of the

interview is related to the conclusion and implications of this study, and the questions

for and discussion in the interviews are drawn from the results of the content analysis

of the related literature for this study.

5. For the purposes of this study, postmodem aesthetics is considered as a source for an aesthetics class in art education in exploring art and everyday life.

Summarv

In developing an examination of art and everyday life in art education, this study attempts to address the socialization of a piece of fumiture representing postmodem aesthetics in terms of revival, réintroduction, and reinterpretation of ideas from historical references and the adaptation of fine arts. In postmodernism, both fine arts which adapt functional components and New Design fumiture which adapts a high art content are phenomena capable of approaching the greatest number of people. I hope to find socialization of the postmodem aesthetics of communication in contemporary fumiture design for art and everyday life. In the field of art education, there has not been any study

14 of postmodern fumiture showing the diversity of aesthetic values, which crosses all lines

of the art world. A piece of well-made fumiture simultaneously brings comfort and

aesthetics to people’s everyday lives through their everyday experience. New Design

fumiture has the capability of bringing everyday aesthetics appreciation to the broadest population through pieces for everyday experience. Thus, it is significant for us to become aware of the aesthetics of postmodem fumiture that we may have overlooked.

Therefore, this study will examine the integration of theory and practice in arts and fumiture design in Postmodernism for art education, in that artwork must be close to, appreciated, understood, and communicated for the broadest public, who will be able to enjoy and use the fumiture in daily living spaces.

Organization of the Remainder of the Dissertation

This chapter has included the need for the study, state of the problem, related literature, purpose of the study, definition of terms, limitations, and summary. Chapter 2 provides a review of literature, giving general information and knowledge from the history of fumiture to the present in relation to postmodem aesthetics of contemporary fumiture design. Chapter 3 contains a description of the methodological procedure, design of the study, location of research/method of data collection, description of methodology for content analysis, and model of the study according to the three categories for content analysis. Chapter 4 presents the data analysis and a report of results and findings of the analysis. Chapter 5 proposes a unit of instruction adapting the findings from the study of postmodem aesthetics of communication in New Design

15 fumiture, and chapter 6 summarizes conclusions and addresses implications and recommendations as well.

1 6 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

When searching for literature that provided for the inclusion of postmodern

fumiture aesthetics, I encountered the following: (a) pre-Modem fumiture aesthetics; (b)

Modem fumiture aesthetics; and (c) postmodem fumiture aesthetics. Although the postmodem means the combination of Modem techniques and usually traditional building, postmodem fumiture tends to emphasize decoration or omament rather than

function or comfort in producing pieces in relation to metaphor, narrative, symbol, or humor, which were represented in pre-Modem fumiture aesthetics. Hence, I will deal with pre-Modem and Modem fumiture briefly as the background of postmodem fumiture aesthetics to help art educators understand postmodem fumiture, especially that which is considered ‘one-off work as is characteristic of painting or sculpture. From the following literature, 1 will categorize and define areas of research that are necessary for better understanding of the proposed questions. Contemporary fumiture in

Postmodemism is called New Design fumiture, and represents the postmodem furniture aesthetics of communication. This study will focus on the following: (1) the background of New Design fumiture, (2) the characteristics of New Design furniture in terms of its commimication value, and (3) the critical discourse about the communication value of

17 New Design fumiture. In a brief description, I will review the major sources used for understanding each area. These areas are related to each other in clarifying and identifying the communication value of New Design fumiture in Postmodemism.

Before I explore and review postmodern furniture aesthetics, it is necessary for me to introduce the relationship between fumiture design and architecture in terms of style or design. Lucie-Smith (1993) states that “indeed, at one end of the scale, it [fumiture] is almost inseparable from architecture” (p. 7). Historically, architects, who were also furniture designers, created fumiture for interiors in their architecture. The fumiture was matched with the architecture in the style or design of the period. Such phenomena have continued until the present, and architects have referred to a piece of fumiture as micro­ architecture.

In addition, according to Spencer (1991), designing small-scale works such as a piece of fumiture or an object gives architects significantly more immediate satisfaction than designing a building. A piece of fumiture can often be created within six weeks.

Furthermore, there is constant demand for fumiture, compared to the less frequent need for new buildings. Thus, producing small-scale works provides architects “with many of the creative, mechanical, and contextual challenges posed by planning a block of large- scale buildings but without the risk” (p. 172). Today, a piece of fumiture by an architect tends to be characterized by the historical approach. Trained in the context of art and architectural history, architects have shown imaginative applications of this kind of knowledge in producing contemporary fumiture in Postmodemism (pp. 170-172).

Therefore, a piece of fumiture always shows the same style as that of the architecture. Thus, a review of architecture will help readers understand the definition of

1 8 postmodern fumiture aesthetics. Like architects, today, postmodern fumiture designers

have explored ideas from the historical reference.

Defining Postmodem Fumiture

Jencks’ double coding, a useful definition of Post-Modernism, means “the

continuation of Modemism and its transcendence,” with ideas from Pre-Modemism or

traditions like Gothic and Renaissance art and architecture (Jencks, 1986, p. 14). Jencks

(1986) mentions that postmodern architects tend to emphasize contextual and cultural

additions to their inventions in their architecture. Thus, many Postmodernists, who are

involved in allegory and narrative, adapt and invent mythology. Renewed concern for

symbolism and meaning is focused on semantic aspects. Jencks’s symbolic fumiture is

usually “designed to be placed in many different contexts” (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p.

124). Collins & Papadakis (1989) maintain that "a symbolic fumiture, still somewhat general but capable of specific meaning and function, might reassert its rightful place and give anonymous space a place and location” (p. 124).

Jencks provides an imaginative look at symbolic architecture in history:

Now imagine another world in which everything has both a public and a private meaning. The leaders and the inhabitants of this world lead a charmed life because everything they do, no matter how insignificant, or even wicked, is part of some larger story.... The plot of the world’s culture, though rich in variety, is still leading somewhere. And this direction, while it allows for different interpretations, is known and cherished by all. Everyday the inhabitants of Signifrcatus — the land of meaning — awake like children amazed at the discovery of new relation between things.... This web of signification also provided a basis for meaning in architecture that continued into the twentieth century with, for instance, the work of the Russian Constructivists— The Greeks, Romans, and Christians (like the Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists) knew what to ask of their architects. Indeed it is only in our own era that the client has walked off the job and stopped supplying the symbolic intentions and style. Although our fabled land of Signifrcatus may appear strange to us today, it was a norm in the pre- 19 industrial past — a fact which becomes obvious with a look at the meanings of historic architecture. (Jencks, 1985, p. 21)

In speculating about the source of meaning in architecture, as stated previously by Jencks,

there are numerous examples, such as the Egyptian pyramids and temples in various

lands. Symbolic architecture in ancient times “took on many precious meanings with all tied in with both daily life and cosmic time” (Jencks, 1985, p. 21). Thus, the meaning of symbolic architecture was a meditation on everyday existence and eternity.

Jencks has shown the same theory on the history and practice of symbolic architecture and furniture in Postmodernism as that presented in his critical views of the symbolic architecture of the past. Jencks (1989) suggests that “the idea of treating fumiture as a small building has a long history, since architecture naturally lends its language to constructional forms and various scales” (p. 140). Collins & Papadakis

(1989) describe Jencks’ fumiture in Postmodemism as symbolic and metaphoric with meaning intended for corrununication at various levels. A piece of symbolic fumiture is narrative and metaphoric, and may be humorous as well. In designing a kind of fumiture that is symbolically meaningful, architects have used very simple forms and proportions to resymbolize or retransform architectures of the past, thus conveying meaning.

Defining Pre-Modem Fumiture

Before the machine age, the history of fumiture had been characterized by a continuity through development, revival, and eclecticism. However, as the machine age was affected by the Industrial Revolution, fumiture in Modemism showed a discontinuity with historicism. The period between the early 1800s and the Great War of 1914 is called

20 the machine age in the history of fumiture; Watson observes:

It is also essential to realize that, unhke previous centuries, nineteenth-century a development of continuous progression. The introduction of a style did not immediately cause all those that had previously existed to become unfashionable, and practically all the major nineteenth-century stylistic expressions co-existed to a greater or lesser degree throughout the hundred years. (Watson, 1982, p. 193)

In the history of fumiture, the style right before the machine age is called the Neo-

Classical reaction.

According to the book The History o f Fumiture written by Watson in 1982,

Ancient, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Neo-Classical fumiture styles had been popular before the machine age. Romanesque and Gothic styles are referred to as Medieval fumiture. Thus, from Ancient fumiture to the Neo-Classical revival, the history of fumiture developed continuously. The fumiture was free to express decoration with historicism. It is significant for us to understand the Neo-

Classical reaction in that postmodern fumiture has been referred to as the revival, réintroduction, and reinterpretation o f the traditions of craft, a Neo-classical revival, the

Arts and Crafts movement. Art Nouveau, and Art Deco. In ftuniture history, specifically regarding the fumiture right before the machine age, the Neo-Classical style with the other art movements, as stated previously, is one of the major styles which impacts

Postmodem fumiture (Boyce, 1988; Dormer, 1987; Fiell & Fiell, 1991; Watson, 1982).

The neo-classical reaction comprises a “European manner of frimiture design and decoration characterized by the use of ideas, forms and motifs taken from ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture” (Boyce, 1988, p. 204).

During the 15*-17^ centuries. Renaissance fumiture reflected ancient Greek and

Roman culture. In Renaissance fumiture, there are two classical sources, Roman

21 architecture and the sculptural programs of ancient sarcophagi. From the latter, such

motifs as the Um, the Putto, mythological beasts, the Sphinx, and the Chimera were taken

by fumiture makers for their fumiture. The makers were involved in a greater naturalism

in carving against the stylization of medieval furniture. The trend in carving stimulated

fumiture makers to use walnut because the wood is easier to carve than the traditional

oak. From simple geometrical outlines to the all-important classical omament, with a few

exceptions such as the tripod stand, the forms of ancient furniture, which were rarely

copied before the nineteenth century, were adopted in the Neo-Classical revival. Walnut

and oak have been used by postmodem fumiture makers for their carving following the

ideas from the traditions of craft.

By the 1770s, the trends of the Neo-Classical revival had become an intemational

style, like the Rococo which preceded it. Different national styles in Italy, Greece and

Egypt were united and inevitably developed along similar lines: “a studied eclecticism

was adopted after 1800 - leading to a more archaeological approach and creating even

closer stylistic links between countries” (Watson, 1982, p. 139).

In the Neo-Classical revival, the omament could by and large be traced to ancient

Rome. For their ov^m traditional revivals, each country in Europe studied the classical

fumiture. Thus, in the early French Neo-Classical furniture, a nostalgia for the Grand

Siecle of Louis XTV is noticeable. As the heavy classical form was lightened, an

increasing delicacy and refinement in fumiture was seen from 1770 to 1780. Thereafter,

a number of Egyptian antiques shown in Rome “excited interest in the eighteenth century,

and various advanced pieces of fumiture with hieroglyphic omament bear witness to a certain knowledge of Egyptian design” (Watson, 1982, p. 139). Thus, at that time, Egypt

22 joined Greece and Rome as a major inspiration.

The machine age

During the nineteenth century, a rapidly expanding technology influenced the development of domestic art. Production by means of mechanical methods was pervasive among furniture manufacturers. The technology provided furniture cheaply by reproducing it and easily elaborating workmanship. Thus, according to Watson (1982), although before the machine age good fumiture was for the privileged few, during this period furniture was available for many people, and they could buy it cheaply and easily.

The erosion of craft or craftsmanship was inevitable as a result, but this was overlooked

“by a market which was dominated by a desire for richness, novelty and value for money” (Watson, 1982, p. 191). The appearance of furniture was changed by technological processes. By the invention of the coil-spring, the perfection of methods of laminating and shaping timber, and the introduction of metal parts, new forms and new functions were made possible in the manufacture of fumiture (Watson, 1982).

From the development of fumiture by technological processes in the nineteenth century, the collectors of antique fumiture came to play a major role. Watson explains their role:

Here was a type of person who seems not to have existed before the nineteenth century, for although ‘Cabinets of Curiosities’ and collections of relics had been put together by rich men throughout Europe since the early Renaissance, it was not until the early 1800s that collectors began to acquire pieces of old fumiture and to introduce them into their houses for everyday use. (Watson, 1982, p. 191)

Such a phenomenon probably occurred because people could not commonly see the fumiture that continued to be developed in terms of historicism. The machine age

23 allowed the fumiture makers and designers new freedom of design in the use of new technology in their exploration of theory and practice.

As produced through the machine age, the principles of the rationalist design attempted by the Modem movement represent the basis of modem fumiture design in the twentieth-century. As the styling in modem fumiture is in the opposite direction from design, fumiture designers in the modem movement consider styling as inevitably anti- rational (Fiell & Fiell, 1991; Watson, 1982). Aesthetics considers style, but modem fumiture design, according to functionalism and the industrial process, first of all is concemed with good design. Thus, a harmonized balance of the fumiture characterized by balance of design and style was represented as possessing enduring aesthetics or functionalism and powerfully expressing the spirit of the time through the machine.

The eclecticism and unashamed opulence of the Neo-Classic revival was denied:

“While renouncing the use of superfluous omament as being symptomatic of a decadent society, the arts and crafts movement turned towards a simpler and more rational code of design ethics” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 8). However, the Arts and Crafts movement, which stressed the historicism of elaborated decoration by labor against the machine age, was initiated by Williams Morris and John Ruskin in 1861 (Boyce, 1992). In practice and theory, the designers associated with the movement generally attempted elements and motifs derived from the Gothic fumiture of the Middle Ages, the "golden age" of crafts

(Boyce, 1988, p. 16).

After the Arts and Crafts movement against the machine. Art Nouveau and Art

Deco tried to express values of modernity such as functionalism, minimalism, and mass- production by using the metals of new technology. Mass-production influenced

24 international furniture design because of the number of pieces that could be produced.

Art Nouveau and Art Deco continued to express the fumiture design of decoration

influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, while accepting the utility of the machine

for economic and minimal design. These three Arts movements have influenced the design of postmodern fumiture. They have played a major role in revival, reinterpretation, and réintroduction of the traditions of craft in postmodem fumiture.

Thus, the major movements which came out of the reaction to the machine age either opposed or adapted omament and the new technology (Fiell & Fiell, 1991; Spencer,

1991; Watson, 1982).

Arts and Crafts movement

As a “reform style in British applied arts of the late Victorian period” based on the ideas of William Morris and John Ruskin, the Arts and Crafts movement was a response to a "state of complete degradation" in the decorative arts (Boyce, 1988, p. 16). Morris viewed this state of degradation as produced by the Industrial Revolution and manifested in the shoddy fumiture of everyday use. In Morris’ perspective, mass manufacturers had mass-produced debased revivalist styles. Prompting artists’ retum to preindustrial modes of production, Morris insisted on a continuity of decoration in handicraft similar to that of the medieval craft guilds. He thought that this could correct the dissociation of artist and object, of art and use, and reinspire the merits of the preindustrial age. By emphasizing craftsmanship and clean, simple design, and by offering strenuous opposition to revivalism, the Arts and Crafts movement led the decorative arts of the time in a revolutionary manner. The imprint of the Arts and Crafts movement continued until

25 around the first World War.

As the other exponent of the Arts and Crafts movement, John Ruskin is considered the most influential architecture critic of the nineteenth century. Ruskin believed that Gothic architecture and fumiture of Classical design were superior. He suggested that the asymmetry and irregularity of Gothic architecture and fumiture, and the naturalness of Gothic omamentation allowed the craftsman to express his/her aesthetic concepts in fumiture freely. Ruskin denied the advantage of the use of industrial technology. He believed that fumiture by mass production had caused a disturbance in the natural rhythms of our lives. Moreover, he felt that once-creative craftsmen were tumed into mere cogs in the machinery of industrialization. Like their products, they lost their uniqueness. Ruskin stressed that by the industrial revolution designers had become anonymous laborers. Ruskin believed that only the retum to handwork could restore individuality and quality. The Arts and Crafts movement emphasized honest design and craftsmanship, and impacted the development of Art

Nouveau strongly. However, Morris and Ruskin suffered from “an unfortunate hatred towards modem methods of production and tended to look back to the medieval world, rather than forwards towards the 'progressive' era of complete mechanization” (Fuller,

1988, p. 118).

Art Nouveau

As the European design reform movement during the 1890s and early 20* century. Art Nouveau developed an elaborate curvilinear design style. The work of the prominent Art Nouveau architect and fumiture designer Charles Mackintosh, Art

2 6 Nouveau fumiture design was startiingly avant-garde at the time. Although the Arts and

Crafts Movement clearly influenced his fumiture, he did refuse out-of-date historicism.

He insisted on careful use of omament and genuine craftsmanship. Thus, Mackintosh’s fumiture includes “the curving organic elements of Art Nouveau, Celtic motifs from his native Scotland and curiously elongated forms” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 8). Later on, geometric and abstract forms of omament appeared in his fumiture, “at a time when non- representational art was only just beginning to emerge” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 8). The

Art Nouveau movement influenced fumiture design by presenting novel ideas at a time when large scale production of fumiture was being attempted. Fumiture style became relatively simpler, more functional, and less ornamental following the emphasis on modem utility.

Art Deco

As a French decorative style during the 1920s, Art Deco was also known as “Art

Modeme” or “Jezz Moderne” (Boyce, 1988, p. 13). As a reaction against the stylistic excesses of Art Nouveau Fumiture, a limited, stylized use of omament and simple design characterized Art Deco fumiture, which placed “an emphasis on fine craftsmanship and an opulent use of precious and exotic materials” (Boyce, 1988, p. 13). The designs in

Art Deco emphasized geometry over asymmetry, and the rectilinear over the curvilinear.

The use of the machine and of new materials such as plastics, ferroconcrete, and glass was shown in Art Deco furniture. Thus, the fumiture of Art Deco was considered by its proponents to represent Modemism. At that time, using metal in making furniture was innovative. Metal was regarded as allowing a range of wonderful combinations and new

27 aesthetic effects, and creating a harmony between functionalism and aesthetics, making it

one of the best-known types of design of the twentieth century. Spencer (1991) suggests

that the Art Deco designs can be characterized as a combination of “both early

Modemism and standardization of mass production while retaining the use of decoration”

(p. 31).

Therefore, as the major movements in modem fumiture influenced by the

machine age passed, fumiture in Modemism evolved its characteristic qualities, which

were more involved in new technologies. Modem fumiture designers insisted on the

modem concepts of their fumiture expressed in intemational styles against the historicism of decoration.

Defining Modem Fumiture

What is this modem movement in fumiture design? What is modem fumiture?

According to Amery,

to Williams Morris the advent of modemism meant the arrival of the machine that was to destroy all ‘joy in the making’. To the Bauhaus the combination of the advantages of mass production and the virtual abolition of omament provided designers with a chance to make things that rejoiced in their function. (Amery, 1991, p. 1)

The modem fumiture movement was affected by the Industrial Revolution. The first industrial revolution in England, which was challenged by France and overtaken by

Germany and America by the end of the century, had a great influence on modem fumiture style and design (Dormer, 1987). Germany and America “came to grips with new technologies, such as electricity and electronics” (Dormer, 1987, p. 8). In an attempt to simplify things, “the Germans invented industrial design and the Americans invented

2 8 mass production, and then the two countries copied each other” (Dormer, 1987, p. 9).

However, the Germans and Americans, as well as the British, were shocked by the brutalizing side of progress seen in some concepts such as ‘Ornament is a Crime’ by

Adolf Loos.

As one of the concepts representing modem fumiture against decoration, Adolf

Loos, an Art Nouveau architect, notoriously announced that omament was a crime.

Taking a look at the concept of Loos, Fiell & Fiell reported:

One of Art Nouveau’s members, Adolf Loos (1870-1933), wrote a paper in 1908 entitled Omament and Verbreben (Ornament and in Crime), which he put forward the idea that excessive omament could lead to the debasing of society and ultimately to crime. A later Werkbund publication. Form obne Ornament (Form without Ornament), of 1924, illustrated and expressed the virtues of plainer, more rationally based industrial designs. The movement aimed to promote closer cooperation between artists, architects, and manufacturers. (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 9)

Loos viewed the greatness of the Modem Age as the inability to yield a new decorative form. Loos also rejected omament from the economic perspective, viewing omamented work as simply wasted labor. In terms of Loos’ viewpoint in the economy and labor argument. Fuller offers the following comments:

Lack of omament means shorter working hours and consequently higher wages. Chinese carvers work sixteen hours, American workers eight. If I pay as much for a smooth box as for a decorated one, the difference in labour time belongs to the worker. And if there were no omament at all - a circumstance that will perhaps come true in a few millennia - a man would have to work only four hours instead of eight, for half the work done at present is still for omamentation. (Fuller, 1988, p. 125)

As a result, Modemism expressed by the progress of technology differs from the modem movement as an aesthetic expressed through such progress. The Bauhaus, established in Germany in 1919 by Walter Gropius, represented for the first time

29 modernist ideas attempted in a truly academic context. As a German design school,

located in Weimar from 1919 to 1928, it was an “aesthetic catalyst of the International

slyde of design and the theories of functionalism were its ideas” (Boyce, 1992, p.24). In

fact, the concepts of the Bauhaus were related to socialist roots. The fumiture designers of the Bauhaus insisted on a ‘better’ society through the achievement of good design; the

Bauhaus prompted “functional and aesthetically pleasing design for the masses through the means of large-scale mass production” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p 10). The Bauhaus was

influenced by the technical revolution. Reyner Banham, a design historian and philosopher, points out that “at first the modernists at the Bauhaus had technical irmovations, such as cantilevers and glass walling in architecture (and metal bending and fabrication techniques in fumiture), but no aesthetic discipline to bind everything together” (Dormer, 1987, p. 10).

The public began to recognize the modernist idea, which was simple, with flush surfaces and basic forms and the use of minimal components in creating the fumiture.

For example, as a geometric abstracted form influenced by the fine art of the Dee Stijl movement, the Red and Blue chair by Rietveld shows an aesthetic idea derived from functionalism. Many people considered the chair painted with red and blue and made of flat rectilinear pieces of wood to represent the first major modem design of the aesthetic movement. The chair has been described as “the abstract-real sculpture of our future interior” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 10).

In the 1920s and 1930s, the social aims of the Intemational Style in architecture and fumiture design were to provide housing for the masses and create better work environments for everyone, but the influence of the social ideals of the Intemational

30 Styles failed to continue into the 1940s and 1950s; “the minimalism of Mies van der

Rohe—the famous ‘less is more’ doctrine of refining buildings to their fimdamental elements—was adopted in the 1950s by big business” (Spencer, 1991, p. 94). Mies van der Rohe referred to components minimized in number as encouraging aesthetic purity as well as facilitating mass production by industrial technology not only in modem architecture but in modem fumiture as well. Miesian primary aesthetics became the mainstream in modem fumiture (Spencer, 1991).

In the 1960s and 1970s, according to Amery (1991), Modem furniture was taken into “a new modular and yet organic world” (p. 2). Moulded plastic and soft materials were used in Modem fumiture of this period, which was intended to create “a sense of anthropomorphism” to make it highly real. As a result. Modem fumiture in the 1960s and 1970s makes a more emotional appeal and has became more than just a support. In fact, this suggests that Modem fumiture was not quite as comfortable as expected “with the purely functional formula” (p. 2).

Background of New Design fumiture

New Design fumiture represents an eclectic and pluralistic approach based on

Postmodern ideas. Collins & Papadakis (1989) helped to develop my notions about the background of New Design fumiture. They defend the legitimacy of the term ‘Post­ modem,’ which Charles Jencks supported in Modem Movements in Architecture (1973),

The Language o f Post-Modern Architecture (1977), and Post-Modern Classicism (1980).

These works of Jencks provide an excellent overview of the emergence of anti-

Modemism and anti-Rationalism firom architecture and fumiture design of the Modem

31 Architects.

Collins & Papadakis (1989) state that Postmodern architects such as Charles

Jencks and Robert Venturi “have re-established eclecticism, pluralism, decoration, and what in America is called ‘omamentalism’” (p. 66). As a result. Postmodernists have emphasized a new dictum against the principle “less is more” of modem furniture. The concept that “less is a bore” by Robert Venturi has been recognized and applied not only by architects but also by furniture designers in Postmodernism. In their work, they explore the idea of ornament from traditions such as Gothic, Renaissance, etc.

The assertion o f Collins & Papadakis (1989) that “ornament is no longer a crime” in Post Modernism can be seen as a reaction against the international Modem work of architects such as Mies Vander Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier (p. 66). Peter

Fuller (1988) states that ornament reflects “the web of man’s thoughts and feelings”

(p.l 17). This recognition of the value of ornamentation led Fuller to view the destruction of ornament within the Modernist movement as an indication of “the underlying emptiness of the aesthetic, ethical and spiritual life of that age” (p. 117). In Fuller’s view,

“no arbitrary ‘New Omamentalism’” could compensate for the void created (p. 117).

Thus, for example, in comparing modem ideas to Post-Modem ideas, according to

Collins & Papadakis,

one of the cliches of the Modem Movement had been the flat roof, which Le Corbusier had suggested was a better use of space than the traditional pitched roof. The responding cliché of Post-Modernism is the return of the pitched roof in architecture, or a reference to it in ‘micro-architectural’ design. Modernism had mostly relied on one solid, the cube; Post-Modernism reapplies others, such as the cone, pyramid and cylinder. Much Post-Modern design is mimetic of housing typologies which are urban, including the pitched roof house common to many cities before the Modem Movement. (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 79)

32 Bringing this concept along, most of the Post-Modern architects have turned their

attention toward furniture design, and their decoration expressed in Postmodern furniture

has reminded people of the traditions.

In reflecting back over the history of furniture, the decorative arts have been

closely related to furniture craftsmanship. In Postmodernism, the works of art and craft

have been expressed through the adapted reciprocal ideas of artists and furniture

designers. According to Manhart and Manhart (1987), to some extent, the arts in the

1980s have “absorbed the materials, techniques, utilitarian forms, and decorative styles once associated only with crafts” (p. 172). Manhart & Manhart (1987) suggest that the blurring of art/craft distinctions today was predicted by Robert Morris when he spoke of current art in 1981. Morris noted, “Reftising to leave its functionalism at the door of the gallery, such work occupies two places at once and the distinction between fine and applied art gets further breached” (Manhart & Manhart, 1987, p. 185).

Dormer (1987) mentions that fine-art or applied-art labels and art-history primers can help us distinguish the art & craft work, but “we can do more by speculating about the work’s intention to decide whether it fulfils its purpose (and if the purpose was worth fulfilling)” (p. 131). In considering the work’s intention. Dormer (1987) stresses that any person would probably agree about the meaning of a work; people have different perspectives but their mentalities will be similar. Various interpretations may be appropriate for a work (as with different critical readings of a novel), yet area of discourse will be a common ground (p. 131).

Fiell & Fiell (1991) describe the attempt of Post-modern furniture designers to separate furniture design from industry and involve it more closely with art and craft.

33 Postmodern furniture designers from the UK and USA sought inspiration from historical

references during the 1980s, while futuristic subjects attracted Japanese designers and

designers from the Continent. Thus, American and British postmodern architect-

designers reintroduced and reinterpreted ornament for their works and rational design

motifs. The designers turned to the creation of one-off or limited-edition furniture, which emphasized beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship rather than function or comfort.

Characteristics of New Design furniture

Downey states that the idea, content, and conclusions of New Design are closely related in subject, time period, and spirit to Neo furniture.

For instance, the New Design manifesto identified recent tum-o f-the-century designs as distinct from the experiences of the 1960s and 1970s, giving the following definition of them: New Design breaks the unity of languages to the profit of a simultaneous multiplicity of styles: from neo-primitivism to bolidism, from theatrical to brutalism, from abundant eclecticism to severe minimalism. The manifesto writers go on to define the New Design as producing objects which have, above all, a communication value. They speak of a sensory revolution where the object is not as much a reality to understand as a presence to perceive our sensory and corporal impressions. (Downey, 1992, p. 9)

In addition to this definition of New Design furniture, Downey (1992) mentions that the human aspect of the New Design furniture is the communicative element as seen through its combination “of the tree branch with machine-made materials in a single chair, and the animation of furniture with animal or even human attributes” (p. 15). New Design furniture is seen as sensual, fluid, and alive. Such elements as metaphor, symbol, animation, narrative, and fluidity in New Design furniture communicate with the public.

Thus, New Design furniture expresses its aesthetics of communication by transcending functionality “to move on to more emotional issues” (Downey, 1992, p. 15).

34 According to Fiell & Fiell (1991), contemporary furniture designers in

Postmodernism intend to create not mass-production but ‘one-off and limited-edition furniture. The designers can express their ideas “more freely through designs that employ a wide variety of forms and materials” (p. 150). They appeal to our emotion by means of their furniture through the tactile and visual qualities of their materials. By exploiting glass, fabric, and sheet steel with lyrical fluency, the furniture designers transform everyday materials into beautiful furniture. However, their furniture is not functional.

Fiell & Fiell (1991) stress that “these designers have not transposed furniture into art, but aim specially to create poetic, three-dimensional design which possesses aesthetic characteristics similar to those of painting and sculpture” (p. 150).

Dormer (1987) suggests that contemporary furniture from oppositional chic to restaurant or shop design has shown that mainstream activity does not take commerce into consideration. Some people argue that this is a serious limitation, but others anticipation “a strong commercial future for new design and its independent designers”

(p. 136). Dormer mentions Charlotte’s expectations:

In 1984 Charlotte said: T think we can anticipate a return to a more primitive form of craftsmanship - not in the sense of going back to the techniques of the past, but a return to smaller scales of operation, making use of all the potential offered by present and future technology. There may still be a need for manufacture on a large scale to meet some needs, but more and more items will be produced by individuals, by artisans’. (Dormer, 1987, p. 136)

In this context, each individual designer could be influenced enormously by his or her own creativity and diversify the furniture of Postmodernism. Influenced by individual liberty, contemporary furniture in Postmodernism tends to address decoration, beauty, or craftsmanship rather than comfort or function.

35 Admittedly, New Design furniture has failed to meet comfort or functionality

requirements, which differ from those of the aesthetics in art. Why do people want to buy

a piece of furniture? Wfriat is the intention of furniture designers in creating a piece of

furniture? In spite of the blurring of distinctions between art and craft, we can demand an

answer to these questions about comfort or functionality from New Design furniture

designers. In reference to these questions, according to Donald Judd (1993), an Italian

furniture designer and architect, the goal of furniture, which must be functional or

comfortable to use, is different from that of art. Judd (1993) suggests that a chair that is

not functional and appears to be only art, is ridiculous. In the context of art and chair,

Judd stresses that;

The art of a chair is not its resemblance to art, but is partly its reasonableness, usefulness and scale as a chair. These are proportions which comprise its visible reasonableness. The art in art is partly the assertion of someone’s interest regardless of other considerations. (Judd, 1993, p. 7)

Judd (1993) states that “a work of art exists as itself; a chair exists as a chair itself, and

the idea of a chair isn’t a chair” (p. 7).

Critical discourse about New Design furniture

From the previous discussion, in rethinking and redefining New Design furniture,

I want to apply Judd’s extended concepts more fully. Judd (1993) suggests that “bad

ideas should not be accepted because they are fashionable, and good ideas should not be rejected because they are unfashionable” (p. 9). In some ways, good old ideas made new and shiny do not desire a response; they are now “a dismaying precedent” (p. 9). For example, as in politics, Judd sees Victorian furniture not as traditional and conservative

36 but as an imitation of the past style. To him, the imitation of the Victorian style

“represents status by invoking a higher class in the past than the purchaser’s in the present” (Judd, 1993, p. 11). To be honest, I am uncertain about Judd’s concept of the revival of tradition as imitation. Some people prefer Victorian furniture, which is expensive and fashionable. From this perspective, Watson (1982) mentions a wealthy man’s comments about his distinctive Neo-Classical furniture collection: “I am not interested in this furniture at all. It is heavy, hard, ugly, and uncomfortable. To be able to lie or sit in comfort, that is all I ask of my bed and my armchair” (p. 8).

Perhaps Judd’s and Watson’s perspectives leave me with considerations applicable to a critical discourse for rethinking, redefining, and redesigning New Design furniture through revival, réintroduction, and reinterpretation from historical references.

In addition, Russell sees in Starck, a French furniture and industrial designer and architect, “the ability to re-think and re-see things and come up with very surprising solutions” (Russell, 1996, p. 39). Starck dislikes reference to the bizarre in his work, which represents aesthetics in Postmodern furniture. Russell says, “Spinning theatrical fantasy is the stuff of Starck” (p. 38). He looks for “mystical materials” that add layers of meaning. His furniture is frequently referred to as art works. Thus, in spite of the work’s communication value, it is difficult for the work to go to mass production. However, recently, Starck may have rethought his concept of furniture design for the consumer according to the requirements of his commissions with manufacturers: “If I am called upon to redesign an object, I ask myself why the current one is unsatisfactory,” he has said. “I try to rediscover why an object exists at all, why one should take the trouble to reconsider it” (Russell, 1996, p. 38).

37 Michael Horsham stresses Starch’s concept of politics:

“I’m not interested in architecture or design, says Starck. ‘I think they are boring. They can only ever be a tool. In the past my work tried to be symbolic and semantic and human. Now it starts to be political and it will be even more radically political in the next few years”.... “When you are yoimg, says Starck, you work for yourself, you work to exist you work to survive you work to show people how good and how beautiful you are. If you are a little honest, after ten fifteen years of this work you realise that your real duty is to other people. Today, the only subject which is interesting or urgent and in danger is society: where and how we live. We must forget everything else.” (quoted in Horsham, 1996, p. I)

Through his radical politics, Starck designs and intends to mass-produce chairs, television

sets, and toothbrushes that people use every day. Starck sees the commissions of

manufacturers only as “an opportunity to communicate his take on humanity to a wider audience through the things of everyday life” (Horsham, 1996, p.l). I believe that this sense of politics expressed through these objects will satisfy the public visually and physically in daily aesthetics and use. However, Starck still feels that it is difficult to mass-produce his designs, which have commonly been produced in one-offs or limited editions. Rather, he creates a poetic space and complements images in restaurants and shops with his bizarre furniture. The interiors make his works of art easily accessible to the public for their appreciation and enjoyment.

On the other hand. Field (1998) suggests that, to make the furniture more accessible to the public, Starck has advocated organic designs like furniture mass- produced in Modernism. Starck has recently proclaimed “I am communist, definitely I am communist.... I drag people to where I think they can be better” (p. 24). Starck concludes that giving service to people and making them happy is simple. “I don’t design for the design, I design to speak to people,” and ‘Svhen you want to speak to people you can speak to rich and poor” (p. 25). However, Starck has said:

38 “But if I have to choose between rich and poor I will choose poor because the rich can buy what the poor can buy, but not the contrary. When I hear of somebody making a limited edition I say ‘voleur!’, ‘robber!’”.... “I am no longer a designer, I am a citizen — somebody who tries to be responsible in society. When these people arrive on the market,” he concludes, “I will be very happy to leave” (quoted in Field, 1998, p. 25).

Summarv

This study intends to make contemporary furniture expressed as postmodern

aesthetics accessible to the broadest possible public, particularly through an examination

and realization of art and everyday life in art education. The postmodern furniture

aesthetics of communication expressed through double-coding, which was seen by

Charles Jencks as the defining element of Post-Modernism, is characterized by the use of

ideas from the traditions of craft. Thereby, contemporary furniture in postmodernism

attempts to communicate with people on various levels through symbol, narrative,

metaphor, or humor. Neo-classical reaction, the Arts and Crafts movement. Art

Nouveau, and/or Art Deco style from the past, emphasizing ornament, craftsmanship,

and/or beauty, have been expressed according to contemporary furniture designers’

interpretation from eclectic and pluralistic approaches reestablished by furniture design in

Postmodernism. Thus, postmodern furniture designers have stressed the concept

‘ornament is no longer a crime,’ in response to Modem furniture designers dictum that

‘ornament is a crime.’ Against the principle ‘less is more’ in Modem furniture, which was based on rationalism, functionalism, and/or minimalism, postmodern furniture designers have addressed the new concept ‘less is a bore.’ Modem furniture as an

International style of design, was intended to be mass-produced by manufacturers. As a

39 result, people became bored with it because the same Modem furniture was shown all over the world, anywhere. However, as one of a kind work with aesthetic characteristics similar to those of painting or sculpture, postmodern furniture is not intended to be mass- produced.

Through the use of ornament, craftsmanship, or beauty from the traditions of craft, contemporary ftimiture called New Design, which I will focus on in my study, represents the postmodern furniture aesthetics of communication, with such elements as metaphor, symbol, narrative, or humor. The designers of New Design fiimiture attempt to create a poetic space with their poetic furniture. Through New Design furniture, postmodern aesthetics conununicates with people, who can appreciate a piece of furniture as a work of art and at the same time use it in their daily lives. However, New Design furniture has shown some problems. Specifically, it is hard for the largest public to have access to New Design furniture in everyday life because of the emphasis on decoration or ornament rather than comfort or function. New Design furniture does not strike a balance between aesthetics and function. The lack of comfort or function can tend to discourage the public from enjoying a piece of fumitme in their everyday lives.

Today, designers of New Design furniture such as Philippe Starck have started rethinking, redefining, and redesigning their furniture for the largest public to make it closer to them in their everyday lives. As a result, Starck, a French architect, furniture, interior, and industrial designer, creates interiors such as restaurants and shops to make his furniture easily accessible to the public for their appreciation and enjoyment. On the other hand, Starck proclaims himself a ‘conununist’ in terms of his commitment of the public and a better society, which may imply his acceptance of the concepts of Bauhaus

40 related to socialist roots in Germany. Further, he is in favor of organic design in Modem furniture, which is intended to be mass-produced by new technology. Starck tries to create furniture to satisfy both rich and poor in order to speak to the public, who can appreciate, use, and enjoy his furniture in everyday life.

The following chapters will present the research methodology for an analysis of the elements of New Design furniture and develop guidelines and sample lesson plans for a university level aesthetics class using New Design furniture in Postmodernism.

41 CHAPTER 3

PROCEDURE

Introduction

Qualitative content analysis is the principle methodology that I will use in this study. New Design furniture in Postmodernism reflects the furniture of the past, understands today's furniture design, and infers the direction of the future of furniture styles for communication with the broadest possible public. Thus, from the literature, a review of shifts in furniture styles in the past and at present objectively and subjectively represented by furniture designers' and architects’ works and concepts and manufacturers and critics' perspectives will play a significant role in this study. Through the method of content analysis by literature review along with pictures and interviews, 1 can achieve the objective of this study. Berelson (1952) mentions that systematic content analysis attempts to define more causal descriptions of the content, so as to show objectively the nature and relative strength of the stimuli applied to the reader or listener (p. 14).

Rosengren (1982) defines content analysis as the objective, systematic, and general description of the manifest content of a text:

About the manifest/latent relationship, Holsti says that the stage of coding must be manifest. By searching for a latent content, the searcher reaches a stage of interpretation. Evidence of different interpretations must be found in sources independent of the content analysis. (Rosengren, 1982, p. 34)

42 The literature review will describe the manifest content of texts and will interpret the description with latent content description of texts by using pictures and interviews. The manifest content description will help art educators in art education understand how a piece of fiimiture is related to art contexts in terms of the relationship between art and fiimiture design in Postmodernism, as well as before Postmodernism. In answering the problems and research questions of this study, the latent content interpretation will be intended to facilitate through various angles looking forward to future styles of furniture design.

Design of the Study

Because of the adoption of textual analysis, the sources of data are mainly from the literature representing New Design fiimiture in Postmodemism and supporting the fiimiture designers' concepts. Based on the problems and research questions of this study, my investigation instrument will contain three categories for classifying the content. Berelson (1952) mentions that qualitative analysis employs less formalized categorization than quantitative analysis. He adds that

this ordinarily means less systematic and less precise analysis though it may also mean more clever or relevant analysis because of the lack o f a rigid system of categories, allowing for more subtle or more individualized interpretations. (Berelson, 1952, p. 125)

The literature will be categorized and reviewed in three areas related to New Design furniture according to Postmodern aesthetics: 1) background of New Design furniture; 2) characteristics of New Design furniture; and 3) critical discourse about New Design fiimiture. These three areas will determine the significant extent and data sources of this

43 study. I will approach these three large and general topics, and then detailed sub-topics.

The idea of New Design furniture comes from the concept of Postmodemism, which

embraces styles ranging from the traditional to the current expression. New Design

furniture represents the history of furniture according to the reinterpretations of the

designers of New Design furniture. Although I will pay attention to the communication

elements of postmodern aesthetics in contemporary furniture styles in association with

postmodern art, the three categories established above are intended to reflect furniture

design in the past and present, and to look forward to the future of furniture design as

New Design furniture designers seek to make their furniture accessible to the largest

number of people in their daily lives.

Location of research/Method of data collection

This research will be conducted mainly in the setting of library research facilities such as the data system o f OSCAR, Internet, Library of Congress, Ohio Link, Art

Education-related journals, ERIC resources, dissertation abstracts, interlibrary loan services, etc. I will use furniture branches of such companies as Ikea in New Jersey to identify contemporary furniture designs in the market place. Also, I will use galleries and museums in Chicago, Boston, and New York which have exhibited contemporary furniture. Interviews will take place with curators at the galleries and museums.

As the method of data collection, I will limit the time of publication of books, journals, and magazines used in relation to New Design furniture. First, mainly books printed until around 1992 will be collected to obtain information and knowledge on the background and characteristics of New Design fumimre in Postmodemism. These books

44 provide an analysis of information from pamphlets, catalogues, magazines, and journals.

Most of the books related to furniture design were published before and during 1992.

Second, I will collect data from well-known art, craft, and furniture magazines and journals published since 1992 around the world: American craft. Blueprint, Intemi,

Graphis, Domus, I.D, Ottagano, Form, and fromAbitare, Europe and America. For my study associated with the postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture, recent journals and magazines will provide new information and sources about shifts in contemporary furniture styles at present. Finally, for data collection from furniture companies, galleries, and museums, I will need to travel to Chicago, Boston, New Jersey, and New

York in the summer of 1999. When visiting furniture company branches such as Ikea in

New Jersey, I will collect catalogues, pamphlets and information about current furniture design trends in the marketplace. I will also visit galleries and museums in Chicago,

Boston, and New York in order to conduct research through vivid communication with interviewees there. I will conduct interviews with curators with prepared questions. The interview content will be recorded and analyzed. The research conducted at the galleries and museums will provide me with information about how deeply furniture designers are concerned about communication with the public in creating their furniture in terms of considering a balance between aesthetics and comfort or function. Through all my research, I will collect pictures of furniture presented in the literature and take pictures of furniture at the places I visit.

Description of Methodolosv for Content Analvsis

Rosengren (1982) states that analysis explains the text both in part and as a whole:

45 the elements and the structure. He adds that most content analysis distinguishes between

analysis and interpretation. Hirsch mentions that "the only valid norm of an objective

analysis" is to establish the intentions of the content producer (Hirsch, 1981, p. 24).

Analysis calls for the differentiation, definition, and organization of alternative

categories. By definition, content analysis calls for the quantification of content elements

(Berelson, 1952, p. 135). As is intended in this study, I will categorize, classify, describe,

and interpret the literature based on the proposed problems and research questions.

Hence, the interpretation of this study will be by means of the following process:

External factors T Manifest content (description) Latent content (description) Books, magazines, and journals)uroals FurnitureFi companies, galleries, and museums: interviews, \ y pictures,: pamphlets, and catalogs Objective, subjective, objectively subjective, and subjectively objective T Monopoly l'intention) T Interpretation

According to external factors, the materials will be divided into three categories from books, magazines, journals, catalogues, pamphlets, pictures, and interviews: the background of New Design furniture, the characteristics of New Design furniture, and critical discourse about the communication value of New Design furniture.

Books published before and during 1992 will be analyzed for the background of

New Design furniture and the characteristics of New Design furniture. For the background, I will pick three furniture designers, Jencks, Venturi, and Graves, who represent postmodern aesthetics in their work. From the literature, the postmodern

46 furniture designers will be analyzed by their works and concepts according to the

elements of postmodern aesthetics. Thus, based on the background, I will explore the

characteristics of New Design furniture according to the designers’ concepts and works.

After searching the content of these books, I will systematically categorize, review, and

analyze the materials according to furniture designer’s concepts and works, and

manufacturers and critics' viewpoints. According to the manifest content of these books,

I will describe ideas in terms of the aesthetics of postmodern furniture. The manifest description will be interpreted as objectively as possible, because these stages of analysis are intended to identify phenomena related to the background and characteristics of New

Design furniture in terms of the postmodern aesthetics of communication.

From pamphlets, catalogues, journals, and magazines published since 1992,1 will analyze data such as articles and pictures which represent rethinking, redefinition, and redesign of New Design furniture from new perspectives. The analysis of those materials will provide information on critical discourse about the postmodern aesthetics of New

Design furniture. These periodicals, well-known furniture magazines, and journals from all over the world provide such information as trends in recent furniture and international furniture fairs based on architects’, furniture designers', manufacturers', and critics' perspectives. Rosengren (1981) suggests that the correct interpretation of a text is the same as the intentional interpretation of the author; the author has a monopoly on interpretation and allowance for more subtle or more individualized interpretations.

According to Rosengren's concept of monopoly in interpretation, I intend to place latent description with manifest description in analyzing the data. For the interpretation, I will support the concept of certain designers such as Philippe Starck, the famous French

47 furniture designer and architect, because their way of thinking about furniture design

coincides closely with what I have done in creating my furniture. Hence, the

interpretation will be objectively subjective and subjectively objective. Certain critics’

perspectives are objective, but the emphasis on Starch’s concept is based on my

subjective appreciation of Starch’s effort to bring his ideas to the widest audience through

the things of everyday life.

Finally, the content analysis of the interview recordings and notes will play a

significant role in answering, identifying, and organizing the problems and questions

raised in this study, and, thereby, anticipate New Design furniture in the future. The

interview materials for critical discourse about the problems in communication contents

in contemporary furniture styles will be analyzed and interpreted in social context. This

interpretation will complement the interpretation of the literature analysis mentioned

above.

I establish a preliminary model below that I will systematically use in determining

the outcomes of my study. The investigation is divided into three systematic parts for the

content analysis of the literature.

Model

Part one refers to concepts of three founders’ postmodemism as major sources of

the postmodern aesthetics o f New design furniture. The review of the background of

New design furniture focuses on Charles Jencks, Robert Venturi, and Michael Graves to

identify five general and specific concepts which influence postmodern ideas in New

Design furniture. According to the postmodern aesthetic elements of the three fumitiure

48 designers, I provide definitions of postmodernism, pluralism and eclecticism, decoration, semantics, and materials. I present the elements through general description, interpretation, and implications in relation to each designer’s concepts and works. This part introduces and analyzes the sources of communication elements of postmodern aesthetics expressed in New Design furniture, which are derived from the phenomena of postmodern art.

Part two is basically to answer one of three research questions in the study: What are the characteristics of postmodern furniture, and how are characteristics of postmodern furniture typically expressed as communication elements? In terms of the question, the characteristics of New Design furniture through the postmodern aesthetics will be reviewed as follows: 1) New Design furniture in terms of postmodern aesthetics of communication, 2) roles of the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture, and 3) problems of New Design furniture in connection with the postmodern aesthetics. The first category is detailed in subtitles such as pluralism and eclecticism, metaphor, narrative, humor, symbol and myth, collaboration, and fashion in upholstery in section A, the designers’ work and concept, and, in section B, cultural considerations.

The second provides the discussion of the designers’ concepts and art appreciation of everyday life using the postmodem aesthetics of New Design furniture. The third presents mass production, materials, viewer accessibility, and conclusion. Through the third, I category the research question: How are some aims of New Design furniture designers in relation to mass production, materials, and viewer accessibility significant to an exploration o f postmodern aesthetics?

Basically, New Design furniture attracts people’s interest and attention through

49 the strength and significance of communicative elements. However, the designers of

New Design furniture in the postmodern era have placed strong emphasis on aesthetics

rather than comfort or function by focusing their attention on one-offs or limited editions

— “an indication that the prevailing view is that furniture with a high semantic content can

only really survive in the market as object d ’art" (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 269).

Ironically, by not seeking to appeal to the majority, these designs have become more

appealing (Downey, 1992, p. 10). This area addresses the concern in New Design

furniture that to bring furniture to the broadest possible public, it is important to strike a balance between comfort and aesthetics. The related issues of comfort and aesthetics in

New Design furniture will be presented critically through multiple and in-depth perspectives on the postmodem aesthetics of communication.

Part three focuses on the answer to the last research question of the study: How have New Design furniture designers such as Philippe Starck rethought, redefined, and redesigned their work, and, as a consequence, how have their postmodern furniture aesthetics been made accessible to the largest number of people? In terms of the question, the critical discourse about the communication value of New Design furniture includes: 1) Philippe Starck and 2) Critical discourse about the postmodern aesthetics. In the first category, love, politics, ‘beautiful’ and ‘good,’ materials, and a plastic and wooden chair are analyzed according to Starck’s concept. The second provides furniture design for ecology, reusing and recycling materials, out of fashion furniture, durability, mass production, and a new aesthetics. Finally, under the title ‘furniture by a new design philosophy,’ designs for reused and recycled materials, furniture, habitat, and sustainability, and a new aesthetics are analyzed. In the conclusion, through furniture

50 designers' concepts, manufacturers' viewpoints, and critiques, I intend to identify

differences in designers’ considerations in rethinking, redefinition, and redesign of New

Design furniture expressed as postmodern aesthetics to enhance the living space in

relation to our ecology and environment. The critical discourse examines New Design

furniture in the social context, which is important in making New Design furniture easily

accessible to the largest number of people.

Additionally, for the major task of this study, I strongly address the critical

discourse about New Design fiimiture since 1992. This is because some designers of

New Design furniture have recently rethought, redefined, and redesigned New Design

fiimiture to move it away from the problems of postmodem fiimiture. This critical

discourse area reflects the backgroimd and presents the characteristics of New Design

fiimiture according to its postmodem aesthetics. The expectations in the field of New

Design fiimiture are implied through critical discourse literature about the postmodem

aesthetics in relation to our ecology. The New Design furniture of the future will

contribute to our society through the implications which result from critical discourse

about the exhaustion of raw materials and the use of nonpolluting, recycling, recycled,

and durable materials for our future ecology and environment.

From the results of this study attempting to examine the aesthetics of postmodem

furniture, I will develop a unit of instmction for an aesthetics class in art education. By using New Design furniture as metaphor, I will explore postmodern aesthetics expressed as communication which influences everyday life. I will use picture images of New

Design fiimiture which incorporate images as metaphor. Using the examples will make it possible for students to be more active in their inquiry into and understanding of the

51 postmodern aesthetics. Through the metaphors of New Design furniture, I will explore how to teach students about and help students understand, appreciate, and create New

Design furniture for everyday aesthetic appreciation and use.

52 CHAPTER 4

A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE IN

POSTMODERNISM

A content analysis of New Design furniture in the postmodern era will be

presented in this chapter. The content of the literature (from around 1980 to the present)

will be categorized and analyzed in three areas related to New Design furniture according

to the postmodern aesthetics of communication: part one, the background of New Design

furniture; part two, the characteristics of New Design furniture; and part three, the critical discourse about New Design furniture. I will approach these three large and general topics through detailed sub-topics.

PART ONE: THE BACKGROUND OF NEW DESIGN FURNITURE

Introduction

The postmodern style appears in anti-Modemism and anti-Rationalism in Modem architecture. Postmodern furniture explores such ideas as ‘ornament is no longer a crime’ and ‘less is a bore,’ set against the dictums ‘ornament is a crime’ and ‘less is more’ which were explored in Modem furniture. Postmodem fumitiure explores ideas from the traditions of craft and represents an eclectic and pluralistic approach based on postmodern ideas. Through his symbolic furniture, Charles Jencks, a postmodem founding father, has

53 revived, reintroduced, and reinterpreted ideas from Egyptian, Greek, and Roman furniture

in Gothic and Renaissance styles. The meanings of symbolic furniture play a major role

in metaphors of postmodern furniture for everyday life through everyday experience.

Likewise, for the beauty or decoration of their furniture, postmodern furniture designers revive, reintroduce, and reinterpret ideas from traditions such as the Neo-Classical reaction, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco. Hence, postmodern fiimiture emphasizes beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship rather than comfort or function.

Like postmodern architecture, the postmodern aesthetics of contemporary furniture intends to communicate on various levels. New Design fiimiture designers, including postmodern architects, have developed their ideas from Jencks’ double-coding concept, which is the continuation of Modernism in combination with architectural styles from earlier traditions. Postmodern aesthetics expressed through contemporary fiimiture is generally considered as ideas from the aesthetics of postmodern architecture. Through

‘micro-architectural’ concerns, most of the postmodern architects have created postmodern fiimiture which is in harmony with the aesthetics of their postmodem architecture. In Modemism, “ornament, polychromy, metaphor, humor, symbolism and convention were put on the Index and all forms of decoration and historical reference were declared taboo” (Jencks, 1986, p. 31). However, postmodernists accept and adapt all these elements as the message of their art. Jencks (1986) stresses that definers of Post-

Modernism were all “connected with semantics, convention, historical memory, metaphor, symbolism and respect for existing cultures” (p. 35). These architects and fiimiture designers differentiate postmodemism from Late-modemism, which involves

54 more technical and economic aspects in solving problems.

Therefore, the postmodern aesthetics in the background of New Design fiimiture

can be explored according to pluralism and eclecticism, decoration, semantics, and materials. A content analysis of three Post-Modern fiimiture designers’ aesthetics

through the concepts and works explored by their furniture will be presented in part one according to description, interpretation, and implication. Charles Jencks, Robert Venturi, and Michael Graves have represented postmodern aesthetics through their architecture and furniture design.

55 1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THREE FURNITURE DESIGNRS’

POSTMODERN AlESTHETICS

A. Charles Jencks

A Definition of Postmodemism

Charles Jencks, an architect and critic, who has been one of the most prolific

commentators on postmodemism, has offered a useful definition of Post-Modernism in terms of double coding:

To this day I would define Post-Modernism as I did in 1978 as double coding: the combination o f Modem techniques with something else (usually traditional buildings) in order for architecture to communicate with the public and a concerned minority, usually other architects. The point of this double coding was itself double. Modem architecture had failed to remain credible partly because it didn’t communicate effectively with its ultimate users — the main argument of my book. (Jencks, 1986, p. 14)

For Jencks, double coding means the continuation of Modemism in combination with ideas from Pre-Modemism or traditions like Gothic and Renaissance art and architecture.

Charles Jencks’ first book. The Language o f Modem Architecture (1977), “celebrated new post-modem styles based on eclecticism and populism, and helped to disseminate the concept of the postmodem” (Best & Kellner, 1991, p. 11).

Pluralism and Eclecticism

With his definition of the double-coding in postmodemism, Jencks explores symbolic fumiture according to the idea of ‘Classical’ inspiration, which ranges from

Egypt, Greece, Neo-Classicism, Biedermeier, and the Regency, to A jI Deco in the

Modem period.

56 Jencks’ Spring Chair for the Spring room in his Thematic House has a shell­

shaped back with a symbohc idea like Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus in the Uffizi,

Florence; as in the painting “where Venus is seen emerging from a shell, the image [of

the chair] also has the connotation of the rebirth of learning. The rear of the chair has an

inset Wedgwood shell-shaped plate, which Jencks calls ‘a “found” industrial object which

is used as a symbolic ornament’” ( Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 123).

Jencks’ Sun Chair with a sunburst back shows not only the motif of the Regency

and Art Deco styles but a compression of 1980s and 1930s furniture styles as well. One of Jencks’ best designs to date, the sun chair with his sun table is most successful in the version without arm rests (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 123).

Decoration

By using and simplifying symbol as decoration in displaying meaning, Jencks’ furniture explores symbolic and meaningful beauty. Symbolic objects which have been carefully designed and crafted give point to the ephemeral background.

First, the symbolic objects use very simple forms and proportions, the main

Platonic solids and such ratios as 1:1:3:5. Second, the simple colors of the objects relate to the background, and minimalist abstraction of the objects by the incised line and flat planes is used as a rhetorical means of contrast. Jencks (1989) explains that “this simplicity is partly sought to heighten the effect of the central symbol - the eye-catcher — and partly meant to harmonize with other forms” (p. 139). Thus, in his light series, the polished stone, the mass-produced item, or the precious stone is the eye-catcher. Third, the composition focuses on the visual and semantic. One’s mind is drawn away from

57 function because of the eye-catcher’s role in displacing meaning. Thereby, the eye-

catcher shows a different taste and skill. Finally, according to Jencks (1989), the

symbolic and meaningful object is beautiful, precious, and inexpensive because it can be

made by mass-production of prefabricated parts for daily life.

Semantics fmeaning)

Jencks’ symbolism is to be expected from a writer on architecture concerned with meaning and language. For his symbolic furniture, Jencks not only takes inspiration from parts of architecture but also considers furniture a form in ‘micro-architecture,’ a concept which many other Post-Modernists agree on. Thus, like his Post-Modern architecture,

Jencks’ furniture explores many different contexts in terms of specific meaning and function:

Jencks has explained his symbolic furniture in the following terms: ‘Usually furniture is designed to be placed in many different contexts, as a result it is often banal ... the most elegant ftimiture of this century, that of Mies van der Rohe and Charles Fames, is so general as to be equally at home in the airport lounge and the executive office .... A symbolic furniture, still somewhat general but capable of specific meaning and function, might reassert its rightful place and give anonymous space a place and location. Jencks also asserts that his furniture ‘is meant to have a multivalence lacking in the technosolipistic furniture of our time.’ (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 124)

Thus, in terms of his interpretation of traditional architecture, Jencks’ symbolic architecture and furniture convey metaphoric meaning in everyday life.

58 Symbolic Objects:

Example 1 : Architecture

In ancient times, symbolic architecture always united the cosmos and the

everyday world, made a few basic themes various, and made papyrus, lotus, and palm

open, closed, and composite in various ways for enhancing the beauty and function of the

three plant orders: “how the papyrus bundles were tied together at the top, how the stalks

flared out under the weight and curved in to meet the ground” (Jencks, 1985, p. 25).

When Greeks, Romans, and Christians transformed Egyptian architecture for their own

symbolic system, the architecture was always at the same time aesthetic, functional, and

symbolic in an attempt to make daily life and the cosmos meaningful. Thus, the

symbolic architecture, which “mediates between the personal and the public, the

transitory and the eternal,” has meaning conforming to the plot of the transformed

architecture (Jencks, 1985, p. 26). If people do not trust the content or meaning, the

symbolic building is diminished into a kitsch form. Thus, the content of the symbolic

architecture is as significant as the form or shape.

In considering Jencks’ interpretation of the significant content of symbolic

architecture, there are five major areas, i.e., “traditional social use or the function of the building type, literature, religion, scientific discoveries which inspire wonder, and personal history” (Jencks, 1985, p. 34). Jencks (1985) suggests that the each area may appear as the pretext for a symbolic programme, story or scenario about traditional architecture.

The symbolic design of architecture in terms of abstraction or aesthetic or functional architecture gives architects the advantage of motivation in something behind

59 the making and perceiving of the work. Creativity transformed by such motivation

extends the meanings of the architecture. It functions beyond just the understanding of

the wider audience. Jencks (1985) addresses the effects of this motivation and suggests

that “such a combination fundamentally deepens the seriousness and integrity of the

architecture itself’ (p. 34). Additionally, symbolic design gives enjoyment to human

beings in exploring the meaning at both trivial and profound levels. In our lives, we read

and perceive everything we see and know and care about through our five senses. The

various plots, the local meaning, the conventional stories of society might be good

pretexts for symbolic architecture. However, we may be “fimstrated when our

environment does not fit together and reward our expectation that life is meaningful”

(Jencks, 1985, p. 35).

Therefore, according to symbolization, transformation, and meaning in ancient times, this analysis of architecture may be valid for that of a piece of symbolic and metaphoric postmodern furniture. First, symbol in the past must be reconstructed and retransformed into elements of symbol systems that can be understood in contemporary terms. According to architects’ interpretations, the retransformed symbolic architecture with beauty and functionality has a symbolic programme, story, or scenario. Second, the meaning or content of retransformed architecture makes the symbolic architecture explicitly denotative and implicitly connotative in conveying the metaphoric meaning.

These two general kinds of meanings and concepts are essential for understanding the nature of metaphor literally or nonliterally. Finally, the visual metaphor of symbolic architecture functions beyond the fact of the architecture in communicating with people.

60 Thus, people enjoy symbolic architecture and enrich their everyday lives as an extension

of the metaphoric meaning.

Example 2: Furniture

Through symbolism, Jencks explores the meaning of postmodern furniture. For

example, Jencks’ Colosseum chair and stool seem to be a form of micro-architecture

derived from several different prototypes of architecture in ancient times (see Pictures 7,

8). The chair and stool appear ambiguous in function because of the connection between

door and chair back. According to Jencks’ interpretation, the Colosseum architecture was

retransformed into a symbolic chair and stool. As Jencks (1989) describes his chair and

stool, “the round-backed chair is a traditional form stemming, I suppose, from two

sources: the idea of the circle, and resting one's arms and back against an embracing

shape” (p. 140). The chair and stool show simple colors, shapes, proportion, and

materials, and, thereby, minimal articulations such as the layered overlapping of flat planes. Jencks (1989) states that in putting the stool inside the chair, an enigmatic object with several overtones is created. Thus, the chair is intended to be understood as

functional, symbolic, and aesthetic according to Jencks’ interpretation of the traditional building. In sitting in it and closing the gate, people may imagine themselves imprisoned, while enjoying comfort or functionality in reclining. The visual and semantic focus of the composition tends to draw our minds away from comfort or function. Through the semantic focus, metaphoric meaning can be interpreted according to the viewer’s or user’s perspective. The chair and stool will communicate the

61 metaphoric meaning with viewer or user. For some, the Colosseum chair and stool may be a vivid metaphor for the life situation within the circle of the earth.

Therefore, Jencks’ retransformed Colosseum is denotative explicitly according to the symbolized shape and connotative implicitly as it reminds the viewer of the meaningful Colosseum of the past. Perhaps, the Colosseum in Rome has kept its own metaphoric meaning in Jencks’ chair and stool, a dramatic linking between the cosmos and everyday life. The denotative and connotative communication through the piece of retransformed symbolic and metaphoric fumitiure makes a connection between reflection on our legacy of the past and our present. The symbolic furniture conveys metaphoric meanings according to the designer’s perspective or interpretation. The transfer and interpretation of meanings in postmodern furniture has the capability to communicate with people. The meaningful furniture draws our attention, and invites us to understand, communicate, and appreciate the retransformed symbolism. Because the symbolic furniture retransformed according to the designer’s interpretation can be interpreted according to the viewer’s or user’s perspective, we rediscover our tradition from a different and more personal perspective. Thus, our experience or use of the symbolic and metaphoric furniture reminds us of mediation between everyday existence and eternity in our significant tradition. The symbolic and metaphoric furniture is meaningful, memorable, and imaginative in the ways it is integrated with the current culture.

Conclusion

One of the most prolific commentators on postmodernism, Jencks explored his symbolic architecture and furniture design, which can be seen as a neoconservative about-

62 turn, in the 1980s. Through his double-coding concept, Jencks’ lasting contribution to

postmodernism in his theory and practice has had an influence on the concepts and

practice of contemporary furniture designers in the postmodern era. His symbolic and

metaphoric furniture with ideas from classical inspiration displays meaning with

simplified and transformed beauty. Thus, the furniture is not only meaningful but also

beautiful. From ‘micro-architectural’ concerns, his furniture design follows the design of

architecture in style and concept. Like Jencks’ architecture, such an emphasis on

meaning and beauty in his simplified furniture stems from his concern about

communication with people, who use his furniture in the everyday world. The minimal

and symbolic abstracted design makes his furniture simple to mass-produce. Mass-

produced furniture with meaningful and symbolic decoration can not only satisfy people

with its economy and beauty but communicate with people in their everyday lives as

well. Jencks’ influence has led to diverse decoration related to symbolism on

contemporary furniture in the postmodern era. However, imlike Jencks who simplifies

his work for mass-production, contemporary furniture designers tend to express their

furniture without any consideration of mass-production in terms of shape, color, materials, or craftsmanship; thus the furniture can not be mass-produced, but is produced as one-offs or limited editions. In fact, while Jencks created his symbolic and metaphoric

furniture through the concept of his double coding, which means the continuation of

Modernism in combination with the traditional architecture in Post-Modernism, many contemporary furniture designers in the postmodern era explore their furniture through beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship from the traditions of craft.

63 B. ROBERT VENTURI

A definition of Postmodernism

Robert Venturi like Charles Jencks, one of Post-Modemism’s founding fathers, as

an architect and critic, has defined Postmodernism as the new concept ‘less is a bore’ in

response to the credo ‘less is more’ in Modernism. In terms of the new concept, Collins

& Papadakis mention that

historicism and eclecticism are used extensively by Venturi and Jencks.... It was, therefore, somewhat ironic that it was MOMA which published Robert Venturi’s Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture in 1966. This broke the mould of dominant Modernism in his plea for ‘complexity and contradiction...elements which are hybrid rather than pure...messy vitality over obvious unity.... I prefer “both-and” to “either-or”’. Significantly it was Robert Venturi who hit the International Modem Movement’s credo o f ‘less is more’ on the head by countering it with ‘less is a bore’ in the same publication. (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 103)

Pluralism and Eclecticism

Through his concept ‘less is a bore,’ in the postmodern era, Venturi has created highly ornamental chairs and revivals reflecting ideas “from the Queen Anne style of

1730 through to Hollywood Art Deco of 1930,” and the nine chairs revive chronologically “Queen Anne, Chippendale, Gothic (k), Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Empire,

Biedermeier, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco” (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 104) (see

Picture 9).

From a concern with the history of ornament and design, as well as the Pop Art,

Venturi has written extensively about the use of decoration and symbolism:

Our current definition of architecture is shelter with symbols on it. Ornament and symbolism - certainly applied ornament and the simple uses of association - have been ignored in architecture, or condemned — ornament equated with crime by

64 Adolf Loos as long ago as 1906, and symbolism associated with discredited historical eclecticism. (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 104)

Venturi is certainly aware of history, to which the ‘Post’ in Post-Modern indicates their

debtedness. His ornament may remind one of “Sir Henry Cole’s design group of the

1840s, which attempted to relate ornament to function” (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p.

104). In fact, Venturi’s chairs are all shown as rechauffes of stereotypes from history',

although one could make an issue that originality is difficult today. Hence, Post-

Modernism may become aware of the issue as interpretation.

Decoration

Inspired by the new concepts ‘less is a bore’ and ‘ornament is no longer a crime,’

Venturi explores color or surface ornament. His chairs express various bright finishes with, “in addition to a blond plywood finish, a red Chippendale or a yellow Art Nouveau.

It reminds one a little of the ‘penny plain, tuppence colored’ principle of nineteenth- century prints, with the obvious scaling up of today’s prices” (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 107). In attempting the revivalism of polychromy and a return to omamentalism,

Venturi explores the ornament of the chairs in relation to Victorian chromolithography and color in architecture and design.

For example, the polychromatic Sheraton chair adapted from the Sheraton and Art

Deco styles, an appropriate polychromatic siUcscreen applique of decoration shows the

Neo-Classical history of ornament as in the column decorated with egg and dart; nineteenth-century color theory is adopted as the inspiration for Post-Modern color use

(Collins & Papadakis, 1989).

65 The most interesting surface decoration, the ‘Grandmother’ pattern, which is

distinct from the other floral pattern on the couch, comes from a “favorite tablecloth

belonging to the grandmother of Robert Schwartz, an associate of Venturi, Rauch and

Scott Brown” (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 107). The diagonal lines in the Queen

Anne chair are very possibly related to those in Jasper Jones’ paintings (see Picture 10).

In terms of the floral and grandmother pattern, Collins & Papadakis mention that

Venturi has written of this that ‘it is characteristic of Post-Modernism to use familiar and conventional patterns - a floral pattern you might find on a faded tablecloth that belonged to your grandmother, and a typical screen pattern used in commercial art but made much bigger.’ (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 107)

Materials

As the materials for his postmodem chairs, Venturi uses bent plywood which is

molded and laminated as Modem furniture designers did. The chairs can be mass-

produced and at the same time bring a degree of economy. In the 1930s AJvar Aalto or

Marcel Breuer, architects and furniture designers, experimented with plywood shaped by

new technology for their Modem furniture. Therefore, Venturi’s postmodem concept on the materials useful for his chairs include not only the obvious Neo-Classical materials such as Queen Anne, Chippendale, Gothic (k), Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Empire, and

Biedermeier, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco, but the most modem laminated plastic as well.

Conclusion

With his concept ‘less is a bore’ set against the Modem ‘less is more,’ Venturi’s melange of art and design history creates a Post-Modem synthesis. Venturi’s pluralism

66 and eclecticism reflect the desire for wit and the need for historical reference in design as mainstream elements in the 1980s (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 107). As Venturi is aware of the history of symbolism and ornament, his furniture is inspired by ornament, polychromy, and symbolism, by applique, floral and grandmother patterns. As his interpretation of the Neo-Classical revival furniture in the postmodern era, the jig-sawed and fl-etted chair backs make a witty reference to the epoch of furniture history remembered (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 104). Through the use of molded and laminated plywood, Venturi, like Jencks, also explored the potential of mass-production of furniture by new technology. Venturi has influenced contemporary furniture through a variety of ornament and symbolism, accommodated to current culture in color, shape, and design. Thus, as the Post-Modernist that Jencks did, Venturi created a continuation of

Modernism in communication with traditions in his polychromatic and ornamental chairs.

However, although they have been inspired by Venturi’s interpretation, contemporary furniture designers reinterpret the historicism from their own point of view, which tends to emphasize beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship rather than comfort or function, not for mass production but for one-offs or limited editions.

67 C. MICHAEL GRAVES

A Definition of Postmodernism

Like Jencks, Michael Graves, a famous Post-Modern architect, gradually turned back to polychromy as it was used in the nineteenth century. Based on the historical references to decoration in architecture and furniture, Michael Graves, the most innovative and publicly known of the New York Five,

came into prominence with a highly decorative architectural language that stressed allusions, historical reference, and spatial complexity. Because of his mihtant rejection of the purist forms of Modernism, Graves was a major influence on interior design in the 1970s, first through his symbolic use of colors and later through the Post-Modern Classical ornamentation of his architecture, furniture, and housewares. (Spencer, 1991, p. 140)

Pluralism and Eclecticism

In Graves’ furniture. Art Deco meets Empire or Regency, which can be considered a meeting of the memories of 1930s’ and 1830s’ furniture. His blond wood stool for Diane Von Furstenberg’s boutique in New York has an ebonized leg rail, and is topped by a cushion with tassels at its comers. The ‘sabre’ leg was popular in the British

Regency and the American Empire period, which are popular sources of inspiration for

Post-Modern furniture. The piece brings to mind an appropriate sense of luxury (Collins

& Papadakis, 1989).

Decoration

With a symbolic approach. Graves uses colors in his architecture, and then marvelously turns the old patterns of the nineteenth-century palette, which was full of earthbound reds, sky blues, and gold, into elements of his work, applying colors of light

68 pink and blue (see Pictures 11, 12). This kind of device, familiar since the time of the

Renaissance, has been brought back in the postmodern era. This is a unique

breakthrough, since color was basically abandoned by artists of the International Style in

Modernism, when people favored only white or neutral tones and an emphasis on texture

rather than color. Extending the concept of his architecture. Graves has created furniture

in postmodernism as well. He applied in his upholstered lounge chair and other chairs a

similar elegance in form and color. Graves reinterprets Art Deco for his chairs (Collins &

Papadakis, 1989).

Materials

Through the use of blond wood. Graves’ Postmodern furniture explores furniture

styles of the 1830s and 1930s. Graves’ armchair, table, and stool reinterpret Art Deco,

with a hint of Biedermeier, in the contrast between large areas of blond wood and dramatic ebonized sections. The wood was usually birdseye maple, and his armchair and accompanying side chair, with wedge-shaped legs, delight the eye. The same may be said for his circular table for Sunar’s London Showroom, with its square blond wood base and ebonized drum pedestal. The whole reminds one of Regency, or more particularly of Biedermeier Too’ and ‘library’ tables of about 1820. A similar elegance was allied to his upholstered loimge chair for the same firm. Some of these splendid designs are still produced in Milan by Sawayi and Moroni. (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 127)

Conclusion

As a Post-Modernist like Jecks and Venturi, Graves’ pluralistic and eclectic furniture shows the use of polychromy, various wood, and upholstery with symbolic message from historical references. Graves, like Jencks and Venturi, explores polychromie but symbolically simplified furniture design, which can be mass-produced

69 cheaply and beautifully. Thus, Graves has influenced the use of diverse colors by contemporary furniture designers, who decorate and beautify their furniture through upholstery. Graves’ use of diverse woods such as blond, ebony, and maple woods, has drawn contemporary furniture designers’ attention to adapting wood materials to decorate and beautify their furniture. The decorative variety and beauty of polychromy make it possible for contemporary fomiture metaphoric, narrative, symbolic, and humorous, which is intended to communicate with people on various levels.

70 2. INTERPRETATION

Pluralism and Eclecticism:

As in Jencks’, Venturi’s, and Graves’ furniture and concepts, the pluralistic and eclectic approaches to furniture design reestablished in postmodern furniture are characteristics of the work of thel980s. These three Post-Modernists have explored

Modernism and pre-Modemism simultaneously through Jencks’ double coding concept, the continuation of Modernism usually in combination with traditional architecture. This is exemplified in a simultaneous multiplicity o f design in contemporary furniture styles.

Furniture designs of these styles reinterpret and reintroduce the motives of decoration and craftsmanship from historical references such as Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-

Classical, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and combined them with Modem furniture styles, which favored mass-production by new technology.

‘Double-Coding’: The Continuation of Modernism in Combination with Traditional

Architecture

Although Jencks, Venturi, and Graves explore their postmodern furniture according to the concept ‘less is a bore’ in reading to the principle ‘less is more’ in

Modem furniture, their furniture clearly includes the continuation of the Modem:

In fact this admiration for columns and Classicism, like so much else, emerged from Pop Art.... Post-Modern Classicism is, however, only one development in the Pluralism o f the 1980s. There are as many architects and designers who extend the tradition of the Modem, pay homage to the Intemational Style, or refine it to the level of ‘High Tech’. Included in the continuation of the Modem is the production revival of nearly all the famous ‘Modem chair designs of Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, Eileen Gray, Marcel Breuer, and Guisepper Terragni, to mention only a few. (Collins & Papadakis, 1989, p. 69)

71 The pluralism of part Modernism and part Postmodernism was possible as a kind of

cross-breeding in the ‘80s. But some designers never include ‘Classicism’ in their work

at all. In the twentieth century. Modernism tends not only to be maintained but also to

challenge and intimidate Post-Modernism through evolving technology (Collins &

Papadakis, 1989).

However, classicism, as an alternative, is legitimate again today, comparing part

of the pluralism. By means of the ideas offered from classicism, architects and furniture

designers could work out and put forward experimental methods, forms and styles which

have raised the current issues on Neo-and Post-Modernism. An awareness of tradition

and the lure of the unknown are seen in their architecture and furniture designs. As a

result, it seems that Post-Modernism must dominate the design field. The Post-Modern

architecture and furniture design reflect perfectly the whole gamut o f the pluralism in the

1980s as well as some of its Post-Pop and ‘micro-architectural’ concerns (Collins &

Papadakis, 1989). Architects and furniture designers, as their basis, have adapted the most hierarchical, traditional materials such as gold; they have retirmed to creating well made and expensive items. Thus, in the 1980s, the new pluralism made any gesture possible in the architects’ and furniture designers’ work in competitions, events, and gatherings of collections.

Therefore, through symbolism, meaning, decoration, and materials based upon historical references, Jencks, Venturi, and Graves have attempted to create their own interpretations in Post-Modern furniture. Jencks’ use of Medium Density Fiberboard

(Mediate) for his Sun Chair’s, Venturi’s use of plywood for his furniture, and Graves’ use of blond wood, ebony, and maple for his furniture express their interpretations of the

72 traditional wood in a pluralistic and eclectic period, which reflects both the traditional

view and the Modem perspective which was not in favor o f the traditional uses of wood.

The use of oak, ebony inlay, blond wood, and birds eye maple in postmodern furniture tends to emphasize the ornament of surface and the context in relation to the meaning of symbol from historicism.

73 3. IMPLICATIONS

Although Jencks, Venturi, and Graves explore postmodern furniture as a reaction

against Modem furniture, which was shaped by the terms of the credo ‘less is more’ and

‘ornament is a crime,’ they, as Post-Modernists, attempted to create simple, cheap, and

beautiful furniture accessible to new technology in terms of the concepts ‘less is a bore’

and ‘ornament is no longer a crime.’ The 1980s’ pluralistic and eclectic approach in postmodern furniture has continued into the 1990s. However, the furniture from these approaches may need to be handmade rather than made by new technology. For example, some furniture designs in postmodernism are highly decorative and individualistic; others involve many dualities wavering between functionality, comfort, and aesthetics (Downey,

1992). Thus, contemporary furniture designers tend to return to and reinterpret the craftsmanship and form of Arts and Crafts furniture from 1900 to 1930.

As a matter of fact, it remains an interesting phenomenon that architects, before, during, or now after Modernism, have tended to prefer designing furniture to designing other products. Through the ‘micro-architectural concerns of architects rather than furniture designers, their Post-Modern furniture gives one a sense of metaphor or humor.

Thereby, influenced by the Post-Modern furniture through the three Post-Modernists, contemporary furniture called New Design explores not only metaphor or humor but also symbol, narrative, animation, etc, in relation to current culture as a means to convey meaning, and, thus, communicates with people on various levels. Therefore, contemporary furniture designers through the concept of New Design attempt to achieve their own personal experimental style and links, drawing on traditional objects, techniques, materials, and forms. Such phenomena raise a multitude of questions with a

74 dangerous sense of expressionism and something rather surreahstic and affect contemporary furniture design.

75 PART TWO; THE CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW DESIGN FURNITURE IN TERMS

OF THE POSTMODERN AESTHETICS OF COMMUNICATION: What are the

characteristics of postmodern furniture, and how are characteristics of postmodern

furniture typically expressed as Postmodern aesthetics of communication?

Introduction

In this section, based on the background of New Design furniture developed in part one, I will answer the question stated previously in terms of the characteristics of postmodern aesthetics of communication in contemporary furniture. I will analyze the content according to 1) postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture in relation to the designers’ concept and work and culmral considerations; 2) roles of communication aesthetics in New Design furniture as it influences designers’ concept and work and art appreciation in everyday life; and 3) problems of New Design furniture in connection with postmodern aesthetics affecting mass production, materials, and viewer accessibility.

I will focus on analysis of the characteristics and roles of postmodern aesthetics and problems in making contemporary furniture accessible to the broadest possible public.

Thereby, I will explore the phenomenon of New Design furniture more fully to help art educators understand the characteristics of postmodern aesthetics of communication in contemporary furniture.

76 1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW DESIGN

FURNITURE

I) Postmodern Aesthetics in New Design Furniture

Table LI Postmodern aesthetics through contemporary furniture

Aesthetics Sources Communicative elements Decoration

Symbol from traditions of craft symbolic, metaphorical descriptive or current culture narrative

Metaphor from traditions of craft, metaphorical descriptive fine arts, or current narrative culture

Narrative from traditions of craft, narrative, metaphorical descriptive fine arts, or current narrative culture

Humor from traditions of craft, humorous, metaphorical narrative fine arts, or current descriptive culture

Animation from fine arts, or current humorous, imaginative decorative Imagination culture metaphorical narrative Fluidity descriptive

Postmodern aesthetics as expressed through contemporary furniture can be defined as the use of symbol, metaphor, narrative, animation, imagination, or humor in contemporary furniture through ideas from the traditions of craft and from fine arts.

Contemporary furniture in Postmodernism is referred to as revival, réintroduction and reinterpretation of ideas from historical references as in Neo-Classical reaction, the Arts and Crafts movement. Art Nouveau, and Art Deco, and as an adaptation of fine arts.

Contemporary furniture in postmodernism communicates symbol, metaphor, narrative.

77 animation, imagination, humor, or wit at a conscious and physical level with beholders or

people encountering it in their ereyday lives. These elements convey metaphorical

meanings, which bring social and cultural contexts to the New Design furniture

designer’s inventions. Thus, the postmodern aesthetics of these elements are not only

communicated but also variously expressed through contemporary furniture by New

Design furniture designers. Postmodern aesthetics in contemporary furniture resembles

the aesthetics of poetry (e.g., symbolic, metaphoric, narrative, imaginative, humorous,

etc). Thus, a poetic space is created as the integration of images of postmodern aesthetics

of communication through contemporary furniture. Contemporary furniture is called

New Design furniture, and represents the postmodern aesthetics of communication.

Here, I will call New Design furniture contemporary furniture. New Design

furniture, or postmodern furniture flexibly because New Design furniture belongs to the category of contemporary furniture and represents furniture design through the postmodern era as a reaction against furniture theory and practice in Modernism. And, I will use the term ‘Postmodernism’ as meaning after Modernism so that I may designate the period as postmodernism or the postmodern era. Thus, the Post-Modernism referred to in Jencks’ concept previously in part one is different from postmodernism or the postmodern era I will use here. This is because according to the designers’ different interpretations or perspectives. New Design furniture in postmodernism or the postmodern era seems to have apparently developed firom Jencks’ double-coding in Post-

Modernism; Venturi, Graves, and other architects and furniture designers followed.

78 A. New Design Furniture Designers’ Work and Concepts

The postmodern aesthetics of communication appears through contemporary

furniture designers’ work and concepts. I will categorize and analyze the characteristics

of postmodern aesthetics in contemporary furniture not by the statements of furniture

designers but by the furniture aesthetics the designers have created through various pieces

of furniture. Because of the design sources, contemporary furniture is communicative.

As one of the major communicative sources in furniture designers’ works and concepts,

current culture has played a major role in contemporary furniture design to express

communicative aesthetics.

However, the terms referring to communication elements such as symbol, metaphor, narrative, and/or humor will be defined in each part according to the intention of the furniture designers visually rather than the meaning of the term linguistically because the furniture in the postmodern era can be interpreted visually according to the viewers’ perception. For each communication element, I will focus on pluralism and eclecticism, meaning for interpretation, design source, and materials.

79 Table 1.2 New Design furniture designers' work and concepts

Pluralism & Meaning for Design source Materials elements Eclecticism interpretation

From the Metaphorical, Human, nature. Metal, steel. Metaphor, tradition of narrative. animal, plants. glass, wood’ Symbol, Myth craft, fine art. symbolic. current culture fabric or current humorous. culture mythical

Collaboration From the Metaphorical, Fashion, Fabric, wall tradition of narrative. music. paper, paint. craft, fine descriptive magazines. glass, crystal. arts, or craftsmanship forged iron. current wood culture

Fashion for From the Metaphorical, New Baroque, Fabric pattern, Upholstery tradition of narrative. Russian leather, satin, craft, fine descriptive constructivist. velvet, wood arts, or luxury current materials culture

Pluralism and Eclecticism:

A time of pluralism, eclecticism, and nervous expectation have created the characteristics of contemporary furniture design in the postmodern era. Contemporary furniture designer individually searches out and expresses all the informative ideas of the past century, which are from Neo-classical reaction. Arts and Crafts movement. Art

Nouveau, and/or Art Deco. The aesthetics make sense of any expression contemporary furniture; these random ideas represent an attempt to turn toward the next century.

Thereby, a compatible discourse “between the concerns of the individual and attraction to spectacle dominates, yet new ideas are in the air” (Downey, 1992, p. 9).

80 Through the new pluralistic and eclectic era established in contemporary furniture design, independent avant-garde designers are creating limited furniture designs which are intentionally handmade. One-of-a-kind or limited-edition furniture presents the creativity and the personality of the individual furniture designer, reflecting the fact that

representational painting is no longer the only option for the artist. It [limited furniture design] conveys a sense o f ‘spontaneous creativity’ and reflects the personality of the creator. These designers have not transposed furniture into art, but aim specifically to create poetic, three-dimensional design which possesses aesthetic characteristics similar to those of painting and sculpture. (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 150)

According to historicism and revivalism, the craft revival movement has continued through Wendel Castel in America and John Makepeace in the United Kindom, who are re-establishing “the artisan-traditions of fumiture-making rather in the manner of the nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 148). Castle has never intended to produce his work by machine. Makepeace’s Ebony and Nickel-

Silver chair was laboriously time-consuming to construct, using over two thousand pieces of ebony and drawing on both Gothic and Art Nouveau sources of inspiration for its form and decorative detail. Historically, the Arts and Crafts movement initiated by William

Morris insisted on bringing back the Gothic environment, which is decorative and crafty.

Thus, Fiell & Fiell (1991) suggest that the use of high-quality materials and labor- intensive techniques in the Arts and Crafts movement meant that Craft Revival furniture remained extremely expensive in both Britain and America, and because of this it has had virtually no effect on the mass-market (p. 148). Contemporary furniture designs with the name of New Baroque deal with themes of revival, discovery, and interpretation of the past Baroque style. Thereby, the designs are various fi'om the recounting of entire folk

81 tales to Gothic and Renaissance interpretations of Greek myth. In terms of New Baroque

over Baroque, Downey observes that

Robert le Héros uses fabrics of large repeats and carpets to build new epics of their creation. Often they work as stylists, draping a space, a store window, or an exhibition with their characters, painted heroes, and objets. They put a great deal of emphasis on the collection, that is, the assemblage of designs, patterns, and colors used together to create the fantasy. (Downey, 1992, p. 77)

The following examples of metaphorical, symbolic, narrative, and humorous furniture have been expressed by the designers’ interpretation of the new pluralism and eclecticism established through postmodern furniture. I will describe and present their work and concept in terms of such characteristics of contemporary furniture as metaphor, narrative, humor, symbol and myth, according to meaning for interpretation, design source, and materials. Believing that the characteristics of the contemporary furniture reflect the postmodern aesthetics of communication, I will attempt to show a variety of features of postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture as fully as I can in each category.

Metaphor

Ron Arad’s furniture seems to be metaphoric, symbolic, or humorous and is derived firom various design sources such as human, animal, or plant. By using the elements flexibly, Arad tries to bring his furniture to a wider audience by means of mass production. Unlike Heart & Industry and Looming Lloyd, such chairs as No Spring

Chicken may be reproduced efficiently in a large factory. Yet his furniture is mainly produced by one-off or limited edition; for example, the work described as Bricoleur was conceived and developed in the studio. The materials that Arad has worked with are

82 mainly metal and steel in many forms, which have been reinterpreted in soft upholstered

forms. Downey (1992) states that working in the form that covers the metal structure,

cutting the shapes, and playing with ideas of empty and full, soft and hard, and light and

heavy can be considered new facets of an evolution of New Design. His furniture seems

to roll back in movement, but the furniture is comfortable when one sits in it. In terms of

the sense of humor implicit in Arad’s chairs, Downey describes the big heart chair, which

is molded after the original metal chair Heart & Industry, a heart of polished stainless steel with just enough of an indentation at its widest part to create a seat. The tip of the heart is weighted, so that it rises to a vertical and more apparent “heart” orientation when not in use. For Looming Lloyd, leaded stainless steel shoes can be clamped onto any chair with four legs; the shoes throw it forward, making it apparently ready to walk away. Other pieces—chairs that split to form two chairs, chairs that roll, seats that bounce—are all part of Arad’s various experiments and obvious sense of humor. (Downey, 1992, p. 130)

His chairs are transferred into metaphor through heart, shoes, and humor. Therefore,

Arad tends to create something out of everything created, touched, and worked on by

one-off within his studio. In manipulating every material well out of his hand and head,

he makes no division of duty (see Pictures 13, 14).

Marco de Gueltzl’s chair is seen as metaphor for authority interpreted from the

use of color, shape, and material from the traditions of craft. His furniture designs are

formal and can be duplicated in limited series. Marco de Gueltzl works fast and furiously

with glass, soldered steel, and junkyard metals. Certainly the furniture he creates as he works is not adaptable to mass production in terms of skillful craftsmanship; nor is it meant to be. For example, according to Downey (1992), the red-colored upholstered St.

Petersburg chair seems to be skillfully handmade with his trademark green glass wrapped in metal at each arm and at the headrest (see Picture 15). Thus, de Gueltzl’s chairs of

83 Steel tubes or the buffet and the very baroque-style chair with a quick, fashion-of-the-

times look show a mixed interpretation for metaphor and imagination of the traditions of

crafts and current culture. Downey (1992) mentions that his steel tube or buffet chairs

seem somehow an honest outgrowth of the struggle between art and production (p. 148).

Designs of the three-man team of 18 Auto show rich metaphorical elements; they are smart and simple. The rich metaphors of their design make the user rethink the relationship between the object and him/her. As their important early product design, the hot plate (hot/cold) is metaphorical and narrative by the succincmess of their ideas in interlocking spirals of matte and polished chromed steel. Through their brilliant ideas, a vase is formed from a giant laser-cut flower; a wrapped piece of fiberglass bearing the inscription “the etemal is my light and my salvation” becomes a lamp (Downey, 1992, p.

139). A trash can transformed in the guise of a bomb shows metaphor and humor simultaneously (see Picture 16).

Narrative

Narrative elements like metaphor, symbol, humor, and myth are characteristic of the communicative elements of postmodern aesthetics in the idea of New Design furniture in postmodernism. The designers express a narrative or story through their furniture. A narrative or story in New Design furniture communicates on multiple levels as it explores the current culture: “It is this layering of a narrative on the origins of twentieth-century design that marks the birth of the New Design” (Downey, 1992, p. 9).

Thus, New Design furniture conveys a message through a story or narrative in order to communicate with a broader spectrum of people. The message which conveys the

84 metaphorical meaning in New Design furniture has a hundred interpretations according to people’s perspectives.

In terms of the message of communication of postmodern aesthetics, Syniuga’s work Hotel Ukraina chair and (1985) sofa is a good example of a narrative with a message of political satire (see Picture 17). Dormer (1987) states that “the easiest work to assess ought to be Siegfried Michail Syniuga's, since it has a narrative” (p. 131). The chair and sofa, to convey messages through “easy-to recognize imagery,” use the USSR's hammer and sickle and the USA's stars and stripes, symbols from the flags of each coimtry (p. 131). Dormer (1987) describes the back rest to Syniuga's sofa as “a representation of the two superpowers apparently sodomizing each other” (p. 131). The work conveys the meaning of the image clearly: “The hammer choking in the throat is the repression of freedom by tyrarmy, or the obliteration of argument by ideology; the sodomizing of America by the USSR could be a nice illustration of the uneasy, or hostile, yet intimate relations between groups of men who horsetrade in power” (p. 131).

Syniuga’s work might fit different interpretations, but it would be discussed through a similar approach.

Thus, on the one hand, Syniuga might intend to cause argument through the strong and clear message of the images of his work. On the other hand, Syniuga might intend to catch the attention o f the media in part to make us laugh and to make us look at the work, but allows us imagination in our perspective. Thus, we can invent a story or narrative through an imaginative situation or message. The work might upset or offend some people as a piece of oppositional design. In fact, the work can be considered a work of art rather than furniture. Syniuga expresses political messages in his work as other

85 artists do in their art works. The chair and sofa, which express a message of political

satire, communicate with beholders physically, visually, and literally. Through the

communication of the work, they might reflect on their opinions and communicate with

each other. Dormer (1987) observes: “In this circumstance, Syniuga’s principal strength

stems from unexpectedness of using a sofa and chair as a vehicle for political satire” (p.

131).

Humor

Jasper Morrison makes jokes in the harmony and composition of his work. In

fact, his chair and hat stand have no references from the past symbolic order. The wing

nut chair and the hat stand show lively and animated feeling. As their most important

characteristics, a decorative language is acquired in his works through observation of

what lies around us now. Morrison has stayed alert to the possibilities for imagery that

exist before our eyes (Dormer, 1987). Somehow, he tries to show us something new and

different.

Cherif shows humor through such works as Antinea console, a glass-topped table,

and his bench and stool. The design source tends to express his passion by using animals

humorously. As the Antinea console is a taut wooden shape, both unapproachable and

instinctively familiar senses come to us (see Pictures 18). But, in spite of the fact that it

is a stool, one may wonder whether one should sit on it or if it is a sculpture. Through his works, he tries to draw natural sensuality from animals so that their forms are similar to primitive carvings of animals such as the antlers, gazelle, and ancient animal skull, but look more graceful (see Picture 19). Each piece exhibits skillful craftsmanship through

86 the use of various materials such as wood, glass, thread, leather, steel, and metal. His

furniture expresses an originality that is like a breath of fresh air from a natural and

peaceful world (Downey, 1992, p. 39).

The chairs of Tusquets and Arribas are animated and humorous. Their design sources are animals in nature. Although the collection is in an animalistic and humorous mode, the interests and sensibilities of the designers differ. According to Downey (1992),

Arribas is well known for his dramatic interiors for restaurants and clubs, such as the

Velvet Bar and the bar Torres de Avila in Barcelona (p. 120). Tusquets uses real nature particular to his environment. His Gaulino chair manipulates natural wood honestly in respect to the sources of his inspiration from nature. Tusquets’ naturalism offers enough richness and inspiration trough his interpretation and reinstates nature into the habitat sufficiently to give the most divergent ideas a meeting place with people (Downey,

1992).

Svmbol and Mvth

Andrea Branzi’s furniture is symbolic and mythical in terms of the use of design transformed by primitive archetypal symbols and the use of natural materials such as tree branches. His furniture looks alive and immediately recognizable in the most abstract or reconstructed images. His furniture is made half by machine and half from tree branches, which is in conformity with a canon of myth and produces human, emotional effects.

Thus, the strength of each piece lies in the striking contrast between brute gestures and emotion from the balance between machine and nature (Downey, 1992, p. 93) (see

Picture 20).

87 Andre Dubreuil transforms symbols of animals and plants in his furniture. The symbolic furniture conveys metaphoric meaning mythically in a symbolic transformation.

His exquisite and meticulously manipulated furniture of hand-forged iron, gold, and copper is created by his skillful hand as in the spine chair, a curving ladder of forged iron which is his best design; his imprint in a console or a candelabra is immediately recognizable (Downey, 1992, p. 57) (see Picture 21). In some part Dubreuil creates his pieces for the individual so that each work is expensive as a one-of-a-kind piece like a work of art. To him contemporary furniture design tends to be seen as limited in the use of mass-produced materials. Thus, Downey (1992) suggests that there is a gap to be filled between the homogeneous and disposable, and the well-built, original, and artistic

(p. 57) (see Picture 22).

Riccardo Dalisi’s furniture is symbolic, narrative, metaphoric, and animated as

Dalisi investigates and transforms the idea of decoration as design. His designs are inspired by flowers, a butterfly, a peacock, and birds from which Dalisi such whimsical furniture as a bird chair, a butterfly bench, and a zoological fantasy for the interior or the garden. Brightly painted metal creatures, blue steel wings, and green metal vines curling in romantic tendrils on a headboard are created in his beautiful furniture. As a one-of-a- kind work series, they look like sculpture which has life so that a chair becomes a bird, a flower, a peacock, and a butterfly. Thus, the furniture represents “beautiful objects, and a desire for something more, something to bridge the gap between real life and expectation” (Downey, 1992, p. 99) (see Picture 23).

88 Collaboration:

Table 1.3 Collaboration

Collaboration Works Other fields Accessibility

Furniture designer Clubs, restaurants, Fashion Communicative boutiques, shops, (upholstery), music, story and theaters video product narrative

Craftsman, fashion Decorative objects. Furniture design Communicative designer, interior craftsmanship story and designers narrative

Contemporary ftimiture designers try to be closer to the public through

collaboration with other fields. Their ftimiture has been made accessible to a greater

number of people in clubs, restaurants, shops, boutiques, and theaters. The interiors give

a sense of narrative and story telling in imaginative poetic space.

In terms of such collaborations as music, fashion, and video production, first,

through a spirit of collaboration in interiors, the worlds of music and magazines, fashion

and furniture design have worked together to cross over the barriers that separate them.

Designers made videos for fashion shows; singers and fashion designers make chairs with

upholstery reflecting their sense of design. Second, within each interior space, designers intend to create a mix of visual imagery to recoimt a unique narrative through their ability to mix meanings and influences. A literal sign of the dynamic in design and the idea of movement through time and space have conveyed metaphoric meanings for messages in his interiors. According to Downey (1992), in the interior, Coates’ furniture designs have their own spirit of communication and involvement with the user. Coates says, “I want our work to avoid the objectivity of so much twentieth-century architecture and design, in

89 favor of making fields o f potential meaning that are activated by the user” (p. 193).

Finally, thus, many of the individuals who began to design during this period, desiring to

touch the public with their work and to collaborate on a broad basis with other artists, have an innate ability to utilize the tools of the media to their benefit. They are instantly

in touch with a public involved in fashion and high consumption with projects such as clubs, restaurants, and boutiques.

Moreover in relation to many productive collaborations, some manufacturers have invited furniture designers such as Philippe Starck to work with their master craftsmen for their products. Downey (1992) mentions that when the manufacturers intended to create New Design furniture in crystal and forged iron with designers and craftsmen, they intentionally chose artists who had little or no experience working with glass to form a collaboration that gave new meaning to the idea o f decorative arts (p. 64). Thus, design today is less and less a permanent art. Designers such as Philippe Starck have shown the way to maximize exposure with good design for the fashion-conscious through decoration by collaboration with craftsmen.

Fashion for Upholsterv

Covering up and dressing up in contemporary furniture is seen as a theme in the

Chamaleon table and stool, designed by Terry Pecora for an Italian manufacturer, where fabric is used to create the volume (Downey, 1992) (see Picture 24). Under the name of

New Baroque, so much has become soft, upholstered and padded. Robert Wettstein pads his hat racks, and in the process finds a new dressed up form. According to Downey

(1992), upholstery becomes an art form with designs such as the Tatlin sofa by Mario

90 Cananzi and Robereo Stemprini for Edra. The Tatlin, inspired by the Russian

constructivist from whom it takes its name, is also reminiscent of the opulent round sofas

that filled palatial hotel lobbies at the turn of the last century, partly because of its lush red covering which seems more luxe than Marx (p. 75). The New Baroque expresses various forms using a deep range of colors such as blues, purples, reds, and greens to replace gray, beige, and leather, exposing steel frames contrasted with satin and velvet.

In order to create windows and walls in fantasy and mystery, large and painterly prints with allegorical inspirations and interpretation are used by designers such as Robert le

Héros, Garouste, and Bonetti for Etamine (Downey, 1992).

91 B. Cultural Considerations

Table 1.4 Cultural considerations

Current Communication Material Decoration culture Mass media Messages through Television, computer Narrative or story visual images

Difference The Baroque or The The reinterpretation of Formal, vigorous, New Baroque luxury materials, crafty human objects

Exploitation Images Music, clothing, jewelry Movement, change, design, video production, fantasy set design

Rising social Messages, images Collaboration (fashion, Narrative or story consciousness music, video production, Formal, vigorous, the print world) in clubs, human. Movement, restaurants, boutiques, change, fantasy shops, theaters

New Design ftimiture designers are becoming increasingly involved in current culture in terms of “media, difference, exploitation, and rising social consciousness”

(Downey, 1992, p. 9). The designers are adapting and using these current cultural elements in their ftimiture. By using the current culture, they convey their thoughts or ideas through New Design furniture for communication with beholders or people using their ftimiture.

First, media in current culture are seen as means of conveying messages with meaning through images which can reach an intemational audience all over the world.

Major markets for New Design ftimiture “became globally interrelated through the rapid development of advanced communications” (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 145). New Design

92 furniture designers use mass media as the method of communication with the television

generation. The message with image and content is the central focus of the New Design

furniture. Downey (1992) claims that in the meaning of the visual image, there is a

duality through narrative or story in New Design furniture. A message can be shocking

or seductive. There can be a cultural or political message, or the message may be to

satisfy the desire to indulge, to drown oneself in what looks and feels good. Downey

(1992) maintains that through the meaning of the message. New Design furniture

designers are “using furniture to communicate at a conscious and physical level” (p. 11).

Through the message, a strong metaphoric image may have power beyond that of the

actual image of New Design furniture. Hence, the media’s visual reproduction of images

replaces the assembly line. A chair with a message is more powerful than one with no

message mass-produced in a number of examples. Thus, the chair communicates with people through the message of image through the mass media.

Second, in adapting culture of the past, the tendency of New Design furniture is to differentiate between the current reinterpretation in luxury materials and crafty objects and the original styles (Downey, 1992). For example. New Design furniture designers have embraced the idea of the Baroque from past styles as an important element in New

Design furniture. The ideas from the past style are related to “self-indulgence” and “a return to spectacle” (Downey, 1992, p. 15). The designers use the baroque style to express their ideas of self-indulgence in their own environment. A baroque environment is created by the designers of New Design furniture, leading the public to become involved through the media without critical awareness. New Design furniture designers differentiate between the viewpoint of the historic baroque and New Baroque according

93 to the definition of the individual designer. Under the name of New Baroque, the

designers’ fiuniture not only takes the ideas of the baroque but also opposes them in its

growing concern for the point of view of the individual designer. In terms of the

difference, the New Baroque is formal, vigorous, and human. Most people enjoy the

differences of the New Baroque environment. However, in the past, “the Baroque Age

had little or no imderstanding of the importance of interior existence” because of its focus

outside on landscape, which is spectacle (Downey, 1992, p. 15). Thus, some designers of

New Design fiuniture explore their fiuniture by focusing on the exterior urban

environment without any match with the interior space, which the “New Baroque is

indeed making much more personal, precisely because of the baroque embrace of differences,” which emphasizes the individual environment (Downey, 1992, p. 15).

Thus, the New Baroque furniture is diverse, concerned with spectacle, and divergent with much that the Baroque style was in the past — the past culture.

Third, New Design fiuniture designers more than before exploit other media.

Exploring other creative fields, they have often worked in music, clothing and jewelry design, video production, and set design (Downey, 1992). Thus, New Design furniture is viewed as an activity: movement, change, and fantasy. The designers’ intention is to make images for communication by working with other media. The images become inseparable firom the communication with the public. New Design furniture designers have adapted and exploited other media, considering shape, color, and detail in their furniture to be in fashion. Today, New Design furniture designers use fashion in their furniture in order to create and strengthen their own image. Thereby, the “trend towards fight, pleasant interiors, furniture made of natural materials, and textiles with clear

94 patterns in strong colors, remains” (Schwab, 1995, p. 48). These various fields have produced a means of communication that has fused the New Design furniture with the current culture - exploitation in which the designers use and match other media with

New Design furniture.

Finally, rising social consciousness has attracted New Design furniture designers to mass communication through collaboration with artists in other fields. The current culture merges media, event, art, and action. The worlds of music and magazines, fashion and furniture design have begun to cross over (Downey, 1992). Lovine (1995) suggests that “perhaps that kind of collaboration is the ideal marriage of new technologies and old crafts” (p. 60). In order to give the public access to their work. New Design furniture designers have shown the ability to deal with other media such as fashion, music, video production, and the print world in an effort to collaborate with other artists.

Through the effort, they have created furniture design with mass communication capabilities. In an attempt to communicate with the public instantly, many of the designers have started their careers with projects such as clubs, restaurants, and boutiques. It is intended that by means of these shops. New Design furniture will communicate with a broader public. The designers have tried to draw the public’s attention to their furniture to create a new culture through communication with the public.

Here, the cultural expressions of New Design furniture are referred to as valid because the furniture has shown accessibility to the public by using the current culture.

The public may appreciate New Design furniture from the museum piece to the shops.

New Design furniture designers are attempting to create new ways to communicate with people. Their expressions may appear chaotic, but they try to break down stereotypes

95 about design by using the current culture differently and/or newly. Downey (1992) claims that “just as the world is facing change and redefining the function of its borders, design, which must reflect its culture, will break through its own isolation and join with other creative fields to communicate. Communication is the only true structure within the New Design” (p. 15).

C. Conclusion

Through elements of postmodern aesthetics such metaphor, narrative, symbol, myth, and humor. New Design furniture has shown the characteristics of diverse aesthetics in beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship with influence from collaboration and fashion for upholsteries. Furniture designers have investigated the idea of decoration as design. Their design “can no longer be thought of only in terms of unlimited possibilities of formal and material variations” (Downey, 1992, p. 121). As a result, the work possesses an ability to express metaphors of the present; the metaphors have become more naturalistic, more human, more meaningful, and more communicative by use of design sources from nature, animals, plants, and natural symbols such as sun, moon, and/or stars. According to their own definition to Modem designers, every variation was a sign that Modem designers had underestimated the potential of the decorative object.

To the Modem designers, tlie idea of decoration had become bourgeois, almost tacky, and was certainly not for the purists of design. In their rediscovery of this tradition in relation to decoration in their piece, the New Design designers developed as meaning for communication a far from the traditional vocabulary. The designers mix their own meaning vocabularies with traditional fragments. Many producers of furniture and

96 decorative objects are seeking to bring new life to their collections through the

resurrection of the artist-artisan collaboration. It is not just a question, however, of

producing something different, something sellable; the public has become too design­

conscious for that. The New Baroque object is one to be shown off. It is the highlight of

a period of decorative rediscovery made more affective by use of colorful and luxury

materials.

As the designs become more human, they also needed to tie into the flowing system of intemational communication. At tliis level, contemporary furniture is interwoven with current culture in terms of media, difference, exploitation, and rising social consciousness. Through the influence of mass media, making visual messages and conveying the meaning is getting important. For their images, the designers use television, the world of computer graphics and electronics, the fax, and video, referred to generally as new technology. Thereby, one can communicate to the world from a very small and intimate space, which the design seeks to transform (Downey, 1992).

Therefore, according to Downey (1992) the design from nature represents the synthesis of all that is available to designers in terms of the images of nature conveyed through the technology. It is a synthesis intended for the metaphorical enrichment of modem life (p. 121). In terms of communicative elements expressed through contemporary furniture designers, the interpretation may be according to the viewers’ perspective. To the designer making a way in a profession that did not exist before this century, a chance to evaluate how far design has come and to estimate where it is going seems to be provided by the immanence of the next century, the twenty-first century

(Downey, 1992).

97 2). Roles of the Postmodern Aesthetics of Communication in New Design Furniture

A. The Designers’ Concept

Contemporary furniture has achieved accessibility to be closer to the people through the postmodern aesthetics of communication, which is metaphorical, symbolic, narrative, and/or humorous. The furniture designers intend that postmodern aesthetics of contemporary furniture be appreciated in people’s everyday lives through everyday use.

Through contemporary furniture, the postmodern aesthetics of communication has played a major role to bring art appreciation into people’s life spaces.

In fact. New Design furniture has had problems in mass-production, the use of found objects as materials, and in gaining the largest possible viewer accessibility because of the emphasis on aesthetic elements like beauty, decoration, or craftsmanship rather than comfort or function. Thus, some designers of New Design furniture are exploring, rethinking, redefining, and redesigning elements communicated through furniture for everyday use and for appreciation in everyday life. Through rethinking, redefining, and redesigning New Design furniture, a piece of well-made New Design furniture, which strikes a balance between comfort or function and aesthetics, can be created by New Design furniture designers. Through a piece of well-made New Design furniture, I anticipate the realization of art appreciation in the everyday world through everyday experience. A piece of well-made New Design furniture can be accessible to the largest number of people.

98 B. Art Appreciation of Everyday Life

Table 2.1 Art appreciation of everyday life

Art appreciation Designers’ concepts Communication Aesthetics

The body Comfortable Physically Tactile comfortable communication

The eye Satisfied Visually narrative, Visual metaphorical, communication symbolic, humorous, gender

The mind Delighted Feeling pleasure of Mentally or narrative, metaphor, emotionally symbol, humor, communication gender

A piece of well-made New Design furniture simultaneously brings comfort and aesthetics to people’s everyday lives through daily use. The New Design funriture has the capability of bringing everyday aesthetics appreciation to the greatest number of people through pieces for everyday use. This type of art appreciation would comprise experiencing, understanding, and communicating the metaphors of postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture: experiencing a sense of aesthetic pleasure in poetic spaces. A well-made piece of New Design furniture provides pleasure in three distinct ways, to body, eye, and mind.

First, New Design furniture satisfies a physical need. Watson criticizes the unpleasant characteristics of the high class Victorian furniture collection; he dislikes the heaviness, hardness, and ugliness of the pieces, and, furthermore, he complains that they are not comfortable at all. The first thing he wants out of furniture is to be able to use the pieces comfortably (Watson, 1982). On the other hand, Rybczynski (1993) observes that

99 in the case of sitting and reclining. New Design furniture comforts and supports the body.

This is more difficult to accomplish than “one might imagine and requires an intricate orchestration of siufaces that variously support and cushion” (Rybczynski, 1993, 10).

Moreover, part of the physical pleasure derived from New Design furniture is m its tactile quality, for instance, in the handling o f the furniture. The handling can be deliberate as when we pull out and push back the drawers. The sense of touch is also important as in the chair arms where we put our hands. The physical or textural qualities of furniture determine how people will react and feel about it when using it. Sometimes we just enjoy the sensual experience. All kinds of different textual feelings influence our delight in a particular example of furniture and can play an important part in determining how we relate to it, for example, the touches of “silk, smooth leather, warm wood, cold stone, inlaid patterns, tassels and fringes, and a variety of textures, naps, grains and weaves”

(Rybczynski, 1993, p. 10).

Second, New Design furniture also satisfies the eye. As Rybczynski (1993) suggests, the designing philosophies of many New Design furniture makers try to give the users a sense of visual pleasure. The gentleness and asymmetrical curves of Timothy

Philbrick's pier table is one of the best examples of this kind of designing philosophy (p.

10). Works like Thomas Mucker's precariously perched cabinet and Wendy Mamyama's uninhibitedly exotic bed show that designers are not only producing a kind of furniture that is functional but also are claiming that the furniture represents sculptural objects (p.

10). This explains why New Design furniture is made with uncommon care, and often out of rich materials invested with ornamentation and embellishment. Since furniture is relatively small in size and therefore is easily transported (in the Romance languages, the

1 0 0 word “furniture” actually means “movable”), people have paid considerable attention to

trying to make it more than a utilitarian object (p. 10). Furniture often lasts longer than a

house, which can be easily destroyed by fire or abandonment. Thus, generation after

generation, furniture has become a symbol revealing social and cultural meanings, as well

as aesthetic and economic ones.

The third pleasure of New Design fiimiture is its pure beauty, which can delight the mind. As Rybczynski (1993) claims, all furniture is both “something” and “about something” (p. 11). By giving numerous examples of names for New Design ftimiture, he illustrates why the English language has so many metaphorical references to furniture: for instance, “the conjugal bed, the bargaining table, the legal bench, the academic chair, the boardroom seat and the monarchical throne” (p. 11). Thus, it is obvious that various examples of New Design furniture are symbolic references to what we live in our lives.

New Design ftimiture can send a variety of messages. It can manifest what we do and how we behave. In an attempt to distinguish New Design ftimiture for communication through message, Rybczynski proposes:

The choice of more or less formal ftimiture indicates the difference between a living room and a family room.... What a difference there is between James Schriber's elegant, pearwood bench, which would be at home in the most formal waiting room, and Edward Zucca's bench, which seems to have been transplanted from a surrealist park. In the past, ftimiture could also communicate the gender of a room—leather club chairs for masculine retreats and delicate chairs for feminine boudoirs. This seems old-fashioned today, but Rosanne Somerson's jewelry vanity is obviously intended for a woman, while Wendell Castle's desk appears, at least to my mind, a man’s piece of ftimiture. (Rybczynski, 1993, p. 11)

Sennett (1995) and Rybczynski (1993) claim that ftimiture is very effective in representing one’s social status. For example, royal thrones are the “quintessential symbolic chairs” (Rybczynski, 1993, p. 11). This has influenced how we decorate our

1 01 homes—there may be a special chair reserved for the man who is the authority figure in the household. Until the present day, in most government departments and corporations, we still see special chairs for higher level executives. Hence, New Design furniture can mean more than is suggested within the elements o f a piece; it often has implications concerning social taste and class.

Therefore, I believe that art appreciation in everyday life through a piece of well- made New Design furniture will lead people to imagine their living space through the pleasure of the body, the eye, and the mind.

102 3). Problems of New Design Furniture in terms of the Postmodern Aesthetics: How

are some aims of New Design furniture designers in relation to mass production,

materials, and viewer accessibility significant to an exploration of postmodern aesthetics?

This section will raise questions on the problem of contemporary furniture in

Postmodernism. As it is often one-of-a-kind or limited-edition furniture, it is hard for the

largest number of people to be close to contemporary furniture, which emphasizes beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship rather than comfort or fimction. In making New Design

ftimiture accessible to the broadest possible public, there are some problems associated with the balance between the comfort or fimction and aesthetics of New Design ftimiture.

New Design ftimiture is difficult to mass-produce for the largest number of people.

Some furniture designs are roughly finished in materials from found objects like broken glass, steel, welded-metal, etc. Thus, such ftimiture tends to end up just as exhibition pieces in galleries and museums. Therefore, I will analyze New Design ftimiture according to such problems.

Keeping in mind the problems of mass-production, materials, and viewer accessibility, I will focus on contemporary ftimiture designers’ exploration and interpretation of their ftimiture. However, these problems are considered the characteristics of New Design ftimiture in the postmodem era; the ftimiture has the ability to communicate with people through everyday experience.

103 Table 3.1 Problems of New Design furniture

Problems Method Communication

Mass-Production One-off furniture, short batch runs. Crafty or craftsmanship, a small scale descriptive, imaginative, metaphorical, symbolical, narrative, humorous

Materials Driftwood, scrap metal, glass, steel Colorful, minimal. from found objects decorative, violent, rough

Viewer Accessibility Galleries, museums, restaurants, Poetic, metaphorical, clubs, boutiques, shops, theaters, imaginative, narrative, video production, collaboration descriptive

104 A. Mass Production

Table 3.2 Mass production

Production characteristics Short route Long route

One-off or Craftsmanship, fine arts, Individuals, limited-edition personal creativity, avant- artisan. garde, one of a kind

Smaller scales Craftsmanship, fine arts, Factory for one- personal creativity, off, short batch run specialized workshops

Mass-production Definitive design, a huge Industrial investment, state-of-the- manufacturers art technology

In New Design furniture produced by one-off or limited-edition processes, there are no constraints needed in mass production. The designers in their work are able to express themselves more freely through designs explored in diverse forms and materials.

Craft in one-off or limited-edition makes contemporary furniture unique and different; handmade furniture shows good and elaborate workmanship and craftsmanship, which makes a good deal in the consumer market, which can make a commitment to or remain skeptical about craft styles (Dormer, 1987). Thereby, in producing furniture with creativity by the craftsmanship, Charlotte Perriand, an architect and furniture designer, suggests that

we can anticipate a return to a more primitive form of craftsmanship - not in the sense of going back to the techniques of the past, but a return to smaller scales of operation, making use of all the potential offered by present and future technology. There may still be a need for manufacture on a large scale to meet some needs, but more and more will be produced by individuals, by artisans. The impact on creativity could be enormous. (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 146)

105 Thus, the progress of an art-based New Design furniture design emphasizing

craftsmanship reminds us that commerce is intrinsic to furniture design as much of the

new design is an art-based adjunct to mainstream activity. Some designers and

manufacturers see new design and its independent designers as a strong commerce of the

future (Fiell & Fiell, 1991). An important part of the designer’s art depends on the

solution of its method of manufacture, which considers the quantity needed for the size of the intended market as it influences the costs involved. In fact, it is difficult for a manufacturer to devise a good solution for production of art-based furniture, even though the balance of these variables is significant to the furniture design with art. In the integration of art and design, the pursuit of the one element may lead the furniture designers to miss the significant point of the other.

Most avant-garde designers are not interested in searching for definitive design solutions for mass production but prefer a short process for a smaller operation. The avant-garde created furniture can be produced by the designers or manufactured in limited quantities by specialized workshops. Dormer (1987) observes that the short route solves the design problem set by the fixed brief provided by a manufacturer to enable him to use his existing machinery and skills to increase his sales (p. 137). By adopting the short route, a designer can get a more immediate response from people, envision his/her experiment instantly, and challenge him/herself with the creativity of the furniture. The short route can provide the flexibility necessary for the production of low-volume, avant- garde designs. In terms of the avant-garde designer, the designer-craftsman as carpenter or manufacturer, Fiell & Fiell mention that

using simple, labor-intensive techniques, such as woodcarving, metal-bending and welding, these small-scale enterprises offered greater specialization, thereby 106 allowing the designer more scope for personal creativity. (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 146)

Thus, the mass manufacturing system by the long route referred to as the traditional

approach increasingly tends to be replaced by the smaller system because designers can

quickly deal with the consumer market of supply and demand. Design by the longer route, which requires a huge investment to be mass-produced by a manufacturer, offers an approach to an almost limitless range of materials and ways of treating them. The designer can get at one time one resolution by resolving all the variables of a product’s manufacture with the concept of its final appearance. As inexpensive furniture for the mass market, the more anonymous and inoffensive a design, the greater its public appeal

(Dormer, 1987).

Therefore, on the one hand, the avant-garde designers independently produce short ‘batch’ runs of exclusive or ‘one-off furniture. On the other hand, they work with an established manufacturer and design furniture within a fixed brief. However, unlike the designer-craftsman as carpenter or manufacturer with his factory, the designer is free to work in any way. Thus, the designer can take advantage of and mix various facilities by sub-contracts to achieve a good and fast result for his/her furniture. Thereby, as the new designers take advantage of the multiplicity of skills available, they can design and produce with a versatility that cannot be matched by a single approach but is accomplished by collaboration among the designer, manufacturer, and craftsman

(Dormer, 1987).

107 B. Materials

Table 3.3 Materials

Examples Found Objects Craftsmanship Aesthetics from the influence of fine arts like expressionism in painting

I. found object Driftwood, scrap Transforming Entertainment, (bricolage) metal, bicycle magic, poetry, handlebars order versus disorder

2. found object Metal, broken Violence: ragged Compare and (bricolage) glass, driftwood, edges, loose-line, contrast steel robust forms

3. found object Rough material and Rejecting fine Opposing current (bricolage) rough construction craftsmanship and and historical conventionally acceptance, decorated or discomfort, machine-finished ugliness surfaces

Contemporary furniture designers use found objects such as scrap metal, broken glass, driftwood, steel, etc., as a way to express postmodern aesthetics of communication through metaphor, symbol, narrative, and humor by decoration. This aspect of their work may be seen as an influence from the expressionists such as the painter. However, the designers, who can be called bricoleur, do not attempt to tuxn design into art but rather redefine the generally accepted rationalism of design. Their work appeals to our emotions, which they exploit through the tactile and visual qualities of their materials.

Using glass and sheet steel with lyrical fluency, they transform everyday materials into

108 beautiful furniture rather than functional or comfortable furniture (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p.

150).

In the furniture of the Neotu gallery in Paris, the poetry of materials and of order versus disorder composes the style: “Much of Neotu’s work also ploughs the classic 20*- century art tradition of the foimd object which is then altered” (Dormer, 1987, p. 132).

The found objects are all to be mentally understood. From our everyday preconceptions of knowledge and experience, they are expected to represent a chair or a table. But these familiar objects have been picked up from “the seashore of expectation and given a twist

—just as artists, following in the steps of Picasso, love to do the same with bits of driftwood, scrap metal, bicycle handlebars and so forth” (Dormer, 1987, p. 132).

Through the magic of transforming one thing into another, the works are intended to entertain or communicate with people on various levels. For instance. Epinard Blue’s desk or his Zita table communicates the humorous intention of the furniture designer (See

Picture 25).

In fact, works produced from found objects tend to be violent and to make an impact, but they communicate emotion easily as expressionist works do. For example,

Danny Lane’s tables as ‘expressionist’ works have the ghost of violence in their rough craftsmanship metal, and ‘broken’ glass. But, Dormer describes the violence as artificial and giving

a thrill of threat without the actuality of assault: the glass is usually smoothed off at its ‘ragged’ edges. It is a kind of designer soft sado-masochism. Lane’s loose- limbed and robust forms fit exactly the same sort of function in a domestic setting as a tasteful assemblage of found driftwood hung on a white wall and lit by spotlights. (Dormer, 1987, p. 135) (see Pictures 26, 27)

109 With such debris. Lane creates aesthetic confusion, and boredom may be a result in the

works. However, like a single driftwood object d’art. Lane sets everything else off

nicely; his works are present by the well-tested recipe of compare and contrast in Lane’s

choice of materials - glass versus steel (Dormer, 1987, p. 135).

Through the use o f rough materials and rough construction, many New design art-

fumiture designers tend to seek to reject obviously fine craftsmanship from the traditions

of craft and all traditionally decorated or machine-finished surfaces. As a result, the

furniture is not comfortable and looks ugly and dangerous to use because o f the use of textures and materials alien to the soft expected cushions and armchair (Dormer, 1987).

110 C. Viewer Accessibility

Table 3.4 Viewer accessibility

FurnitureViewer People Communication accessibility

Galleries, One of a kind, short Fashion-conscious, Understanding Museums batch runs, small familiar, scale, limited- materialism edition

Private collection One of a kind, short Fashion-conscious, Self-expression, batch runs, small materialism emotion scale, limited- edition

interiors One of a kind, short Sensuality, Active and batch runs, small movement. physical scale, limited- relationship edition

A proliferation of design galleries, exhibiting contemporary designs like the painting galleries before them, was seen in the European capitals in the 1990s. Since the galleries have opened, many people are looking, many people are buying, and magazines have proliferated. In relation to the opening of the furniture exhibitions, Downey observes that the furniture galleries have attracted

unprecedented crowds, full of other designers, some serious buyers, and a lot of attractive, fashion-conscious people who have picked up on the fact that design is where things are happening. At the closing of the Borek Sipek opening at the Neotu gallery in Paris in 1990, the lights had to be turned o ff to disperse the wall- to-wall crowds. Do these people even know who Borek Sipek is? Certainly some do, but this is not the point. The exhibitions of furniture design have become the place to be seen. Why chairs and tables? People think of furniture design as easier to understand than abstract expressionism. (Downey, 1992, p. 14)

Thus, furniture design is considered a new way in which people can experience art. As a result, most people seem to feel more familiar and less intimidated in choosing a chair or

111 a table than in selecting a painting or sculpture. As one of a kind or limited-edition pieces, more different and interesting furniture has drawn people’s attention, and there is all the better for the fact that furniture allows them to tie together their coveting of objects, materialism, their love of fashion and of dropping names, with a sense of aesthetic appreciation (Downey, 1992).

Dixon, as a furniture designer and an entrepreneur, is glad to see his furniture touching an increasing public and becoming less exclusive. According to Downey

(1992), his one-of-a-kind or limited-edition furniture, ranging from a one-of-a-kind chandelier for a London restaurant to prototypes for chair production, can be found in major galleries and the private collections of the rich and famous. His one-of-a-kind pieces communicate excitement with an offhand manner that seems to say, “don’t try to label me, or bore me, or tell me what I can and cannot do” (Downey, 1992, p. 128).

Through movement in space, communication, sensuality, and self-expression, Dixon uses form, proportion, and color in representing an active and physical relationship to space and emotion for communication with people. Dixon’s intuitive expression has guided him from his beginnings as an artist, to his current place as designer without limits.

112 D. Conclusion

Mass production, materials, and viewer accessibility are the problems in New

Design furniture in making the furniture accessible to the largest number of people. Mass production furniture, more successfully than one of a kind or limited-edition, can be made accessible to the largest number of people, while small scale or short batch runs can arrive at limited people. However, the limited-edition can get instant response from the user and this short route makes them popular and fashionable. The short route provides the flexibility necessary for the designers to be challenged by and to experiment with their furniture for the production of low-volume, avant-garde designs. New Design furniture incorporating found objects supports communication with the public well because the materials express the designers’ emotions from poetry to violence like expressionism in painting. New Design furniture has been exhibited in private collections, galleries, and museums, to which many people have been attracted, and are looking and buying, and, thereby, the people have become more fashion-conscious. The designers of New Design furniture are creating a new culture in the way people approach, buy, and appreciate furniture. However, because New Design furniture is produced in one-off or limited-edition and because the furniture is not comfortable or functional, it is inaccessible to the largest number of people.

Essentially, furniture is about design and function, but one is always indebted to the individuals who experiment and innovate, and do what orthodoxy maintains is irrational. In their hands and minds exists our futine delight (Dormer, 1987, p. 144).

113 2. INTERPRETATION

Through the new pluralism and eclecticism in contemporary furniture design in the postmodern era, the designers have been challenged, and experimented with their concepts and works in relation to historicism, craftsmanship, or fine arts, which represent the characteristics of New Design flimiture. Because of their consideration for communication with people, they have emphasized numerous elements of postmodern aesthetics such as metaphor, narrative, humor, symbol and myth, collaboration, fashion in upholstery, and cultural considerations through the revival of craft and the adaptation of fine arts. The revival and reinterpretation of the individual designer have given people new understanding o f New Design flimiture in the context of art appreciation in their daily living spaces. The role played by New Design furniture in daily life has created an awareness that the furniture designers intend to convey their message or meaning through images because the aesthetics of postmodern furniture communicates with people.

Unlike the three Post-Modernists, Jencks, Venturi, and Graves in the background, the New Design furniture designers have the tendency not to create their furniture by mass-production. New Design furniture by found objects, or with an emphasis on craftsmanship or aesthetics intends to communicate with the public and draw their attention in their everyday lives, even though the fumitiure is often not comfortable or functional. The Bricolagers, using a mix of found and produced materials, enjoy the search, the accumulation, the making, and the event of the final use and display; they have gone beyond society’s need to amass objects to the actual act of generation

(Downey, 1992). Often their creative experience is a combination of industrial design, sculpture, and interior design. It is the ability to see inspiration in everything that forms

114 the reality of contemporary society, from refuse to precious materials, that defines the

Bricoleur. They are perhaps true Renaissance men, brought to full potential by the challenge of a world equally rich in new technologies and old throwaways (Downey,

1992, p. 123). Therefore, through the 1980s and the 1990s, numerous interiors with New

Design furniture intend to communicate with and satisfy people on various levels have influenced people’s lifestyles. However, according to Fiell & Fiell (1991), while New

Design furniture mainly appeared “sculptural and highly aesthetic, it cannot be considered sculptinre - fine art is created according to a different, not higher, set of aesthetics” (p. 151).

115 3. IMPLICATIONS

The wide variety of New Design furniture is diverse in its styling and mainly

created outside the industrial process. Today, some designers may commit themselves to

lovely materials and a thousand hours of labor and are subversive or even questionable

designers. But, this is seen as the Achilles heel of craft. As Jasper Morrison is skeptical

about the creation of handicraft ftnniture, he has observed:

‘Poor materials imaginatively applied can make a product more desirable than a design which relies on rich materials.’ Morrison believes that contemporary craft decoration and elaborate handwork has no meaning and has no role in contemporary design. ‘The wasted hours spent in achieving craft decoration are either deducted from the time spent designing or reflected in the final price of the artifact or both’ (Dormer, 1987, p. 142)

Hence, through the decoration or description by the craftsmanship. New design furniture

tends to be associated with fine arts such as painting or sculpture because of the elements

of postmodern aesthetics of communication such as metaphor or narrative. Thereby,

Dormer (1987) suggests that

it is dangerous for furniture makers to start building in metaphorical or descriptive content to their work, though some do try. It is dangerous because they are then inviting comparison between their work and that of the best art in narrative sculpture and painting. (Dormer, 1987, p. 144)

In fact, descriptive or metaphorical aesthetics. New Design furniture conveys its message or meaning to people, who can enjoy and appreciate the furniture in their everyday lives.

However, the emphasis on aesthetics tends to discourage people from approaching New

Design furniture because it doesn’t strike a balance between aesthetics and comfort or function; moreover the furniture is too expensive to make itself accessible to the public.

Although a concern for design and function is necessary for furniture, this depends on furniture designers who challenge, experiment, and innovate. Therefore, the designers

116 have begun rethinking, redefining, and redesigning their furniture aesthetically, functionally, economically, and ecologically in order to make it accessible to the largest number of people.

In the following section, I will explore critical discourse about New Design furniture in terms of the postmodern aesthetics of communication.

117 PART THREE: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ABOUT NEW DESIGN FURNITURE IN

TERMS OF THE POSTMODERN AESTHETICS OF COMMUNICATION: How have

New Design furniture designers such as Philippe Starck rethought, redefined, and redesigned their work, and, as a consequence, how have the Postmodern aesthetics been expressed?

Introduction

In part three, current issues in contemporary furniture will be raised and discussed critically in relation to the postmodern aesthetics of communication. New Design furniture designers have rethought, redefined, and redesigned their furniture for accessibility to the greatest number of people rather than to enhance their creativity, which emphasizes their backgroimd through beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship.

Thereby, they consider durability, recycling, and parsimony for preservation of our ecology and environment at present as well as in the future. Among the designers,

Philippe Starck has been the best leading designer through the ‘80s and ‘90s in creating furniture, products, and architecture for our lives. With his concept of sustaining our ecology, Stark tries to use craftsmanship and technology in his flimiture for the generality of the people, the poor rather than the rich. Thus, based on critical discourse about postmodern aesthetics in contemporary furniture design, Starck’s concept in his ftumiture and related concepts about our ecology and our environment will be raised and analyzed.

118 1). GENERAL DESCRIPTION

A. PHILIPPE STARCK

Starck, a French furniture and industrial designer and architect, has tried to come

up with rethought designs, surprising and new for mankind. In terms of his design

concept, Capella describes Philippe Starck as follows:

Although most other designers can’t stand him, Philippe Starck is the most famous designer on the planet.... Nobody believes that Starck is going to give up designing in 2000, just as he failed to keep his promise not to cut down another tree to make a chair.... When Philippe Starck burst onto the design scene in the ‘80’s he was a genuine star. For the beginning of the next century, he has decided to give us a ‘start’ and do something surprising, something new; he will be setting out on what he sees as a necessary course of action involving the dissolution and disappearance of design to the benefit of mankind. (Capella, 1997, p. 52)

Starck’s Concept:

Starck sees the last decade as a frenzy of creativity, which is not only enjoyable but very narcissistic as well in terms of the fact that New Design furniture designers emphasize aesthetics like decoration, beauty, and craftsmanship through their creativity.

He thinks that the designers tend to design for themselves and for the others in their circle. However, Starck suggests that the designers must design something with more merit than creativity for the user. Performing a service for the user is the designer’s primary obligation so that an affinity of ideas and methods of design is very significant.

Thereby, starck addresses the need for coherence between price and object. Attempting reasonable thought about rare and expensive materials resulting from pointless choices,

Starck sees the good market of tomorrow as depending on technology and honesty, including the standards of fine culture. Hence, with the demands of some idealism and

119 historic consciousness, swanky objects, limited editions, and artistic furniture tend to be

the fad. Starck considers the creation of a popular object as a chance to communicate

useful concepts to bring about a better life for people at present as well as in the future.

He thinks that seeking to remake the present is to seek the future already. Working with

coherence at present, Starck wants to produce a single sketch with the right solution

rather than writing thirty pages about a problem as some architects do. Thereby, Starck

wants to create the most sober and durable objects infused his honesty about design

(Zanco, 1994, p. 36).

Therefore, based on the facts, I will analyze the concepts that Starck has insisted

on through his furniture to bring a better life for mankind according to the topics love,

politics, the beautiful and good, and materials, with an example of a plastic and wooden

chair. Starck’s understanding of the postmodern aesthetics of communication is

expressed in his furniture through these concepts.

Love

Starck identifies his work, which is a sign o f fidendship, a sign of fidendliness, as the “love style,” or the ‘emotional’ or affective style. Starck says, “The aim should be that people feel the object to be their own, something they already carried within themselves” (Capella, 1997, p. 55). Starck claims that love and happiness like Indians and whales are in danger of extinction; one of the problems in our lives is the loss of love, the general rise of hate. Starck mentions, “Just as love is an invention, conceived on the basis of the prototype of maternal love, so is it liable to vanish” (Chaslin, 1998, p. 98).

Starck insists that designers create the tools to give mankind a better life. That is why

120 their work must not be to design the product for the sake of product alone; it is not to

create products only accommodated to high technology. Seeing the goal as driving this

furniture industry for human beings, Starck addresses the transfer of value from profit to

human; the final target must be love. Thus, Starck, saying a designer who must be ideally

motivated, comments:

“1 hear a phrase like target consumer and I think, ‘What is that?’ Are we in Sarajevo with snipers? Today a designer has to be generous and not motivated by venality. The more you respect people and the more people love you. And they love you by buying your products. What one needs is not all these objects but just love” (quoted in Horsham, 1996, p. 1).

Politics

Starck refers to himself as an “anarcho-minimalist,” who is not to the left or to the

right (Capella, 1997, p. 55). Making a chair, a lamp, or a television set interests Starck

more than designing them. He wants to become a politician rather than a designer

through political action aimed at improving people’s lives. But in his definition of the

political, Starck insists on being to the left of Socialist because according to him, that is

the only thing possible in this binary electoral system. Hence, Starck suggests that he

wants his ideas to benefit not celebrities or the rich who ask for unusual works only for

themselves but the largest number of people possible. In terms of his politics for the broadest range of people, Starck says:

I want to have time to find a new, more direct means of expression and to help society to solve some of its urgent problems. Like an army reservist. I’m on call to serve people honestly. Initially I thought I could do something in politics, I started to mix with people in politics, but the strong stench of something rotten soon got me out of it. (Capella, 1997, p. 55)

121 ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Good’

Starck is not excited by beautiful objects created by the designers called good

designers. He suggests that when furniture designers replace aesthetics with semantics, it

is not the right direction for design. Stack claims that the concept o f‘beautiful’ really has

become obsolete. “Beautiful” should finally be replaced by “good,” which is a more

correct and more vital concept (Zanco, 1994, p. 34). Believing that a lot o f beautiful

objects, by subjective and cultural criteria, are very weak, Starck stresses that good is

good forever, like apples, which have been good for over a million years (Zanco, 1994).

Along with the change in the strategy and the purpose of design, the form and material of

objects are freed. Hence, through the innovative use of technology and the reversal of

formal stereotype, Philippe Starck has been able to adapt a different approach to design.

Because of his decisive reversal of the categories of beautiful and good, critical reflection and the concept of service are possible for the classic theme of a chair and the more contemporary theme of television set.

According to Zanco, therefore, based on his concept of good design, Starck considers materials and production systems with ergonomics and pleasurable forms, costs, and an association of ecological awareness to be indispensable parameters. As a result, the good shows not just a sound structural and aesthetic alternative to the beautiful but also, through materials such as plastic, a taste of novelty and a challenge to the performances offered by wood. The industrially made furniture of plastic, such as a stacking chair, is convenient to transport and store, which is strictly linked to the necessities of contemporary living. The plastic chairs, which are separable, recyclable, and durable have a number of advantages for our ecology (Zanco, 1994, p. 56).

122 Materials:

From his ecological consideration of which materials in our environment are

getting increasingly rare, Starck sets his brain in motion for the use of every gram of

energy and every minute of human intelligence. In the postmodern era, contemporary

furniture designers quite often favor the use of natural wood in their work. Against this

practice, according to Fiell & Fiell (1991), Starck argues that cutting down a tree just to

put your ass on it is impossible; the tree must be recognized as having a soul over petrol

which has no soul. Thus, the only real ecological answer is plastic, which he describes as

an “aristocratic material” (p. 149). Starck insists that because of ecological issues, all

product and furniture designers must care about the use of materials. Plastic has the

potential for recycling and use in durable products which are ecologically responsible

(Fiell & Fiell, 1991).

In terms of the ecological concept, Starck’s description of plastic, fur, and wood

shows his intelligent brain in motion. First, plastic is not expensive and also pure. As the

first product of human intelligence in Starck’s concept, plastic is a high-value material

which has lots of possibilities in the creation of furniture for our environment. Starck

says, “it’s better than what God invented” (Capella, 1997, p. 56). Second, arguing against

use of materials derived from animals, Starck claims they have s soul which must not be

killed by Nazi-like humans. However, in some cases, some pieces of leather in contact

with the human skin are tolerable to him. Finally, as for wood. Stark says that he uses

“ 1mm particle wood, a highly intelligent material” against solid timber (Capella, 1997).

As a suggestion from his concept about materials, Starck explores a piece of furniture with plastic and wood associated as well matched.

123 Example: A Plastic and Wooden Chair

The exuberance of the “all-plastic” actually prevailed in the ‘70s when plastic had

no tradition as a material (Picchi, 1996, p. 70). Today, as a design material reflecting

different formal and cultural attitudes, plastic has directly shown the history of

industrially manufactured furniture directly. However, Picchi ( 1996) suggests that the

conjunction of plastic and wood might be referred to as the ‘unexpected’ marriage of two

materials belonging to very different technological and formal worlds, from which comes a chair that can be disassembled (p. 70). The plastic and wooden chair produced by a collaboration between the French designer and a firm represents the tradition of plastic as a domestic material (Picchi, 1996). In terms of comparable roles, wood traditionally conveys warm qualities from nature, whereas “plastic demonstrates the capacity to welcome those qualities by connecting somehow with the ‘mimetic’ root of its own history, when it assumed the ‘warm’ tones of tortoiseshell, horn, ivory” (Picchi, 1996,

70). Coming from different technological worlds, while plastic is an industrial material, which means series, large numbers, color, and repeatable form, wood is referred to as part of the artisan tradition of furniture and indispensable to the precious quality of the carpenter’s art. In terms of the comparison played, Picchi describes the plastic and wooden chair that

The formal simplification of the legs, in turned beech, and of the backrest, in bent plywood is achieved through the design of the mould for the plastic which includes the solutions adopted for threading, joints, thickness. Starck declares that he loves forms which have a ‘contrasted’ aesthetic made of modelled surfaces and bare edges.... In Starck’s chair plastic seems to recapture an idea of luxury, of being precious, in absolute harmony with the implicit connotations of wood. (Picchi, 1996, p. 72)

124 The color of the plastic wooden chair is in the discreet tones of pastel nuances, while the

glossy surfaces are steered back to the “velvet” treatment of the glazed finish more

suitable for the social representation of classical French interiors (Picchi, 1996, p. 72).

Summary

Based on his interpretation of love, politics, and the ‘beautiful’ and ‘good’ in

furniture, Starck’s intention is to create his furniture for the broadest range of people in

relation to economy and number. Starck considers appropriate materials and production

systems for his furniture in association with new technology as a major opportunity for

preserving our environment. His irmovative use of plastic with wood in his furniture can

be referred to as an attempt not only to gain viewer accessibility through mass production

but also to strike a balance between craftsmanship and technology, a match of industrial

and natural materials. Perhaps, he is not only modernist but also postmodernist in that he

uses craftsmanship and technology simultaneously. However, his designs are becoming

more minimal and simpler like the designers in Modernist furniture to reach the largest possible number of people. Recently, Starck has proclaimed that he is communist and

that the Modem furniture is better for people (Field, 1998).

Philippe Starck, as the greatest genius in the world among architects and furniture and industrial designers, leads other designers and architects through his guiding concepts on anarcho-minimalism, materials, and production systems. However, as a matter of fact, mass production by evolving technology can be raised as one of ecological problems that designers must solve for our environment in terms of quantity over quality. Thereby, critical discourse about the postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture is currently

125 based on the concepts which other designers and critics consider as significant matters in producing furniture for the broadest range of people and the preservation of ecology at present as well as in the future.

126 B. CRITICAL DISCOURSE ABOUT THE POSTMODERN AESTHETICS

Currently, some other New Design furniture designers have attempted to create their objects in consideration of the ecology of our environment. In fact, the expression of postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture tends to lead the designers to waste natural materials for their aesthetic or decorative value. Thus, some designers have tended to simplify their work by minimal concepts and use of materials from recycled resources; the designers also try to make durable objects. They tend to be associated with technology for mass production in creating their furniture like the designers in

Modernism rather than the artisan skill in the traditions of craft. Thereby, their theory and practice in relation to the critical discourse about furniture aesthetics in the postmodern era will be explored.

Furniture Design for Our Ecology:

To New Design furniture designers, the question concerning ecology is how design should respect the natural environment and save our energy potential. The designers have expressed their objects through the design culture of the century‘Vith technicalness at the beginning of the century, with the figurative avant-gardes in the ‘20s, with ideology and politics in the ‘30s, with sociology in the ‘60s, with semiotics in the

‘70s, and with history in the ‘80s” (Lampugnai, 1995, p. 3). Today, ecological concerns make the designers turn toward our environment. As the energy resources of the world are becoming reduced, conservation strategies should be carried out. Reusing and recycling materials are very significant considerations, and reducing refuse is even more significant. In terms of the ecological issues of parsimony, energy saving, and pollution,

127 I will explore critical discourse about out of fashion furniture, durability, mass

production, furniture by a new design philosophy, and a new aesthetics in which the

designers should care about and keep in mind these issues in creating their furniture in

relation to postmodern aesthetics.

Reusing and Recycling Materials

At least since the late 1960s, designers have raised issues in their work about the limited energy resources of the world and the need for parsimony. As long as furniture designers use materials for creating their works, the pledge to observe a careful use of the resources of the earth, and to protect against pollution and destruction, is seen as a civil duty that no one can deny. Thus, the furniture in our everyday world ought to be the first to take up that pledge for our ecology. If rooms are furnished with furniture and objects that do not have to be periodically thrown away and replaced because they are subject to passing fashions, the pledge can be carried out (Lampugnai, 1995). Tlius, in reusing and recycling materials, it is necessary for furniture designers to use sophisticated energy- saving and waste-recycling systems in order to make a good deal of furniture which itself is qualified as ‘ecological’ in the process of becoming variously ‘green’ (Lampugnai,

1995, p. 3).

Out of Fashion Furniture

For the sake of our ecology, it is significant for people “to keep furniture for decades or hundreds of years, maybe mending it and restoring it periodically as our grandparents did; to conserve commodities not until they go out of fashion, but until they

128 no longer perform their function and can no longer be repaired or adapted to perform

them anew” (Lampugnai, 1996, p. 3). In fact, contemporary furniture tends to make

fashion by one-off or limited-edition which designers can create in a short time. They experiment with and challenge their furniture with a variety of features from postmodern aesthetics in such a way as to be popular. The furniture tends to be fashionable and then, later, goes out of fashion. This kind of furniture tends to make people fashion-conscious; the furniture that is out of fashion may be thrown away so that it increases refuse. As a result, the out of fashion furniture causes a pile o f rubbish and waste of materials.

Therefore, furniture designers must consider from the standpoint of their furniture, now to produce less so that less materials are consumed and people will throw away less furniture. When the designers don’t squander energy, they don’t have to worry about ways of finding ‘clean’ energy. The designers must keep in mind saving materials for the benefit of society more than the individual can through thrift.

Durabilitv

Creating durable and lasting furniture is one of the most significant achievements for protecting our ecology. Durability of furniture makes the furniture reusable so that furniture refuse would be largely eliminated. Primary demands for durable furniture may depend upon design culture, which reflects the ideology, technology, marketing, and fashion of the time. The history of design would have to be reconstructed not as separation from tradition but case by case. Furniture designers may produce their furniture with durable materials that respect and protect the natural environment.

However, Lampugnai points out the fact that the designers may design their furniture

129 in such a way as to inveigle or even force their purchaser to throw them away after a couple of seasons, thereby creating the necessity for new products (and hence new energy consumption), and contributing to the mountains of refuse that afflict the Earth’s landscapes. (Lampugnai, 1995, p. 3)

The designers creating postmodern aesthetics in their furniture tend to express their

feeling or emotion with any materials from the world. The works that resemble

expressionist painting might be among the first of the New Design pieces to be eliminated. The pieces tend never to respect the fact that furniture should be comfortable or functional because the furniture designers may want their works to remain just in the category of art.

Mass Production

For the maximum energy saving and the least environment pollution, it might be necessary for furniture designers to consider mass production as a waste of resources because the ideal of ecology is to suspend mass production. In the furniture industry, vast quantities of furniture are manufactured, purchased, and then senselessly eliminated, while the idea is focusing on the production of a few, fine and solid pieces made to withstand the passing of time. The designers must not design and mass-produce shoddy products that are almost at once turned into tons of rubbish. The quality of mass- produced furniture must be checked out. In this way, the designers can make manufacturers concentrate on quality products while putting them on the market at a satisfactory price. In creating furniture with quality rather than quantity, they can also make “consumers curb their investments — clearly quite considerable - to rare occasions in a lifetime” (Lampugni, 1997, p. 3). Finally, Arango (1997) suggests that we will “find

130 a way to transform our world from one obsessed with quantity to one that values quality”

(p. 85).

Furniture of a New Design Philosophy:

Design from Reused and Recycled Materials

By means of recycling, adapting, and reusing resources become the basis of a new

design philosophy for furniture designers. As indicated by more sensitive designers,

environmental impact must become an indispensable criterion for sizing up any

furnishing. Recyclable plastic is one of the materials which can be recycled and reused

together with natural wood and aluminum for mass production. Thus, the transmutation

of refuse into reuse, the generation of new furniture from old, will permit furniture

designers to achieve this metamorphosis in furniture design. The designers must learn to

use less, which contributes “to that newly emerging and fecund definition of design excellence which adds environmental responsibility to the established criteria of function, aesthetics and economics” (Arango, 1997, p. 85). Thus, according to Arango (1997), as impassioned defenders and ardent reformists of the planet, furniture designers “may begin to communicate a coherent vision to the public, combining aesthetic with ethical values to engage the imagination o f the ordinary citizen as never before” (p. 85). Through their leadership, our society may come to see what the designers have done for our ecology.

Furniture. Habitat, and Sustainability

For environmental sustainability, today’s furniture design can create a transition toward sustainability which is technically practicable and socially acceptable in quality,

131 functionality, and beauty. With an evolved strategic design, contemporary Italian design pieces in the '’'’Ambiente e Ambientt' exhibition are remarkable for “their quality, functionality, and beauty, which also offer some insight into new forms of daily behavior” (Capella, 1997, p. 83). These elements suggest to designers and the people that to consume less is to live better. Doing with less is supposed to increase welfare while reducing material consumption; minimizing pieces, making them flexible, and simplifying their components are involved in realizing these objectives. Enhancement of the material must make one leam to love the material, emphasize its dignity, take advantage of its durability, and value its quality. Stackable, transformable, foldable, separable, and transportable furniture will be created for our living spaces.

Therefore, in this early stage of ecological awareness, Capella (1997) suggests that a transition is demanded by re-thinking and re-design of the existing furniture to development of more ecologically efficient systems so that new mixes of products and services meet new demands for the welfare of mankind. Perhaps, for the designers, combining environmental awareness with their creative and inventive thought may be conducive to a significant stand with fruitful ideas for the future of ecology.

A New Aesthetics

From careful use, reuse, recycling, and sustainability for our ecology, a new aesthetics will transform New Design furniture and result in a design style with solidity, durability, and sobriety which our society finds acceptable. To create lasting furniture is to keep one’s grandparents’ and one’s own furniture; to get furniture repaired is to become appropriate and elegant. As a result, the new aesthetic is not an aesthetic of

132 poverty. It does not mean pretending to be poor, but means instead handling luxury with

intelligence, separating the useless luxury from the sensible. As essentiality distilled by

complexity and a rich simplicity, the furniture aesthetics would be created with a

minimum of machines and appliances and a maximum of simplicity and frugality

(Lampugnai, 1995). Thus, the furniture may be minimal, simple, and functional in the

future mode.

Summary

Critical discourses of current issues in relation to our ecology have raised some

directions new and different to New Design furniture designers in the postmodern era. In

considering furniture design for ecology, reusing and recycling materials, out of fashion

furniture, durability, and mass production were discussed. According to the discussion.

New Design furniture designers can create a new design philosophy with concerns such

as design from reused and recycled materials, furniture, habitat, and sustainability, and a

new aesthetics. The fact that mass-produced furniture can give us more rubbish than

accessibility to the largest number of people is a very significant issue to New Design

furniture designers. Thus, it is necessary for them to produce furniture which obtains quality rather than quantity, which can point out the right way for the designer to go. By creating durable, recyclable, comfortable, and beautiful objects with environmental responsibility, the furniture designers can guide consumers in the right direction in purchasing their furniture.

133 2). INTERPRETATION

Starck’s Concept:

1. Love is proposed as a base to give the largest number of people to access to

starck’s furniture by mass production. Because he respects and loves people,

Starck tries to create furniture not for the object but for love of the user.

2. Politics is considered as distribution to the largest possible range of people in

the maximum production with his tools through chairs, televisions,

toothbrushes, etc. As people use the objects in their everyday lives, they can

understand Stark’s concept of politics.

3. Starck’s understanding of ‘Beautiful’ and ‘good’ is presented as his

interpretation about the ideas of beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship from

the traditions of craft and fine arts in the postmodern era. In fact, mass

production of beautiful ftimiture design is difficult. Starck’s good design

concept is basically seen as mass production from the Modem furniture’s

concept. Historically, as good design is based on a rational concept, the

rationalist design principles promoted by the Modem Movement represent the

basis from which twentieth century design has evolved. The beautiful and

good can be seen as starck’s terms from the rationalism anti-rational dialectic.

According to the good design of Modernist as following:

A design that is highly rational in one period, however, may be considered anti-rational in another. Indeed, the history of furniture design in this century is dominated by two main themes: rationalism and anti-rationalism. Styling mns counter to design and can be regarded as essentially anti-rational. Functionalism and the industrial process are the primary concems of design, whereas aesthetics are the central consideration of style. New styles are bom out of the rejection of those that came before: Pop was in opposition to the ‘good design’ of the 1950s, High-Tech was a reaction to the anti-design of 134 Pop and so forth. Truly definitive or absolute design cannot be created because design is and always will be ephemeral. Although particular design solutions can only apply to specific purposes and periods in time, however, it is possible to speak in terms o f‘classics’. Classic furniture is more forward- looking or better designed than its contemporaries. It represents a harmonic balancing of the objectives that characterize design and style, possesses an enduring aesthetic or functionalism and powerfully expressed, the spirit of the time in which it was created. (Fiell & Fiell, 1991, p. 7)

4. The discussion on materials stresses suggestions about alternative materials

for their furniture that contemporary furniture designers have to invent,

explore, and adapt for enhancing our ecology.

5. A plastic and wooden chair is considered as an example showing a meeting of

Modernist and Postmodernist. Starck accepts and manipulates the concepts

from the modem and postmodern in the example, which shows the potential to

handle materials with ecological awareness.

Critical discourse about postmodern aesthetics:

Ecology in furniture design:

1. Reusing and recycling materials are considered economical in relation not

only to elimination o f piles of refuse but also to waste of energy resources.

2. Out of fashion furniture tends to have been produced by the short route, which

makes fashionable furniture because the production system is able to produce

and cycle furniture quickly. The designers continue to produce different and

new furniture in response to fashion trends and the furniture goes out of

fashion in the future.

135 3. Durability also relates to saving energy resources and eliminating the piling up

of refuse in response to ecological concems.

4. Changes in mass production can be proposed for not only reasonable price but

also quality over quantity.

Furniture by New Design Philosophy:

1. Furniture design from reused and recycled materials can be considered as

leading our society in concern for our ecology through examples people will

adopt in their living space.

2. The influence of furniture design on habitat and sustainability will improve

people’s welfare at present and in the future so that people will be aware of a

better life through stackable, transformable, foldable, dismantlable, and

transportable furniture.

3. A new aesthetics is anticipated as simple, minimal, functional, and

comfortable. Somehow, the new aesthetics seems to be moving toward that of

modem furniture because it was pure, simple, functional, and minimal as

machine aesthetics through mass production.

Therefore, in fact, the elements are related and interacted with one another for the defense of our environment and for a better life for the people. In terms of Starck’s concept and critical discourse about the postmodern aesthetics for our environment, the point is focused on accessibility to the largest number of people and the defense of our ecology. However, the mass-produced shoddy furniture can raise the problem of piling up garbage and the short route furniture can go quickly out of fashion, be thrown away,

136 and cause tons of rubbish. The New Design furniture should be as an extension of the general enhancement of the quality by craftsmanship, decoration, or beauty over quantity by simplicity. Yet, there may be more to the creation of places for living and thinking in then quality and elegance.

137 3). IMPLICATIONS

Today, New Design furniture, which represents the postmodern aesthetics of

communication presented by one-off or limited-edition with quality, is thought to make

sense for the future resolving the problems of durable and recyclable materials by taking

design beyond fashion for the benefit of our ecology. Seeking to complement a

sustainable ecology, designers may continue to present the postmodern aesthetic of

communication in New Design furniture, which lets people enjoy and appreciate the

furniture in their everyday lives. Currently, consciously and unconsciously minimal,

functional, and simplified mass-produced furniture is demanded to complement quality in

beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship rather than quantity, waste of materials, and piled

refuse from out of fashion furniture. The functional and solid furniture is modem

because it is comfortable to use and opposite to the whims of fashion. However, modem

furniture by mass production left people bored and displeased because they could see the

furniture anywhere. As a furniture designer or an artist, the New Design ftumiture

designer must create a piece of furniture which is durable, recyclable, beautiful,

comfortable, and economic so that people can appreciate and enjoy it in their everyday

lives by generation by generation. Therefore, in speculating about the solutions to the problems raised, basically, New Design furniture of high quality is needed for our enviromnent.

The principled quality over quantity may mean New Design furniture is produced with decoration or ornament by craftsmanship. The necessity for compensation through the artisan in production of furniture which can heighten our perception of mass production is necessary for quality in mass production. In fact, a growing number of

138 architects and furniture designers such as Philippe Starck, Ettro Sottsass, and Ron Arad

claim the status of craflsperson-designer-architect. In the postmodern era, the interest of

their architectural works and furniture design stems partly from the high quality

craftsmanship contained in them. Thus, in spite of the industrial ambitions of the mass

manufacturer and the architecture-constructor’s profession, these creators see furniture

and architecture as an artifact, made with still fewer machines and more specialized tools than those used in the production of “design products” (Burkhardt, 1997, p. 3). Thereby,

New Design furniture, which brings the postmodern aesthetics of communication to people’s daily lives, may be created with beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship, in durable and recyclable materials, which must be invented, experimented with, and challenged. Natural and artificial materials can be mixed for the harmony of craftsmanship and evolving technology. The furniture produced by the mixed materials can satisfy the largest number of people from one-off or limited-editions; it must be pleasant to touch and to look at and not uselessly increase the waste of energy that people already perpetrate, or the piles of rubbish that people already produce.

Therefore, in leading people toward the designers’ intention and in making people aware of the designers’ purpose for our environment. New Design furniture, in complementing the issues for our ecology can bring itself to the largest number of people automatically or spontaneously not only through people’s living spaces but also through galleries or museums. Through the New Design furniture, the designers will be the very leaders in the invention of a new culture, which people need to follow for a better life, for preservation of our ecology and environment at present and in the future.

139 CONCLUSION

Contemporary furniture design called New Design is decorative, beautiful, and

characterized by craftsmanship through eclecticism and pluralism reestablished in

furniture design in the postmodern era. This can be traced back to the Post-Modernist

ideas of Jencks, Venturis, and Graves, the three most influential Post-Modern architects,

furniture designers, and critics, who started to incorporate meaning by symbol, ornament,

and polycromy in association with their pluralism and eclecticism. Flowing the

semantics in the postmodern era, when the tide turned towards deconstructivism and then minimalism, it seemed as if decoration was creeping in through the very pores of modernism (Betsky, 1997, p. 25). In terms of the decoration theory by postmodern architects in response to architectures in Modernism, Betsky comments:

Mark Wigley, the Boswell of deconstmctivism, pointed out in a seminal 1987 essay. Postmortem Architecture: The Taste o f Derrida, that modem architecture was built on a foimdation of decoration, since theories of beauty were intrinsic to our ability to understand built form.... So architects are still playing tricks on us. They are trying to use decoration to achieve their usual mischievous aim of subjecting us to a larger purpose. They are confronting us within comfort itself. Meanwhile, people keep buying things architects never touch. Shelter magazines are filled with the busy concoctions of decorators. Nobody is flipping the self­ decorating switch (least of all architects), because to decorate is not just human, it’s fun. Chintz, anyone? (Betsky, 1997, p. 25)

Adapting and developing the concepts of postmodern architecture, contemporary furniture designers seem to have presented their work with the maximal use of the ornament. Sottsass, the Italian furniture designer and architect, proclaims that he is for maximalism; he sees Minimalism as very Protestant (Field, 1999). In the maximal design of his houses, Sottsass attempts to provide “different kinds of spaces, comers to hide in, different kinds of light, points of view, passages between the chaos outside and the peace

140 inside” (Field, 1999, p. 30). Considering meaning as a major point in his design, Sottsass

describes semantics as follows:

“I like it to be rich in meaning and possibilities.”... Materials, says Sottsass, are fundamental to achieving this effect. “I think we read with our senses — sight, touch and smell - and then with the mind. I’m interested in the meanings materials have. When I was young I hated marble because it was the material of fascists,” he says. “Now for me marble is the story of the geological history of the planet.” (quoted in Field, 1999, p. 30)

Today, influenced by these architects’ concepts and work, furniture designers

show a tendency to create their furniture through the concepts of the maximal or minimal.

In terms of the concepts, the characteristics of New Design furniture seem to be neo­ primitivism, bolidism, theatrical concepts, brutalism, plentiful eclecticism and pluralism,

and severe minimalism (Downey, 1992). In the opposite direction to maximal decoration, the minimal aesthetics in contemporary furniture in the postmodern era may start with the concepts of contemporary architects; which emphasize flexibility driven by economics. The architects tend to approach new commissions with minds fixed on economics, flexibility, and the most minimal of designs (Betsky, 1997). Currently, according to Chekijian, when architecture is built, the main point is

“flexibility... the application of information technology and ‘work smart’ plans demands it.”... Now Kosares is developing similar contracts with suppliers, so that the architects’ choices of materials will be even more limited. Not that there is much of a chance for architects to express themselves anyway: “Our main criteria was that we wanted architects who could understand flexibility. Most of our work is internal alternations that happen all the time, not signature buildings. Switching equipment gets smaller and smaller, we have downsized, and we can recapture space,” Kosares continues. “The only reason we need architecture is to make our unoccupied buildings in residential areas acceptable and pleasant, and make comfortable, ergonomically correct spaces on the inside.” (Betsky, 1997, p. 49).

141 In the context of this flexibility, minimalism might be appropriate, unless it is just an easy

way out, a mere reaction in response to excess, or a cover-up. By clearing things out of

and cleaning up unoccupied buildings, architects intend to make double-functioning

elements and, furthermore, triple- and quadruple functioning pieces (Betsky, 1997).

New Design furniture may need flexibility in terms of its accessibility to the broadest

range of people from the concern o f economics and ecology. In terms of the elimination

of refuse and reuse of furniture for the preservation of our ecology, it is necessary for the

designers to use recycled materials and create durable furniture beyond out of fashion,

which can be used by generation after generation by repairing the furniture.

In terms of the minimal and maximal concepts in the postmodern era, some

contemporary furniture designers say that their intention through their design is to have

everyone get the idea instantly. They are frustrated if people do not understand and appreciate the development of the design that goes into refining a product. The designers call this approach minimum maximum; they try to use a minimal aesthetic and materials but create contemporary furniture with numerous personal characteristics (Rattray, 1998, p. 11). Their furniture seems to express the minimal and maximal simultaneously. In their different concepts based on the minimal and maximal, the designers attempt to bring clean lines, simplicity, and quality of detail and material to people at first indifferent to design and then apt to think of it in terms of funny shapes and diverse colors. This may be the reminiscent of modernist virtues within the early modem movement combining crafts with machine technology. The designers in their furniture design attempt to emphasize “craft and good taste over intellectual rigor, in a tradition of progressive

Modem design that goes back at least as far as the 1930s” (Roux, 1995, p. 27). In their

142 work, they have presented the traditions of craft, which are like the Neo-classical style.

Arts and Crafts movement. Art Nouveau, and Art Deco. However, according to Dainotto

(1998), Pesce, an architect and industrial designer, claims that it is necessary for the

furniture designers to constantly question themselves about how they can serve society at present and in the future. They must take responsibility for shaping the new generation in relation to the curriculum of design schools. Pesce wonders whether every school should keep one instructor for teaching about the future. He asserts that the students have already studied too much history and that it is significant for the students to understand history not as a goal in itself but rather as a tool for understanding how we can enhance the future. In addition, Pesce points out that the students tend to see conventional beauty as the goal of design. In fact, it is difficult for students to really understand beauty.

Pesce mentions that if there is something useful in beauty, then the students will understand instantly. As a result, Pesce suggests that the new aesthetics may result from a revision of the modernist credo: “form follows function should be updated to form follows meaning” (quoted in Dainotto, 1998, p. 58). Somehow, Pesce’s concepts seem to be from the tradition of Modernism, which is characterized by piure, simple, minimal, useful, international concepts, etc.

Some contemporary furniture designers may insist on creating minimal, simple, and useful works because of their accessibility to the largest number of people.

Additionally, the simple and minimal furniture is technically and economically easy to mass-produce. Although mass-produced furniture has been referred to as one of the major problems in terms of the defense of our ecology with piles of refuse built from shoddy furniture, the designers consider their works to be mass-produced. However,

143 currently, furniture designers are free to express their furniture through any concept from the maximal to the minimal. New Design furniture in the postmodern era is diverse and differs from the Modem furniture which is derived from universal and international concepts; in New Design furniture, any expression is possible and acceptable. The designers try to satisfy and communicate with the largest possible number of people, and the people have numerous opportunities to select according to their characteristics or taste. Hence, if somebody asks the designers of New Design furniture whether their furniture represents minimalism or maximahsm, they may answer that they hope to create multicultural furniture, the cross-culture feeling of the postmodern era. Therefore, their furniture in the futuristic mode may be cross-cultural work that everybody in the earth can understand, enjoy, and appreciate in his/her daily space through his/her everyday use.

144 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING POSTMODERN

FURNITURE AESTHETICS

Chapter 4 has involved a careful study of the background and characteristics of

New Design furniture and its critical discourses, in terms of postmodern aesthetics of

communication. From my explication of New Design furniture as representative of the

postmodern aesthetics, this study can make it possible to reflect on the understanding of

postmodern aesthetics for art and everyday life by experiencing the postmodern aesthetics

of New Design furniture through metaphor: status, gender, joy, peace, etc, as in

Metaphors We Live By by George Lakeoff & Mark Johnson. This study also reveals

implications about and information for the teaching of postmodern aesthetics for art and everyday life.

Basically, the postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture gives people a sense of aesthetic pleasure through everyday experience. The sense of aesthetic pleasure involves people in metaphor in their everyday lives. Thus, in exploring and validating the existence of the metaphor in everyday life through everyday experience, I can adopt and use the metaphor in the way Lakeoff & Johnson have done in their book Metaphors

We Live By. Under the title of the book, the metaphor in New Design furniture has been explored according to oriental metaphor, ontological metaphor, structural metaphor, causation, definition and understanding, meaning, truth, aesthetics, and conclusion. The application of these elements will help art educators or students be aware of the metaphor of New Design furniture in their everyday lives not only literally but also nonliterally as good examples for art and everyday life.

145 Metaphors we live bv:

As an aspect of the pervasive function of metaphor, as explained in Metaphors

We Live By by George Lakeoff & Mark Johnson, we experience metaphors through the

Postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture in our everyday lives

and in our environment. Metaphors in New Design furniture play a key role when we

find the metaphors meaningful in our daily lives through everyday use. According to

Lakeoff & Johnson,

metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish—a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. The concepts that govern our thought are not just matters of the intellect. They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, and what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor. (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 3)

These concepts we live by in everyday life are the focus of metaphors in New Design furniture, which are derived from the every day functioning and everyday realities through daily experience. Metaphors in New Design furniture are expressed in thought and activities rather than in language, through experience or use, understanding, and communication.

Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) mention that "since communication is based on the same conceptual system that we use in thinking and acting, language is an important source of evidence for what that system is like” (p. 3). However, many times we do not have to talk about metaphors in the postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture in

146 order to communicate because New Design furniture commimicates the metaphors at a conscious and physical level. As visual metaphors, unlike linguistic expression, metaphors in New Design furniture sometimes do not achieve systematicity. For example, like the metaphor "ARGUMENT IS WAR" used as an example in Metaphors

We Live By, through the communicative function of New Design furniture, I may suggest the metaphors CHAIR IS STATUS, HUMOR, WIT, NARRATIVE, SYMBOL, or

ANIMATION. However, in our metaphorical concept, without more entaihnents the metaphors CHAIR IS STATUS, HUMOR, WIT, NARRATIVE, SYMBOL, or

ANIMATION may be hard to imderstand or may not be systematic. The metaphorical entaiIment for the chair depends on each person’s experience. In this case, although the chair communicates the metaphor with people at a conscious and physical level, it is not understood systematically in language. In order to communicate linguistically, we would need more entailments. The visual metaphors in New Design furniture not only include literal metaphors but also are beyond language, communicating physically and consciously. Thus, from this proposition, I will explore linguistic expression derived from Postmodern furniture metaphors for communication in language offered by Lakeoff

& Johnson. However, in some cases, the linguistic metaphors in this book do not adequately express the metaphors in New Design furniture literally or non literally. I will explore some concepts which can help people understand and communicate the metaphors in New Design furniture not abstractly but clearly.

New Design furniture is a form of practical art work explored in Postmodernism.

Metaphors in New Design furniture give us a sense of aesthetic pleasure for art appreciation, but it is not claimed that their entailments have the systematicity of the

147 metaphorical concepts discussed in the book of Lakeoff & Johnson. We can understand

New Design furniture based on experience but this depends on each person's culture and

knowledge of art and, in particular, so does understanding the metaphors in Postmodern

works of art like New Design furniture. Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) state that “the essence

of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (p.

3). In experiencing New Design furniture physically and visually rather than

linguistically, we can understand and communicate metaphors. The metaphors perceived

in New Design furniture may be understood according to the furniture designers’

intentions, which may hide one concept by focusing on another. We in part understand

metaphors in New Design furniture because some aspects in New Design furniture are

highlighted while others are hidden by the furniture designers. Thus, metaphors in New

Design furniture are understood and communicated as highlighted by the furniture

designers. The highlighting and hiding make the metaphorical concepts systematic.

Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) suggest that "the very systematicity that allows us to comprehend one aspect in terms of another (e.g., comprehending an aspect of arguing in terms of battle) will necessarily hide other aspects of the concept" (p. 10). Hiding an aspect of our experience has been called “conduit metaphor” by Michael Reddy (Lakeoff

& Johnson, 1980, p. 10). One might say that in the process of hiding one aspect, another aspect will automatically be highlighted. Conversely, for metaphors in New Design furniture, many times in the designers' highlighting of some concepts, others are automatically hidden.

Through the highlighting. New Design furniture communicates with people. We can understand the metaphors physically, consciously, and linguistically. Through

148 highlighting and hiding for metaphorical systematicity, according to the purpose or

expression of New Design furniture designers, metaphorical concepts in New Design

furniture can be extended "beyond the range of ordinary literal ways of thinking and

talking into the range of what is called figurative, poetic, colorful, or fanciful thought and

language” in everyday life (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 13). In the everyday use of New

Design furniture, metaphoric associations as in the metaphors CHAIR IS STATUS,

GENDER, HUMOR, SYMBOL, NARRATIVE, or ANIMATION, like the examples

“TIME IS MONEY,” “TIME IS A LIMITED RESOURCE,” and "TIME IS A

VALUABLE COMMODITY" in the book Lakeoff & Johnson, are all metaphorical

concepts which are "partially structured and can be extended in some ways" (Lakeoff &

Johnson, 1980, p. 13).

So far, I have briefly discussed "metaphorical concepts as ways o f partially structuring one experience in terms of another,” which is called structural metaphor

(Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 77). The structural metaphor, which is considered basic in our conceptual activity, is one of the conventional forms of metaphor along with orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors (personification). The structural metaphor elaborates concepts in our metaphorical conceptual system based on orientational and ontological metaphors. The examples "wasting time and attacking position," which elaborate on the basic concepts of the two metaphors, reflect “systematic metaphorical concepts that structure our actions and thoughts. They are 'alive' in the most fundamental sense: they are metaphors we live by" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 55).

Hence, I will take a look at conventional metaphors, which structure basic concepts as metaphorical concepts. From the conventional metaphors, furthermore, we can extend

149 our metaphorical concepts from the mundane level to an aesthetic level such as the poetic

level.

Orientational Metaphors

In discussing orientational metaphors groimded in the basic concepts of our conceptual system, Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) point out that "the metaphorical concept does not structure one concept in terms of another but instead organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another" (p. 14). Based on our physical and cultural experience, many of these concepts have to do with spatial orientation: "UP-DOWN, IN-

OUT, FRONT-BACK, ON-OFF, DEEP-SHALLOW, CENTRAL-PERIPHERAL" (p.

14). For example, from the experience of spatialization, such metaphors as "HAPPY IS

UP" and "SAD IS DOWN” can be formed on the physical basis and "HIGH STATUS IS

UP; LOW STATUS IS DOWN” can be formed on the social and physical basis. Thus, orientational metaphors in New Design furniture might be BRIGHT LAJvfP IS UP and

DARK LAMP IS DOWN, HUMOUROUS CHAIR IS UP and NON HUMOUROUS

CHAIR IS DOWN.

Ontological Metaphors

As a further basis for understanding beyond mere orientation, "understanding our experiences in terms of objects and substances allows us to pick out parts of our experience and treat them as discrete entities or substances of a uniform kind" (Lakeoff &

Johnson, 1980, p. 25). Thus, ontological metaphors might be further elaborated. Entity and substance metaphors and container metaphors, the visual field, events, actions,

150 activities, and states, might be expressed through the concept of ontological metaphors;

some examples of the metaphors are: "the MIND IS a MACHINE,” "a CONTAINER

OBJECT IS a CONTAINER SUBSTANCE," and "VISUAL FIELDS ARE

CONTAINERS" for different kinds of objects, sizes, boimdaries, and territories in our

natural environment (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, pp. 28-30).

Thus, in terms o f ontological metaphors, the metaphors in New Design furniture

might be such associations as a CABINET IS a CONTAINER SUBSTANCE and a BIG

or SMALL CABINET IS a CONTAINER. In examples of these metaphors in New^

Design furniture, I can imply that a cabinet contains substance, a big cabinet may contain

a big substance, and a small cabinet may contain a small substance. We can recognize

substance visually in relation to a cabinet's size, boundaries, and territory.

As the most obvious ontological metaphors, there are "those where the physical

object is further specified as being a person": something nonhuman is viewed as human

(Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 33). Thus, I might suggest some examples for chairs: Chair

looks delicate; Chair looks elegant; Chair looks beautiful; Chair has attracted men's eyes;

Chair is a pretty woman; Chair wears a beautiful maple grain. From the examples, I

might offer A CHAIR IS A PERSON or A LADY, that is, A CHAIR IS A SYMBOL OF

GENDER. The personification metaphor communicates gender. Hence, the personification metaphor elaborates spatialization metaphors beyond simple orientational concepts. In terms of the elaborated concept of ontological metaphors, 1 will explore structural metaphors that show the elaboration of spatialization metaphors in much more specific terms.

151 Structural Metaphors

Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) stress that "metaphors partially structure our everyday concepts and that this structure is reflected in our literal language" (p. 46). For example, such metaphors as “IDEAS ARE FOOD,” “LOVE IS WAR” and "LIFE IS A

GAMBLING GAME” are described in this book as “part of our normal way of talking about life situations, just as using the word ‘construct’ is a normal way of talking about theories” (p. 51). Hence, constructing structural metaphors by means of the elaboration of spatialization metaphors in specific terms "allows us not only to elaborate a concept

(like the mind) in considerable detail but also to find appropriate means for highlighting some aspects of it and hiding others" (p. 61). By applying the form of the structural metaphors such as "RATIONAL ARGUMENT IS WAR" presented in the book

Metaphors We Live By, I can elaborate the spatialization metaphors in New Design furniture mentioned as orientational metaphors. As examples of structural metaphors, I might offer the metaphors A HUMOROUS CHAIR IS PLEASURE or JOY, A

FLOWER-SHAPED CHAIR IS DELIGHT, DELICACY, or ELEGANCE, and AN

EXOTIC BED IS ECSTACY. The metaphors "provide the richest source of such elaboration" (p. 61). Additionally, structural metaphors, which refer to and quantify orient concepts with simple orientational and ontological metaphors, allow us "to use one highly structured and clearly delineated concept to structure another" (p. 61). As

"RATIONAL ARGUMENT" in the metaphor gives us rational reason for WAR,

HUMOROUS CHAIR, A FLOWER-SHAPED CHAJR, or AN EXOTIC BED can give us a rational reason for PLEASURE or JOY, DELIGHT, DELICACY, or ELEGANCE, or ECSTASY. Thus, from structural metaphors based on our fundamental experiences

152 like humor, delight, or ecstasy in everyday life, we can structure the concepts of

metaphors in New Design furniture in specific terms according to our experience with

New Design furniture.

In everyday life, other structural metaphors, for example, A CHAIR IS STATUS',

A DESK IS STATUS in New Design furniture, like "LABOR IS A RESOURCE" and

"TIME IS A RESOURCE" in Lakeoff s & Johnson's book, are culturally based on our

experience or the reality of our lives in that we may experience a chair and desk anywhere

in everyday life. We see different chairs and desks, some of which are associated with

higli and law status, like the President's and Secretary's desks and chairs in any office.

While we live by the metaphors A CHAIR IS STATUS and A DESK IS STATUS, we

tend to overlook the experience of these objects as metaphors in our culture. However,

the structural metaphors grounded in experience with chairs and desks in everyday life

are basic in our society. Hence, structural metaphors I have dealt with in New Design

furniture — A CHAIR IS STATUS and A DESK IS STATUS — are aspects of a culture

“like ours because what they highlight corresponds so closely to what we experience collectively and what they hide to so little" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 68). In exploring the culture naturally in relation to the highlighting and hiding of our experience in metaphors, it is not just that the structural metaphors are "grounded in our physical and cultural experience; they also influence our experience and our actions" (Lakeoff &

Johnson, 1980, p. 68). In terms o f this fact, I will explore the causation of metaphors in everyday life.

‘ Richard Sennett (1995) mentions that “in the time Louis XIV, you sat on a chair when receiving someone of lower status who stood; a visitor of higher rank sat on the chair while you stood” (p. 20). 153 Causation

As Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) mention, causation is partly emergent and partly metaphorical: "there are directly emergent concepts (like UP-DOWN, IN-OUT, OBJECT,

SUBSTANCE, etc.) and emergent metaphorical concepts based on our experience (like

THE VISUAL FIELD IS A CONTAINER, AN ACTIVITY IS A CONTAINER, etc.)"

(p. 69). Thus, “the concept of causation is based on the prototype of direct manipulation, which emerges directly from our experience” (p. 75).

New Design furniture is always involved in the prototype causation of direct manipulation in our everyday life and in our environment. The causation concept can be expressed through the use of New Design furniture. As causation is a basic human concept, through New Design furniture people can develop meanings that reflect their personal feelings, ideologies, and physical realities in their everyday lives. The concept of causation in New Design furniture recurs repeatedly in everyday use of the furniture we live by through our daily lives. People can experience New Design furniture as a gestalt because furniture in their daily lives is a utilitarian necessity for satisfying basic living needs—we can not possibly live through a day without sitting in a chair. Thus,

New Design furniture is basic to our experience. Since furniture is well-connected to how we go about our daily activities either within the space of our home or in work settings, we have numerous opportunities to take the design and appearance of furniture as a reflection of our life style, and, therefore, to develop a sense of causal relationship and understanding.

Based on the prototypical causation of direct manipulation, I would like to apply the idea of the metaphorical extension of prototypical causation to metaphors in New

154 Design furniture. Making an object by using a woodboard might be one instance of a

special case of direct causation. The example involves prototypical direct manipulation.

As a result of manipulation, I can make a sheet of woodboard into a piece of furniture.

Thus, the furniture is viewed as a different kind of thing. What was a sheet of woodboard is now a piece of woodboard shelf through the manipulation. From this fact, a different form and function emerge. Thus, by elaborating on direct manipulation, I have conceptualized making. I might suggest as an example: "THE SUBSTANCE GOES

INTO THE OBJECT” (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 73). That is, I made a sheet of wood board into a shelf.

As part of the concept of making furniture, I can explore the metaphor for change through the natural birth experience. For example, from the metaphor “MAMMALS

DEVELOPED OUT OF REPTILES” in this book, "the experience of birth (and also agricultural growth) provides a grounding for the general concept of CREATION, which has as its core the concept of MAKING a physical object but which extends to abstract entities as well" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 74). Therefore, making a piece of furniture from natural wood is CREATION, which is BIRTH. Thus, I might suggest that the metaphor “CREATION IS BIRTH” in the book Metaphors We Live Byis an appropriate metaphor for New Design furniture. Also, I see the metaphor A SHEET OF

WOODBOARD GOES INTO A PIECE OF SHELF like “THE SUBSTANCE GOES

INTO THE OBJECT” as CREATION IS BIRTH.

155 Definition and Understanding

To understand metaphors clearly, we need definition in our conceptual system.

The evidence for metaphor is established through language from experience. As the

objects of metaphorical definition, I will explore natural kinds of experiences because the

experiences as gestalts in terms of "natural dimensions (parts, stages, causes, etc)" relate

to metaphors in New Design furniture in everyday life (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p.

117). In fact, I have explored the chair and desk in New Design furniture as appropriate

examples that we might have overlooked in structuring metaphorical concepts in

everyday life. In the approach to definition and understanding in this section, I will once again address the chair and desk, which are encountered in natural kinds of experience in everyday life.

Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) mention that "individual concepts are not defined in isolated fashion, but rather in terms of their roles in natural kinds of experience" (p. 125).

Through the objects of metaphorical definition from natural kinds of experience, metaphors in New Design furniture "allow us to understand one domain o f experience in terms of another" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 117). Understanding metaphors in New

Design furniture emerges in terms of natural kinds of experience with New Design furniture through everyday use. As in the metaphors "LOVE IS JOURNEY,” "TIME IS

MONEY" by Lakeoff & Johnson, I can naturally hypothesize metaphors in New Design furniture like CHAIR IS STATUS, DESK IS STATUS. The definition is focused on

“basic domains of experience” like CHAIR and DESK (p. 117). Then, in terms of “other basic domains of experience” like STATUS, the experience of CHAIR and DESK is defined from the experience conceptualized (p. 117). As a natural kind of experience,

156 status conveys its meaning literally or figuratively in our concepts in everyday life. The

chair or desk in New Design furniture structures our metaphorical concepts naturally by

physical and visual experience in everyday life. However, the chair or desk in New

Design furniture defined by status is more clearly structured and understood in our

metaphorical concepts. Thus, the definitions of the metaphors CHAIR IS STATUS and

DESK IS STATUS are focused basically at the level of everyday life through the

everyday experience of STATUS just as JOURNEY and MONEY are. In everyday life,

the natural kinds of experience of New Design furniture within recurrent human

experiences is viewed as "experiential gestalt" by Lakeoff & Johnson (p. 117). The

natural kinds of metaphors in New Design fumitme from the natural kinds of experience

might be considered universal because anyone can experience status in relation to

different chairs and desks in any office visually, physically, or maybe linguistically.

Therefore, I believe that definition by metaphors in New Design furniture is

naturally open-ended rather than rigidly set in that the metaphors are capable of being

applied according to our experience in our physical and cultural environment.

Meaning

Lakeoff and Johnson (1980) ask how metaphor can give meaning to form. When we see actual cabinets that are small, we expect their contents to be small. When we see actual cabinets that are large, we normally expect their contents to be large. Applying this to the CONDUIT metaphor, we get the expectation "MORE OF FORM IS MORE

OF CONTENT" (p. 127). These are examples of conventional metaphors, orientational, ontological, and structural metaphors.

157 For the purposes of New Design furniture designers, metaphors are imaginative

and creative. They enable people to come to a new understanding of their experience.

Thus, the imaginative and creative metaphors can "give new meaning to people's pasts, to

their daily experience activity, and to what we know and believe” (Lakeoff & Johnson,

1980, p. 139). Thereby, I will consider a new metaphor with some entaiIments — CHAIR

IS A SYMBOLIC WORK OF ART like "LOVE IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK OF

ART" in the book. In my own experiences, I have found this metaphor "particularly forceful, insightful, and appropriate" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 139). As CHAIR IS

A SYMBOLIC WORK OF ART does, new metaphors in New Design furniture "make sense of our experience in the same way conventional metaphors do: they provide coherent structure, highlighting some things and hiding others" (Lakeoff & Johnson,

1980, p. 139). Based on my belief and my experience, I personally view the metaphor with the expectation of the following entai Iments: Chair is symbolic; Chair is status;

Chair is gender; Chair is meaningful; Chair is a work of art; Chair is an aesthetic experience; Chair relates to creativity; Chair creates a reality; Chair produces a shared aesthetic satisfaction. I can see some metaphorical entai Iments associated with the expectation. Through the entai Iments, I might suggest that chair is a communicative experience. The experience of the metaphors is "a kind of reverberation" that I am aware of and connect with my experience in the past, and thus come to understand experiences in the future (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 140).

Through the reverberation in the metaphor CHAIR IS A SYMBOLIC WORK OF

ART, the metaphor highlights certain symbols such as status, gender, etc, while hiding others. In terms of other chair experiences, as the metaphor highlights symbolic chair

158 experiences and makes them coherent, a new meaning for chair comes out of the metaphors. The new meaning of the new metaphors will in part reflect culture and in part my chair experience in the past.

Therefore, Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) stress that "new metaphors have the power to create a new reality" (p. 145). As chair, which is furniture, is actually part of our reality in that it is used in our daily lives, we begin to understand our experience as reflecting a metaphor. Thus, understanding new meaning through new metaphors in New

Design furniture creates new reality in everyday life. The new metaphor thereby becomes a meaningful reality when we begin to act in terms of the metaphor. Metaphors in New Design furniture remind us of meaningful realities, and create new realities from imaginative new metaphors through everyday use.

Therefore, new metaphorical concepts in New Design furniture can affect the culture because the new metaphors reflected from culture and past experience lead our conceptual systems to act within their reality. Our action based on new metaphors affects our new metaphorical concepts in relation to the new reality. Thus, as our concepts change, new culture may arise from the imaginative and creative metaphors of New

Design furniture designers. In particular. New Design fumitme like other Postmodern works of art reflects the tradition, reinterprets it according to the designers' imagination, and looks forward to the future of furniture designs in relation to culture. Through this process. New Design furniture reflects past and present culture, and affects the culture of the future. New design furniture communicates its metaphors with people literally or nonliterally in cultural and social contexts. This means that experiencing, understanding, and communicating about New Design furniture in everyday life through everyday use

159 might affect and change culture, which structures social reality. Lakeoff & Johnson

(1980) stress the importance of this role of metaphor: “the social reality defined by a

culture affects its conception of reality Since much of our social reality is understood

in metaphorical terms, and since our conception of the physical world is partly

metaphorical, metaphor plays a very significant role in determining what is real for us"

(p. 146).

Truth

According to Lakeoff & Johnson,

the acceptance of the metaphor, which forces us to focus only on those aspects of our experience that it highlights, leads us to view the entailments of the metaphor as being true.... Though questions of truth do arise for new metaphors, the more important questions are those o f appropriate action. In most cases, what is at issue is not the truth or falsity of a metaphor but the perceptions and inferences that follow from it and the actions that are sanctioned by it. (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 157)

New Design furniture communicates the metaphors of Postmodern aesthetics literally or nonliterally with the public, and in part structures their experience of metaphor, conscious and unconscious. Hence, understanding metaphors in New Design firmiture is related not to the truth or falsity of the metaphoric comparison but to the subjectivity or objectivity of the beholder or people's perspectives on New Design frumiture concerning truth. The metaphors intended in New Design fiuniture designers' expression are based on the

Postmodern aesthetics of communication. In fact, in language in our daily lives, truth in relation to metaphor is important because "we base our actions, both physical and social, on what we take to be true" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 160). Lakeoff & Johnson

(1980) stress that truth by and large "matters to us because it has siuwival value and

160 allows us to function in our world" (p. 160). Thus, when people experience metaphors in

New Design furniture in language, these metaphors—about interaction or communication

and "our immediate physical and social environment—play a role in daily functioning"

through our direct immediate understanding and indirect imderstanding through everyday

use (p. 160). Thus, the understanding of the metaphors is related to the objectivity or

subjectivity in New Design furniture designers' intentions because New Design furniture

is intended to communicate with people according to the designers' purpose. However,

the objectivity or subjectivity of truth relative to understanding has shown something

missing in each.

According to Lakeoff & Johnson (1980), objectivism misses our cultural

conceptual system's relativity and subjectivism misses an imaginative form of rationality.

I think that understanding metaphors in New Design furniture involves the relativity of

people's perspectives. There is no absolute or neutral conceptual system in understanding

and conceptually structuring metaphors of New Design furniture. However, even if

understanding New Design furniture depends on each person's subjectivity, an

imaginative rationality is required to understand or communicate conceptually the

metaphors which are tacitly understood by people socially based on culture. Therefore,

Lakeoff & Johnson offer the experientialist myth as a resolution in the effort to bridge the

gap between objectivism and subjectivism.

Beyond objectivism and subjectivism, for the metaphors in New Design furniture,

I will focus on the experientialist myth represented as the third choice suggested in this book. As an experientialist synthesis, Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) suggest that “we reject the objectivist view that there is absolute and unconditional truth without adopting the

161 subjectivist alternative of truth as obtainable only through the imagination unconstrained by external circumstances” (p. 192). Thus, Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) claim that "an

experientialist approach to the truth of metaphors also allows us to bridge the gap between the objectivist and subjectivist myths about impartiality and the possibility of being fair and objective" (p. 193). The experientialist myth is the position that I have focused on for understanding the metaphors in New Design furniture. New Design furniture designers intend to communicate metaphors in New Design furniture at a conscious and physical level visually or linguistically with beholders or people encountering their furniture in their everyday lives through everyday use. Thereby, that the designers express metaphors imaginatively and purposefully through the intention of the furniture design is seen as subjective. However, that their furniture is intended to communicate with the public is seen as objective. Thus, people might understand metaphors in New Design furniture subjectively in terms of their past experience and culture, and objectively in terms of New Design furniture designers' intentions.

Therefore, I believe that understanding metaphors in New Design furniture according to the experientialist myth allows us to bridge the gap in our conceptual system between the objectivist myth and the subjectivist myth concerning truth through our experience of our physical and cultural environment. Through an experientialist approach to the truth of metaphor. New Design furniture might meet the criteria for subjectivity and objectivity of understanding at the same time in letting people appreciate

New Design furniture from their own perspectives.

162 Understanding

Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) state that from a concern for understanding a single human motivation, "the myth of objectivism reflects the understanding of the external world and the myth of subjectivism is focused on internal aspects of understanding" (p.

229). Through the understanding of the external world and internal aspects, objective and subjective concerns can be satisfied simultaneously from a perspective which might be referred to as the experientialist myth. Lakeoff & Johnson (1980) stress that "within the experientialist myth, understanding emerges from interaction, from constant negotiation with other people" (p. 230). According to the perspective of the experientialist myth, through the understanding of the metaphors in New Design furniture, people can interact and communicate with New Design furniture at a conscious and physical level. In interacting and communicating through the metaphors, people reflect on their personal experience subjectively and other people’s experience objectively and form something in common through the metaphors in New Design furniture. Thus, the metaphors affect how people interact, communicate, and negotiate with each other in their daily lives. The understanding gained through interaction, communication, and negotiation with each other enables people to enrich their perspectives importantly from experience in their lives.

Thereby, interpersonal communication and mutual understanding emerge from metaphors in New Design furniture. Thus, even if people do not talk about the metaphors embedded in New Design furniture, when they share them in the same culture, they can feel and share something in common through the metaphors. Through the experience of mutual understanding, they communicate with each other. Such understanding is

163 possible through the shared meaning of metaphors in New Design furniture. Through the metaphorical imagination in New Design furniture, people "communicate unshared experience or create a shared vision" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 232).

According to Lakeoff & Johnson (1980), an important approach to mutual understanding is self-understanding, which “seeks out personal metaphor to highlight and make coherent our own pasts, our present activities and dreams, hopes, and goals as well”

(p. 233). Through awareness of the metaphors, the experience of alternative metaphors, development of “experiential flexibility,” and the unending process of exploring experience through new alternative metaphors, “the process of self-imderstanding is the continual development of new life stories for yourself’ (p. 233). Therefore, self- imderstanding through the metaphors of postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture is seen as highly significant in that the metaphors help each person reflect on, become more fully aware of, and enrich his/her personal life through everyday experience or use.

Aesthetics

Experiencing metaphors through the Postmodern aesthetics of communication in

New Design furniture, people can understand and communicate them in their everyday lives visually and physically rather than linguistically through "imaginative rationality"

(Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 235). Imaginative rationality "permits an understanding of one kind of experience in terms of another, creating coherences by virtue of imposing gestalts that are structured by natural dimensions of experience" (Lakeoff & Johnson,

1980, p. 235). Through new metaphors in New Design furniture viewed through imaginative rationality, new understandings might be seen as new realities. Thus, New

164 Design furniture is involved in the application of poetic metaphor through new conceptual metaphors. New Design furniture designers intend to create poetic spaces with imaginative metaphoric furniture not only rationally but also irrationally.

As a matter of fact, metaphor in New Design furniture is not a matter of language but a matter of conceptual structure visually, consciously, or physically experienced in everyday life, "which involves all the natural dimensions of our experience, including aspects of our sense experience"(Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 235). Experiencing metaphor in New Design furniture includes color, shape, texture, etc., and other aesthetic elements such as decoration and craftsmanship used to express the designers' intention.

Through the structure of these dimensions, aesthetic experience takes place. Lakeoff &

Johnson (1980) suggest that "each art medium picks out certain dimensions of our experience and excludes others" (p. 235). New Design furniture provides new ways of structuring our aesthetic experience in terms of these natural dimensions in everyday life through everyday use. New Design furniture provides new experiences and new understanding for people in everyday life. Therefore, from the experientialist point of view, the new understanding of New Design furniture is, "in general, a matter of imaginative rationality and a means of creating new realities" (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 236).

Conclusion

To sum up, the aesthetic experience of New Design furniture is “thus not limited to the official art world” (Lakeoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 236). It can occur in any aspect of our everyday lives through everyday use. To experience the metaphors of postmodern

165 aesthetics in New Design furniture visually, physically, and Linguistically is to

communicate and understand postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture in any

world through everyday use. Therefore, the metaphors enable people to enrich their lives

and to find their lives more meaningful through imaginative and creative metaphors at a

poetic level; New Design furniture designers highlight and hide the metaphors of the

postmodern aesthetics of communication in the process of furniture design. People can

perceive and appreciate a sense of aesthetic pleasure in poetic space through the

metaphors in New Design fumitmre which 'we live by’ literally and non literally. Finally,

I believe that metaphors in New Design furniture provide good examples that enable

people to confirm some of the metaphors in the language of postmodern aesthetics in the

forms of visual and practical objects ‘we live by’ in everyday experience or use, not

abstractly but clearly.

Therefore, based on the concept of Lakeoff and Johnson about metaphor understood through everyday experience, I will explore the postmodern aesthetics of New

Design furniture in an aesthetics class for art and everyday life in art education. Thus, I will develop a unit of instruction in definition, interpretation, and transformation of everyday postmodern aesthetics through New Design furniture based on the metaphors we live by.

166 CHAPTER 5

DEVELOPING A UNIT OF INSTRUCTION: AN APPROACH TO TEACHING AN AESTHETICS OF ART AND EVERYDAY LIFE

Introduction

As we have seen in Chapter 4, the postmodern aesthetics of communication in

New Design furniture design provides a valuable alternative appropriate to helping students appreciate a work of art like New Design furniture in everyday life through daily experience. In Chapter 5, a unit of instruction is provided as an alternative approach to teaching an aesthetics of art and everyday life through definition, interpretation, and transformation of the aesthetics by experiencing New Design furniture through metaphor.

This unit demonstrates how the aesthetics of New Design furniture might be made to function as part of the curriculum, and provides examples for describing art appreciation in the postmodern era in a teaching/learning interaction. This unit focuses on the aesthetics of New Design furniture as a resource for metaphors in exploring art and everyday life. When looking at art and everyday life in planning for the teaching of art appreciation, priority should be given to critical discourse and activities involving the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture.

167 The Unit of Instruction

Experiencing New Design furniture through metaphor, understanding,

interpretation, and transformation is a crucial component of this unit for art appreciation

of postmodern aesthetics. The students, through learning about postmodern aesthetics in

New Design furniture, should be able to appreciate New Design furniture in their daily experience. The process of understanding, interpretation, and transformation helps the students imagine various features of postmodern aesthetics from their own perspectives.

This unit is open for adaptation by the teacher in an aesthetics class in art education for college students. The teacher, therefore, will adjust the unit according to the material and time available for the college students.

To facilitate experiencing New Design furniture through metaphor, the unit of instruction is subdivided into three lessons:

Lesson One introduces the students to the postmodem aesthetics of communication through New Design furniture. I will explore the fact that everyone needs to define New

Design furniture as metaphor as an approach to understanding and appreciating the aesthetics in relation to natural, cultural, personal, group, and familial contexts.

Lesson Two involves the students in an approach to interpreting the postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture. Each student will write about the aesthetics function as metaphor in interpretation transformed by his/her perspective of a piece of selected

New Design furniture.

Lesson Three intends that the students create objects reflecting the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture with recycled objects and materials to be

1 6 8 transformed in each interpretation as metaphor in everyday life by teams of two or three

through collaborative work.

This unit consists of readings, lectures, discussions, writing, and studio work

dealing with New Design furniture, leading toward an understanding and application of

critical procedures (and an increased critical understanding, interpretation, and

transformation for appreciation). Thus, for the appreciation of New Design furniture, I

want to introduce understanding, interpretation, and transformation as my basic concepts

before exploring Lessons One, Two, and Three.

The experience of postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture

through metaphor:

The postmodern aesthetics of commimication in New Design furniture can play a

role to bridge a gap between art and everyday life and help students to appreciate a work

of art like postmodern furniture in everyday life through daily use. Postmodern furniture aesthetics is a good example for exploring art in everyday life because everyone in a lifetime is supposed to buy at least once one piece of good furniture and use it in everyday life. A piece o f postmodern furniture communicates metaphor, symbol, narrative, and humor with people at a conscious and physical level. As postmodern furniture is a socialized work of art, it has shown accessibility to a broader scope of people through communication aesthetics. Thereby, New Design furniture gives students opportunities to appreciate postmodern aesthetics not only through the gallery or museum but also through everyday life in daily use. New Design furniture enables students to enrich their understanding and knowledge about diverse aspects of the postmodern

169 aesthetics of communication from historical references to current culture. Hence, in considering communication and socialization in relation to postmodern furniture, I can explore art appreciation in everyday life. My question is how students may come to acquire a sense of pleasure in the aesthetics of postmodern furniture in their environment for art and everyday life.

Through experience with postmodern furniture in everyday life, I intend to enable students to understand, interpret, and transform through the postmodern aesthetics of communication, exploring expression of their imagination and creativity in their daily lives. As a foundation for understanding postmodern furniture, I will explore interpretation and transformation in appreciation. Postmodern furniture, like a work of art, shows metaphors for everyday life such as status, gender, peace, joy, etc. Postmodern furniture designers refer to their furniture as works of art. Hence,

1. as an approach to understanding and appreciating New Design furniture, when

students experience Postmodern furniture through metaphor, students can leam

to understand the metaphoric meaning of Postmodern furniture aesthetics in

communicating at a sensory and physical level in cultural and social contexts.

Crawford (1987) mentions that “the appreciation of an art object usually goes

beyond simply enjoying looking at it and involves coming to understand its

meaning as well” (p. 233). Thus, the metaphor in New Design furniture in

Postmodernism is associated with meaning in connection with cultural context

and artistic environment. Wolcott (1996) states that "Postmodern art seeks to

be understood in broader contexts of dialogue between art work and society"

(p. 71). The context is considered to be cultural, historical, and philosophical.

170 Postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture conveys its metaphoric

meaning according to furniture designers’ intentions based on the broader

context.

2. In considering the interpretation of New Design furniture, we have more issues

to look at because there are metaphorical messages being carried. According

to Danto, “the observer must attend to the non-exhibited qualities of a work”

(Wolcott, 1996, p. 74). In order to understand the meaning o f an art work, we

must consider the relationship of components in the work o f art as well as its

historical, rhetorical, and philosophical contexts beyond the art work. By

comprehending an art work’s meanings, students come to interpret it according

to their perceptions not only of its elements but beyond elements as well.

3. Danto (1981) goes on to explain the value of creating art like New Design

furniture which is socially meaningful; he claims that by using metaphors, an

artist attempts to make the viewer take an attitude toward the work of art

which goes beyond recognition of a concept. Thus, viewers can heighten and

transform their ways of thinking about their convictions. Through a

transformed way of thinking, students can create various aesthetics of the

imagination from their own perspectives.

Example

From the process of art appreciation stated previously, I might explore Umeda’s

Rose Chair, a narrative chair which conveys metaphoric meaning through symbolic transformation, the symbol of the rose (see Picture 4). First, when students approach the

171 narrative in the beautiful Rose chair, the chair communicates with students at a conscious and physical level. As a beautiful piece of furniture, the Rose Chair draws students’ attention. Students, thus, approach not the chair but the giant rose of attractive color and shape. Then students begin to interact with the rose chair physically and consciously.

Corbin (1998) stresses that “in a number of narrative pieces, function was transformed into interaction” (p. 26). I think that the furniture designer adapted, interpreted, and transformed a rose symbol into the chair, using a narrative concept from historical references based on his philosophy about flower aesthetics. A human being by nature pursues beautiful things, which give us a sense of pleasure in our body, mind, and eye in commimicating at a sensory and physical level. Aesthetics has been defined as “the philosophy of the beautiful" (Bosanquet, 1892, p. 228). Beardsley (1966) asserts that

"beautiful things are those which please when seen" (pp. 101-102). Expressing the philosophy of the beautiful as poetry in his furniture, Starck, a famous French furniture designer, says, “1 try in my work to replace the idea of the beautiful, which is about aesthetic judgment” (Horsham, 1996, p. 1).

Hence, in communicating the postmodern aesthetics,

1. students understand a narrative, symbolic, and metaphoric concept according

to the furniture designer’s intention about flower aesthetics based on ideas

from historical, rhetorical, and philosophical contexts.

2. The understanding enables students to interpret the Rose Chair through their

own perceptions in relation to cultural and social contexts. At that time, for a

female student, the Rose chair may be a metaphor for a beautiful friendship

between a male friend and her. Based on her memory, she would interpret the

172 aesthetics of the rose or flower according to her perceptions by experiencing

the chair physically, mentally, and/or emotionally.

3. Through her interpretation, she transforms her vision of the Rose Chair to

conform to her way of thinking. As suggested in Danto's argument about

transformation. New Design furniture designers do not merely assert facts or

ideas in their furniture: they suggest them in ways intended to transform the

way the viewer receives them. In this respect, Danto contends that “art aims

at some effect and transformation in our affirmation of the way the world is

viewed” (Wolcott, 1998, p. 74).

Danto suggests that “aesthetic understanding is far closer to intellectual action

(cognition) than to a mode of sensory simulation and calls for an aesthetic stance as something that has to be constructed” (Wolcott, 1966, p. 75). Danto's theory of art manifests a philosophy that sees the interpretation of artwork as based on our cultural, social, and historical understanding of art. According to art appreciation through understanding, interpretation, and transformation of postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture, students can expand their knowledge o f postmodern aesthetics, and expand their expression of imagination and creativity in everyday life. Thus, through the process, I believe that students will come to realize that they are surrounded by an everyday art environment that they may have overlooked. As a result, they can continue to explore art appreciation from such an approach in everyday life through everyday use by themselves. Hence, I stress that an art work like a piece of

Postmodern furniture should be socialized in exploring art and everyday life.

For art appreciation in everyday life, a piece of socialized postmodern furniture

173 based on cultural and historical contexts can play a major role. As a matter o f fact, as an art educator, when I explore art and everyday life in an aesthetics class, it is difficult to make students appreciate art in their everyday lives. In order to appreciate art works, we usually have to go to a gallery or museum. In Art: a Wav of Life. Haggerty defines art as follows:

The outward activities and inward experiences that are called art are the efforts of human beings to make life more interesting and pleasing. Art objects which are the product of these activities and experiences are meaningful to the degree that they increase human enjoyment. (Haggerty, 1935, p. 8)

This definition can be considered an appropriate content for an art education program. The focus of appreciation shifts from the aesthetics of museum art to aesthetics within the student’s personal environment; “this kind of aesthetics has made art capable of being interwoven into every aspect of our daily living” (Sproll, 1990, p. 208).

Haggerty (1935) argues that art is “not something superficial, remote, and veneered on life, a thing that can be ignored and neglected. It is integral with life, arises out of universal human needs, impossible of disassociation from a completely satisfying experience” (p. 13). In terms of this view, we may approach postmodern furniture that we may have previously overlooked as a good source for art appreciation through the student’s own living space. It is significant to socialize a work of art like a piece of postmodern furniture, which gives people a sense o f aesthetic pleasure in everyday life.

When artists and furniture designers create their works within the social structures of culture, they are considered to be representing the time. Today, from the diversity represented in the artworks of Postmodernism, which crosses all lines, identifying some elements that can be used to make a work of art more accessible to many people is

174 necessary and significant to the fine arts as well as fiimiture design. According to

Manhart & Manhart (1987), the world is now in such a condition that considerations of the individual liberty of the artist and fiimiture designer is a pretty trivial area.

Communal and social values are now more important. To achieve this, an object common to everyone's life, a work with which the viewer can interact, is not only to artists but also to designers of New Design furniture the most significant form for bringing their work and ideas to their audience (p. 180). Socializing art works, or approaching the public through such considerations as New Design fiimiture in interiors with images, is seen as establishing communication with a broader public.

To sum up, I have explored harmonization of theory and practice in the arts and fiimiture design in Postmodernism for art education, in that artwork must be close to, understood, communicated, and appreciated by the greatest number of people, who will be able to enjoy and use the fiimiture in their everyday lives. Therefore, when an aesthetics class in art education intends to explore art and everyday life, postmodem aesthetics in contemporary fiimiture, which brings the social and cultural contexts to our attention, is significant material for art appreciation through everyday experience.

As a matter of fact, Umedia’s rose chair is pleasing to me when I imagine myself in the middle of a giant rose, which conveys the message of the flower aesthetics derived from the designer’s idea or philosophy, which has transformed a small rose into a giant rose chair. The flower aesthetics of the giant rose chair communicates with me through everyday experience; for me, the beautiful rose chair is a metaphor for my mother because she always likes and raises beautiful roses of different colors in our garden. I think the chair can be considered representative of cross-cultural aesthetics, which

175 communicates with anybody on the earth. Therefore, expanding the basic concepts of the

metaphor of New Design furniture for an aesthetics class in art education, I will explore

the lessons practically rather than theoretically in connection with our everyday lives

through everyday experience. Each lesson will explore metaphors of postmodern

aesthetics in New Design furniture according to first, definition, second, interpretation,

and then, transformation.

The development of each lesson will consist of:

1). contextual information,

2). integration of a subject area from related reading,

3). vocabulary

4). inquiry strategies (objectives) of the lesson,

5). evaluation of the procedures in the lesson,

6). preparation,

7). procedure,

8). resources and materials,

9). transition,

10). follow-up

These constituents in each lesson will be organized for the students’ better

learning and understanding in each class according to the teacher’s intention through the

statement of objective for each lesson; 1) contextual information is to give the students a broader sense of the content of the lesson through the teacher’s lecture; 2) integration of subject area explores related reading materials and language arts to help the students

176 understand the intention of the lesson in relation to the contextual information; 8) a

vocabulary list is to be prepared to help the students understand the context in connection with the objective of the lesson; 4) inquiry strategies as objectives indicate what steps the students will follow in order to achieve the goal of the lesson; 5) the evaluation of procedures seeks the students’ understanding of the learning process according to the teacher’s objective; 6) preparation is related to such materials as projector and question sheets to be set up by the teacher for each lesson; 7) procedure concerns how and what appropriate order the teacher lectures the students and the use of question sheets in identifying major points for their better understanding; 8) resources and materials include such materials as pictures, articles, books, etc, for each class; 9) transition is to provide information and knowledge to look forward to the next lesson so that the students can anticipate what the next stage or lesson is for; 10) finally, follow-up is to help the students expand their perspective in relation to and beyond these lessons’ intentions.

Therefore, through these constituents or procedures, the students can leam what the teacher intends to have them to do, understand the context of each lesson, and identify and develop their own ideas. In expanding their ideas, they will explore art and everyday life beyond the objectives of these lessons.

177 Unit: Teaching an Aesthetics o f Art and Everyday Life

Experiencing New Design Furniture through Metaphor

General Qbiective

The general goal-statement about actual consequences of the instruction of this

unit is as follows: The student needs to have an opportunity to develop his or her knowledge o f the postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture. A general goal- statement about the potential consequence of the instruction is: The student will expand his/her view beyond postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture for art appreciation in everyday life through daily experience, to other functional arts such as ceramics, textiles, and metal works in the postmodern era.

Lesson One

1. As the objective, everyone in the class needs to personally define the

postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture as metaphor.

2. The students should understand and define the context of nature, group,

person, and family in terms of the teacher’s perspective about the postmodern

aesthetics expressed as narrative, metaphoric, symbolic, and humorous

furniture

Lesson Two

1. As the objective, each student will interpret a selected piece of New Design

furniture in terms of symbol and metaphor. The interpretation will be written.

2. The students, through their own understanding, should be enabled to interpret

the postmodern aesthetics through their perceptions in relation to cultural and

178 social contexts.

Lesson Three

1. As the objective, each student will create an object expressive of the

postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture using with

recyclable objects or materials. Objects and materials will be transformed

through students’ interpretation of metaphor in everyday life, with students by

teams of two or three working collaboratively

2. The students, through their interpretation, should transform their vision of the

postmodern aesthetics to conform to their ways of thinking in their creativity

(creating a metaphoric object) through postmodern aesthetics with recycled

materials and objects.

Therefore, through these lessons, the students should expand their knowledge of

postmodern aesthetics, and expand the expression of their imagination and creativity in

everyday life based on historical, rhetorical, and philosophical contexts.

Interdisciplinarv Cormections:

As the students read the books What Is Art For? written by Ellen Dissanayake

(1988) ondArt Synectics written by Nicholas Roukes (1982), students will leam about the functions of art and begin to define art as metaphor. Thus, to help the students identify and define New Design furniture as art, I introduce two questions, which are “what is

New Design furniture in terms of postmodern aesthetics of communication?” and “what is the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture?”

Through reading “Meaning and Visual Metaphor” by Hermine Feinstein and

179 Metaphors We Live By written by George Lake off and Mark Johnson, students will know

how, what, and why designers interpret and transform New Design furniture in terms of

linguistic and visual metaphors.

As the students read the articles “Minimal lamps” by Silvia Suardi (1997),

“Design and ecology” by Vittorio Mangnago Lampugnani (1995), “Parsimony and luxury by Vittorio Mangnago Lampugnani (1996), and “Designing sustainability” by Francois

Burkardt (1997), they will become aware of one way of applying parsimony in relation to our ecology and environment at present and in the future.

The reading materials in these three lessons will help the students understand the social and cultural contexts and gain knowledge from each lesson in defining, interpreting, and creating metaphor in New Design furniture in their own perspectives, expanding their views about works of art in the postmodern era.

180 Lesson One

Statement of Objective

Everyone in the class needs to personally define the postmodern aesthetics of New

Design furniture as metaphor

Contextual Information:

This lesson will involve the question, “what is New Design furniture for?”, which is derived from the book What is Art For? written by Ellen Dissanayake. The understanding of New Design furniture and its function in diverse social-cultural contexts will be constituted through anthropological approaches. The question is powerful, indicating lines of inquiry that lead beyond the appreciation of formal or aesthetic qualities of New Design furniture. New Design furniture is said to function as a metaphor for the relationship between viewer, furniture designer, and New Design furniture. That New Design furniture functions as such a metaphor is a compelling answer to the question, “what is New Design furniture for?,” in relation to natural, cultural, group, personal, and familial contexts (Jeffers, 1996).

What is New Design furniture for?

In terms of the previous statement, I might explore a shared social context involving the postmodern aesthetics of communication through New Design furniture between furniture and teacher or students, between teacher and students, and among students. In fact. New Design furniture designers explore communication between furniture design and beholders or people using the furniture, between the furniture

181 designer and beholders or people using the furniture, and among beholders or people

using the furniture through the furniture itself. As a result, interpersonal communication

may be promoted through postmodern aesthetics in contemporary furniture design. New

Design furniture can be referred to as works of art by emphasizing not function but

aesthetics. The aesthetic elements like metaphor, symbol, narrative, and humor are communicated by New Design furniture at a conscious and physical level. These communicative elements all have metaphoric meanings in everyday life through daily use. From this perspective, I therefore see New Design furniture as metaphor enhancing a shared social context in a group context such as an aesthetics class in art education.

Through the metaphoric New Design furniture, in the shared group context between teacher and students we experience the significance of communication through the metaphoric meanings transferred for an aesthetics class in art education.

As an art educator for aesthetics class, I might find certain attributes or referents

(visual or symbolic) to connect metaphoric New Design furniture to my life. This connection might place my life in some particular contexts, such as natural, cultural, and familial contexts. Jeffers (1996) observes that “in looking closely at the relationships that develop between the teachers and their metaphors, it became apparent these teachers not only transferred their attributes to their chosen artworks, they also transferred attributes from the works to themselves” (p. 11). Through the connection and transfer with New

Design furniture, I can understand and communicate the metaphor visually and physically in reciprocal and reflective relationships with New Design furniture. Thus, I intend to share with students in the class the metaphors of certain attributes in New Design furniture. Students will be encouraged and learn to experience, understand, and

182 communicate about the attributes of metaphors in New Design furniture through

reciprocal relationship with the metaphoric meaning. As evidence for the reciprocal

relationships, Ortony (1975) claims that “richness of detail in communicative potential

provides a powerful means of moving from the known to the less well-known or

unknown” (p. 51). Thus, according to Ortony's claim, in terms of my experience, I can at

times see the known as New Design furniture and the less well-known as teachers -

myself. Jeffers (1996) claims that through newly-gained insight, “at other times, works

of art became the less well-known and the teachers the known” (p. 11).

The close, reciprocal, and dynamic relationship with New Design furniture

develops through the metaphors of postmodern aesthetics functioning as a

communication device, as mentioned previously. In the aesthetics class, when sharing

the metaphors carried by New Design furniture with students, I may come closer to them

intellectually and emotionally, transfer certain attributes to them, and experience

something in common with them through the metaphors functioning in a shared social

context. As a metaphor, then, a work of art can be contextually understood as a

personally and “socially functional product" (Anderson, 1995, p. 200). Hence, New

Design furniture may represent an anthropological approach in that its aesthetics express metaphors such as symbol, narrative, humor, and/or wit from the meaning of the message

for conununication with people.

Anderson (1995) claims that a work of art “should be understood not only for what it is, but for, more fundamentally, what it does in a social context" (p. 200). In New

Design furniture, as in an artwork, the metaphor of communication plays a significant role for understanding the meanings in considering a piece in a group context. In the

183 aesthetics class, in sharing and coming to understand New Design furniture in a group

context, as well as personal, cultural, and familial contexts, I will understand and value

the works for what they do in these various contexts. Thus, the metaphor in New Design

furniture, like that in art works, not only makes us cry but also makes us laugh. As a

social group, in the aesthetics class students communicate about metaphoric New Design

furniture and at the same time they also interact educationally with the art teacher who has initiated this pattern of communication. Furthermore, the students and the art educator can communicate through the metaphors in New Design furniture with each other as well as with the designers. Therefore, New Design furniture may be a metaphor for communication between students and teachers in the aesthetics class in art education.

As art criticism and art dialogues are strongly encouraged in current art classes, discussing the furniture with students can strengthen our art curriculum for teaching critical thinking and informed judgement about art and life, and the relationship between the two.

Integration of Subiect Areas:

As the students read the books What Is Art For? written by Ellen Dissanayake and

Art Synectics written by Nicholas Roukes, students will learn about functions of art and begin to define art as metaphor. When the students consider and identify New Design furniture as art such as painting or sculpture, they can define New Design furniture in the context of nature, culture, person, group, and family. In writing about their understanding and definition of New Design furniture as metaphor in the context of nature, culture, and family, students can identify New Design furniture as metaphor in these contexts. Thus,

184 for helping the students identify and define New Design furniture as art, I introduce two questions, which are ‘Svhat is New Design furniture in terras of postmodern aesthetics of communication? and “what is the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New

Design furniture?”

What is New Design furniture according to the postmodern aesthetics of communication?

Contemporary furniture design called New Design represents the postmodern aesthetics by beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship. New Design furniture is typically handmade by craftsmanship so that it is artistic and crafty. The flimiture is called sculpture flimiture or art flimiture and is mostly one-of-a-kind. New Design furniture is distinguished from mass production furniture mainly by an evolving technology for industrial design. The furniture is mainly produced by one-offs or limited-edition. Thus,

Dormer (1987) observes that New Design represents the postmodem aesthetics in reflecting the 20^- century traditions of political art, the modem movement, surrealism, expressionism, and the imagery of ethnographic collections. In other words. Dormer

(1987) suggests that each designer is following his or her own inspiration, apparently outside the normal principles of design or craft but within the accepted territories of 20^- century art (p. 130).

What is the postmodem aesthetics of communication in New Design flimiture?

Postmodern aesthetics through New Design furniture can be defined as the use of symbol, metaphor, narrative, animation, imagination, or humor in New Design furniture through ideas from the traditions of craft and from fine arts. New Design furniture in

185 postmodernism communicates symbol, metaphor, narrative, animation, imagination, or humor at a conscious and physical level with beholders or people encountering it in their everyday lives. These elements convey metaphorical meanings, which bring social and cultural contexts to New Design furniture designer’s inventions. Thus, the postmodern aesthetics of these elements are not only communicated but also variously expressed through New Design furniture by the designers. Postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture resembles the aesthetics of poetry (e.g., symbolic, metaphoric, narrative, imaginative, humorous, etc). Thus, a poetic space is created as the integrity of images of the postmodern aesthetics of communication through New Design furniture.

Inouirv Strategies ('objectives)

The students will:

1. know New Design furniture functions defined in answering the question ‘Vhat

is New Design furniture for?” adapted from What Is Art For? written by Ellen

Dissanayake and know New Design furniture functions in terms of the social

ends of the furniture as stressed in the functionalist’s sociological and

anthropological interpretation;

Evaluation: Were the students able to give appropriate answers to the question

“what is New Design furniture for?” In class, they will discuss the functions

following the teacher’s lead. The teacher will note their discussion and respond to

the students’ ideas.

186 2. know New Design furniture functions as metaphor in the relationship between

viewer, furniture designer, and the furniture, and between the teacher and the

students, and the students with each other in a social-cultural context;

Evaluation: Were the students able to understand the relationship between

viewer, furniture designer, and the furniture, and between the teacher and

the students, and the students with each other in the social-cultural

context? In class, they will talk about their feelings with the teacher. The

teacher will note their discussion and respond to the students’ ideas.

3. define and identify New Design furniture as metaphor in natural, cultural,

personal, group, and familial contexts, and realize the potential for the

metaphor in everyday life in our environment.

Evaluation: Were the students able to understand the metaphor in the contexts of

nature, culture, person, group, and family according to the teacher’s

explanation? The teacher will ask the students to discuss the contexts in

groups of three or four.

4. appreciate slides pertaining to New Design furniture as metaphor in the

context of nature, culture, group, and family through related furniture—

Cemtti’s mythical Libabel bookcase (see Picture 3), Jencks’ symbolic

furniture (see Picture 7, 8), and Syniuaga’s narrative furniture for cultural

contexts (see Picture 17), Serafini’s humorous and narrative Santa and

Suspiral furniture for familial contexts (see Picture 1, 2), Cherif s bench and

stool for natural contexts (see Pictures 18, 19), Umeda’s rose and flower

187 furniture for personal contexts (see Picture 4, 5), and Alb us’ accessory

boutique shop for group contexts (see Picture 6);

Evaluation: Were the students able to share the teacher’s perspective about the

metaphoric contexts in New Design furniture? In number 5, the teacher

will ask the students to write about the feehngs.

5. Write about their definition and identification of how New Design furniture

function as metaphor from selected New Design furniture in natural, cultural,

personal, group, and familial contexts;

Evaluation: Were the student able to write about the definition of the contexts

in New Design furniture? They will answer the questions: What are

natural, cultural, personal, group, and familial contexts in New Design

furniture according to the teacher’s view? The teacher will collect the

students’ writing and give them comments in relation to the teacher’s

perspective.

6. talk about their definition and identification of New Design furniture as

metaphor in everyday life.

Evaluation: Were the students able to define and identify New Design furniture

as metaphor in their daily life in their class discussion? They will talk

about New Design furniture from their perspective in class. The teacher

will make notes and respond to their comments.

Lesson Preparation

1. Research and review selected furniture designers and selected pieces of

188 their furniture through their biographies.

2. Set up a slide projector for the class.

3. Select New Design furniture with references to cultural connections,

family bonds, or natural ties as examples of metaphoric New Design

furniture and the metaphorical relationships.

4. Prepare question sheets for students to use in writing a definition of New

Design furniture as metaphor through selected New Design furniture.

5. Collect books and other materials about New Design furniture, (see

resources)

Procedure

1 Review the topic “what is New Design furniture for?” Introduce New Design

furniture functions from the book What Is Art For? written by Ellen

Dissanayake and focus on New Design furniture functions in relation to the

social ends of the New Design furniture in order to explore social-cultural

contexts in New Design furniture as metaphor.

2 Introduce New Design furniture as a metaphor for the relationship between

viewer, furniture designer, and furniture through the related articles

“Experiencing Art through Metaphor” written by Carol Jeffers, “Why

Metaphors Are Necessary and Not Just Nice” written by Andrew Ortony, and

the book Art Synectics written by Nicholas Roukes. Thus, I will follow

Danto’s lead in exploring the metaphoric functions of art.

3. Ask the students to read the teacher’s excerpts from the readings in procedure

2.

189 4. Introduce metaphors in the contexts of nature, culture, person, group, and

family in our lives.

5. Show slides of New Design furniture which represents natural, cultural,

personal, group, and familial contexts using Cerutti’s Libabel bookcase,

Jencks’ symbolic furniture, Syniuaga’s narrative furniture, Serafini’s

humorous and narrative Santa and Suspiral furniture, Cherif s bench and stool,

Umeda’s rose and flower furniture, and Albus’ accessory boutique shop.

6. Explain New Design furniture functions as metaphors in a formal context

through abstract or semi-abstract furniture according to the teacher’s

perspective.

7. Ask the students to define, identify, and write about the contexts of nature,

culture, person, group, and family in New Design furniture.

8. Ask students to talk about New Design furniture functions as metaphor based

on 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 in response to specific questions in teams of three or

four.

Question sheet: (to be used as a handout)

1). What are the New Design furniture functions defined in What Is Art

For? based on the teacher’s explanation?

2). What are the New Design furniture functions related to the social

ends of the New Design furniture?

3). Describe the New Design fumitiure as metaphor?

4). Describe the New Design furniture in relation to natural, cultural,

personal, group, and familial contexts based on the teacher’s

190 definition?

5). What is your interpretation of New Design furniture as metaphor in

everyday life?

Resources and Materials

Slides of selected New Design furniture: Cerutti’s mythical Libabel bookcase,

Jencks’ symbolic furniture, Syniuaga’s narrative furniture, Serafini’s

humorous and narrative Santa and Suspiral furniture, Cherif s bench and

stool, Umeda’s rose and flower furniture, and Albus’ accessory boutique

shop

Resources discussing metaphor in article: “Experiencing Art through Metaphor”

by Carol Jeffers (1996) and “Why Metaphors are Necessary and Not Just

Nice” by Andresw Ortony (1975).

Books: What is Art For? by Ellen Dissanayake (1988), Art Synectics by

Nicholas Roukes (1984), and Ttransfiguration o f the commonplace: A

philosophy o fby art Dante (1981)

Transition

Each student is to think about and write about a selected piece of New Design furniture of interest to him/herself in order to explore New Design furniture as metaphor in everyday life according to the students own interpretation transformed by his/her own perspective.

191 Follow-up

The students are to continue to explore how New Design furniture functions as

metaphor in their use and appreciation of other functional art works like textiles,

ceramics, jewelry, and metal work in everyday life through everyday experience. For

example, they might discuss their use and appreciation of functional objects such as rings,

necklaces, and bracelets in their group meeting. Jewelry offers good material through

which the students can demonstrate the expansion of their postmodern aesthetic

appreciation with objects in everyday use.

Homework

Readings: As the students read “Meaning and visual metaphor” written by

Hermine Feinstein (1982), “The psychology of the metaphor” written by Anderson

(1964), Metaphors We Live By written by George Lakeoff & Mark Johnson

(1980), Metaphor and Thought written by Ortany (1979), Symbolic logic written by Suzanne Langer (1967), and What metaphors mean written by Davidson

(1979), they can get ideas for interpretation of metaphoric New Design furniture by symbolic transformation.

192 Lesson Two

Objective

Each student will interpret a selected piece of New Design furniture in terms of symbol and metaphor. Interpretation will be written.

Contextual Information

This lesson will involve understanding how New Design furniture functions as metaphor in the students’ own thinking. Students will connect their interpretation with the natural, cultural, personal, group, and familial contexts defined in lesson one. They will explore the visual metaphor in New Design furniture linguistically. Students are more familiar with words than with images; therefore, they are accustomed to expressing themselves not in visual metaphor but in linguistic metaphor.

It is difficult for students to express visual metaphor like postmodern aesthetics of

New Design furniture in language. Thus, the students will be involved in meanings literally and nonliterally (i.e. metaphorically), visually and linguistically, and verbally and nonverbally by writing in depth about their aesthetics interpretation.

The students have already become familiar with New Design furniture as metaphor in lesson one. They defined and identified it in their discussion and writing within the context of nature, culture, person, group, and family. In this lesson, the students will transform and interpret New Design furniture as linguistic metaphor rather than visual metaphor.

Symbols and metaphor, narrative, humor, and wit in New Design furniture are related to the postmodern aesthetics communicated by metaphoric meanings through

193 symbolization and transformation in relation to culture. The postmodern aesthetics of

New Design furniture involves metaphors for communication with people physically and

consciously. The meaning conveyed by the metaphors through symbol making can be

interpreted according to each person’s perspective, literally and nonliterally.

Svmbol. By discussing postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture for

communication with the public, I will explore the human need and ability to create

symbols. Langer (1957) argues that “the symbol-making function is one of man’s primary activities.... It is the fundamental process of his mind, and goes on all the time”

(p. 41). The symbol-making function is a capability to create transformation, which creates symbols for the transfer of experience. The transformation of symbolization ends in a literal meaning and a nonliteral meaning (Feinstein, 1982, p. 45).

A piece of New Design furniture is like an artwork which is able to express its meaning nonliterally, nonverbally or visually. Nonliteral meaning in New Design furniture is expressed through nonverbal or visual metaphors. The symbols used in New

Design furniture are significant for visual communication of thought, action, and meaning.

First, according to Feinstein (1982), “making sense of experience and its products comes about as we interact with our environment in our attempts to comprehend, construct, and convey literal and metaphoric meaning. The core of those attempts is the fundamental act of symbolic transformation” (p. 45). As visual images like works of art.

New Design furniture communicates its metaphors and conveys its metaphoric meanings by means of symbolic transformation. New Design furniture designers may abstract their experience to understand it and transform their experience into a symbol. An example of

194 symbolic transformation is New Design furniture whose ideas come from the tradition of

symbolic architecture. Feinstein (1982) suggests that “the symbol is then subjected to

repeated symbolic transformation” (p. 46). To convey their experience within the

traditions of symbohc architecture. New Design furniture designers must transform their

experience again into a piece of furniture, a visual image which can be re-expressed

through words like a poem.

In order to begin the visual transformation. New Design furniture designers

interpret what they experience visually rather than linguistically; they have particular

skills in transforming furniture according to their interpretive symbolization. Thus, a

piece of symbolic, narrative, and humorous New Design furniture conveys a metaphoric

meaning. We understand the metaphoric meaning through our experience with New

Design furniture. The symbolic furniture actually has meaning because the designers

have combined the idea of symbol with meaning of traditional architecture. Thus,

symbolic transformation and metaphor needs to be understood within the context of a

discussion about signs and symbols, transformation, and meaning.

Second, signs and symbols, by their denotative and connotative functions, are

related to transformation and meaning. Feinstein (1982) suggests that “symbols, in contrast to signs, are invented by humans when a group of people agree that one thing

(object, event, idea) shall stand for another” (p. 46). Symbols not only denote but also connote the meaning of something explicitly and implicitly. The denotative and connotative symbols “have well-established meanings within a culture” (Feinstein, 1982, p. 46). New Design furniture relates to both denotative and connotative meaning through symbols for conununication. The designers express metaphoric meaning in New Design

195 flimiture explicitly and implicitly. Thus, through symbolically transformed New Design

furniture, the designers intend to understand, construct, and convey metaphoric meaning,

which includes the literal and nonliteral. In fact, symbolic New Design furniture, as

visual art work, conveys its metaphoric meaning nonliterally rather than literally.

Third, according to Feinstein (1982), meaning is considered to be both literal and

nonliteral. The literal and nonliteral meanings are related to understanding the nature of

metaphor. Literal meaning may be defined as present when “the meaning a recipient

finds in the mediating symbols is the exact meaning its user intended” (Feinstein, 1985, p. 47). While literal meaning communicates denotatively, nonliteral meaning evokes meaning connotatively. In order for people to feel the artist’s intended metaphor, some agreed-upon (literal) referents must be present in the art work so that people can relate to the work on the basis of individual experience. Nonliteral meaning may be defined as

“the meaning a recipient finds.. .[which] may not be the exact meaning its user intended”

(Feinstein, 1985, p. 49). Through New Design furniture, literal and nonliteral meaning can be conveyed and communicated denotatively and connotatively. However, as a visual image. New Design furniture conveys nonverbal meaning - nonliteral meaning rather than literal meaning. New Design furniture designers use images for nonliteral meaning in metaphor in New Design furniture as their profile. The images convey the meaning of the metaphor to people through the medium.

In conclusion. New Design furniture designers transform their experience into a piece of symbolic furniture through perception and interpretation. A piece of symbolically transformed New Design furniture conveys metaphoric meaning, which communicates with people Uterally or nonliterally.

196 Metaphor. Metaphor can be defined as the extension of symbol in terms of our

understanding of meaning through experience. It enables our experience to be

meaningful. According to Feinstein:

Metaphor, once regarded solely as an ornamental linguistic device, is now considered to be an essential process and product of thought. The power of metaphor lies in its potential to further our understanding of the meaning of experience, which in turn defines reality. In art and in language, metaphor urges us to look beyond the literal, to generate associations and to tap new, different, deeper levels of meaning. (Feinstain, 1982, p. 45)

A piece of New Design furniture as an art work is metaphor because New Design furniture designers transform their thoughts or ideas through postmodern aesthetics. New

Design furniture conveys metaphoric meanings visually rather than linguistically. In fact.

New Design furniture is referred to as nonverbal. However in conveying visual meaning.

New Design furniture also includes a literal meaning which can be expressed verbally.

According to Ortony (1975), “there is fairly wide agreement that metaphor involves, or is, the transfer of meaning. Indeed, etymologically means ‘transfer,’ being derived from the

Greek meta (trans) + pherein (to carry)” (p. 45).

Richards (1936) has offered four terms help fill for the understanding of metaphor: topic, vehicle, groimd, and tension. Richards’ terms for understanding metaphor might be more appropriate for metaphor in language rather than the metaphor in New Design furniture. However, exploring Richards’ imderstanding of metaphor, I will adapt the process to New Design furniture. I might hypothesize about the metaphor ‘chair is status’. Chair is the topic. Status is the vehicle. The ground arises from similar attributes of the forms (topic and vehicle). The tension takes place as ‘chair’ and ‘status’ belong to different categories, so that dissimilarity appears. Through the adaptation of

197 terms, the metaphors embodied in New Design furniture may become clear, but the

understanding is not always clear. As visual metaphors. New Design furniture is rarely

expressed by similarity or dissimilarity in language. However, continuous experience

with New Design furniture makes it possible for the metaphors to be understood

linguistically and visually. Feinstein (1975) claims that metaphor can convey the

primacy and continuity of experience, “but makes broader claims: that metaphor, an

essential process and product of thought is central to the construction of meaning, and

that art, as a fully developed product of thought, is metaphor” (p. 48).

The aesthetic expression of New Design furniture is both nonliteral and

nonverbal; the metaphors it carries are visual metaphors rather than linguistic metaphors.

In general, it may be difficult for people to understand and explain linguistically the

visual metaphors that New Design furniture designers employ to convey meanings.

Davidson (1979) states that “a picture is not worth a thousand words, or any other

number. Words are the wrong currency to exchange for a picture” (p. 45). Thus, often,

we do not have to use language to express metaphors in New Design furniture because

New Design furniture communicates the metaphors of postmodern aesthetics with people

through visual and physical sensations. As people experience the metaphors within the

whole context of the art work, they understand and communicate about it visually and

physically rather than linguistically.

Feinstein (1982) suggests that linguistic metaphor, which is verbal, differs from visual metaphor, which is nonverbal. As visual metaphor. New Design furniture, like art work, has no standard vocabulary for expressing its metaphor. The definition and terms may not be clear but ambiguous and complex. Somehow metaphors expressed in

198 language clearly convey meaning. However, visual metaphor in New Design furniture is

“a potent stimulus for generating associations and tapping new, different, or deeper levels

of meaning” (Feinstein, 1982, p. 51). Understanding New Design furniture literally and

metaphorically in terms of works of art is to construct more meaning from transactions

with the environment.

To sum up, metaphoric meanings carried by New Design furniture include literal

meaning but differ from literal meaning in the approach to its expression. Through

symbolization, metaphoric meaning in postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture

makes itself rich in content and depth, makes us understand and appreciate New Design

furniture, and extends and enriches our realities. Thus, to understand, construct, and

convey literal and metaphoric meaning in visual forms like New Design furniture might

be to communicate the metaphor with the public. Furniture has become an agent of

communication between the designer and the viewer or user.

Students will explore their own interpretation of postmodern aesthetics of New

Design furniture in language from the metaphoric meaning as personally understood, constructed, and conveyed both literally and nonliterally.

Integration of Subiect Areas

Reading: Through reading of “Meaning and Visual Metaphor” by Hermine

Feinstein and Metaphors We Live By written by George Lakeoff and

Mark Johnson, students will know how, what, and why designers

interpret and transform New Design furniture in terms of linguistic and

visual metaphors.

199 Language arts: In writing an interpretation about a selected a piece of New Design

furniture students can become aware of and understand the differences

between linguistic and visual metaphors.

Vocabulary

Metaphor: A metaphor is an idea expressed by language, which in turn functions

as an expressive symbol in meaning a visual metaphor (Feinstein,

1982, p. 45).

Symbol: The symbol-making function is one of man’s primary activities. It is the

fundamental process of his mind, and goes on all the time” (Langer,

1957, p. 41). The symbol-making function is a capability to create

transformation, which creates symbols for the transfer o f experience.

The transformation of symbolization ends in a literal meaning and a

nonliteral meaning (Feinstein, 1982, p. 45).

Inquiry Strategies (objectives)

The students will:

1. see slides of New Design furniture as metaphor in everyday life from our

environment in order to explore interpretation transformed by their

perspectives through selected New Design furniture such as Venturi’s Queen

Anne chair (see Picture 10), Arad’s Heart & Industry chair and Looming

Lloyd chair (see Pictures 13, 14), Gueltzl’s St. Petersburg chair (see Picture

15), 18 Aout’s Sol/Sol garbage can (see Picture 16), Cherif s Antinea console

200 (see Picture 18), Branzi’s Domestic Animals collection exhibition (see Picture

20), Dubreauil’s Spine chair and Copper and steel chest (see Pictures 21, 22),

Dalisi’s Mariposa bench (see Picture 23), Blue’s humorous Zita table (see

Picture 25), and Lane’s glass tables (see Pictures 26, 27),

2. read teacher’s excerpts from the article “Meaning and Visual

Metaphor” and the book Metaphors We Live By in order to understand the

differences between linguistic and visual metaphor;

Evaluation: Were the students able to summarize and write about their

understanding of linguistic and visual metaphor on a handout with

questions prepared by the teacher: In terms of the content of the article

and the book, what is linguistic metaphor? What is visual metaphor?

What is the difference? The teacher will collect the responses and write

comments to the students.

3. develop their own idea of metaphor in New Design furniture from

the readings in the contexts of nature, culture, person, group, and family;

Evaluation: Were the students able to make other students understand their

own idea of metaphor in group discussion by teams of two or three? The

other students will record their understanding according to very well, ok, and

not sure with reasons in a handout prepared the teacher, who will collect the

students responses.

4. think about and write about a selected piece of New Design furniture

with their own interpretations transformed by their perspectives in natural,

cultural, personal, group, and familial contexts;

201 Evaluation: Were the students able to write about their own

interpretations in natural, cultural, personal, group, or familial contexts?

The teacher will collect and grade their writing.

6. talk about their interpretations in order to clarify their understanding of a piece

of New Design furniture as metaphor in everyday life;

Evaluation: Were the students able to interpret the visual metaphor of a piece of

New Design furniture in literal metaphor? The teacher will read good and

inadequate examples in the class, and then the teacher will ask the students

to rethink and rewrite their papers based othe examples.

9. write an interpretation to prepare for creating their own piece of New

Design furniture in teams of two or three in the next lesson.

Evaluation: Were the students able to describe an object transformed by their

interpretation? The teacher will ask the students to write about the object

they will create in terms of color, shape, and materials according to the

postmodern aesthetics of their interpretation.

Lesson Preparation

1. Select slides of New Design furniture and set up a slide projector for the class.

2. Research and provide references such as the designer’ intention and

background, and materials for selected New Design furniture.

3. Prepare question sheets about students’ interpretations (see procedure).

202 Procedure

1. Briefly review the subject “New Design furniture as metaphor” based on

lesson one.

2. Introduce New Design furniture as metaphor in everyday life; using a slide

projector, show examples of New Design furniture exemplified in everyday

life and everyday experience.

3. Ask the students to select a piece of New Design furniture which they want to

interpret from among the slides and other furniture presented as metaphor in

everyday life;

4. Introduce the article “Meaning and Visual Metaphor” by Mermine Feinstein

and the book Metaphors We Live By written by George Lakeoff and Mark

Johnson in order to help students understand differences between linguistic

and visual metaphor.

5. Introduce some examples of interpretation by critics to explore different

strategies of interpretation of the same work to guide the students’ writing in

interpreting a selected piece of New Design furniture in everyday life.

6. Ask each student to write an interpretation of a selected piece o f New Design

furniture.

7. Guide students in discussion of their understanding and interpretation of a

selected piece of New Design furniture in teams of two or three according to

their seating promixity.

8. Ask each student to read individually his/her interpretation in the teams.

9. Ask them to talk about their understanding and to select a best idea or to

203 rethink about and write about their interpretation for creating a piece

representing the postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture.

10. Ask students to read their team’s interpretation and add their own opinions

because they will create an object based on their writing (interpretation) in

teams.

11. Ask the teams to pick one person to read his/her team’s idea in the class.

12. Ask the students to criticize other teams’ writing (interpretation) to give them

better ideas to create an object which conveys metaphoric meaning through

the postmodern aesthetics as in New Design furniture.

13. Ask the teams to re-discuss and rewrite their interpretation reflecting the

students’ comments after the presentation in class.

14. Ask the teams to introduce transformative New Design furniture in relation to

their group interpretation by posters expressing decorative and functional

objects in terms of color, shape, or materials.

Questions sheet (to be handed out)

1). Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation? (give reasons)

2). What do you think about your teams’ expression of visual metaphor in

language? (give reasons)

3). Do you feel cultural differences among the interpretations? Are you

interested in the differences? Can you write down the feeling?

4). Through the transformative process by the interpretive writing, do you

think through postmodern aesthetics a piece of New Design furniture

can be transformed into a different object representing natural,

204 cultural, personal, group, and family contexts? (give reasons)

Resources and Materials

Slides of selected furniture: Venturi’s Queen Anne chair (see Picture 10), Arad’s

Heart & Industry chair and Looming Lloyd chair (see Pictures 13, 14),

Gueltzl’s St. Petersburg chair (see Picture 15), 18 Aout’s Sol/Sol garbage

can (see Picture 16), Cherif s Antinea console (see Picture 18), Branzi’s

Domestic Animals collection exhibition (see Picture 20), Dubreauil’s

Spine chair and Copper and steel chest (see Pictures 21, 22), Dalisi’s

Mariposa bench (see Picture 23), Blue’s humorous Zita table (see Picture

25), and Lane’s glass tables (see Pictures 26, 27).

Articles: “Meaning and visual metaphor” written by Hermine Feinstein (1982)

and “The psychology of the metaphor” written by Anderson (1964).

Books: Metaphors We Live By written by George Lakeoff & Mark Johnson

(1980), Metaphor and Thought written by Ortany (1979), Symbolic Togic

written by Langer (1967), and What metaphors mean written by Davidson

(1979).

Transition

The students will be asked to research and bring pictures of artworks, especially with functions reflecting transformation of postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture to create a piece of furniture made of recycled materials and reused objects from oiu* environment as a metaphor for everyday life.

205 Follow up

The students are to interpret the postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture

and expand their understanding and points of view about interpretation symbolically

transformed in objects from abstract arts to ceramic and metal works in practical arts.

Homework

Readings: As the students read and take a look at the pictures in the books Neo- fumiture by Claire Downey (1992) and/frtSynectics by Nicholas Roukes (1982), and the articles “Minimal lamps” by Silvia Suardi (1997), “Design and ecology” by Vittorio

Mangnago Lampugnani (1995), “Parsimony and luxury by Vittorio Mangnago

Lampugnani (1996), and “Designing sustainability” by Francois Burkardt (1997), they can get and develop the idea of a beautiful and functional object expressed as postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture, considering the preservation of our ecology in creating their object in the next lesson.

206 Lesson Three

Statement of Objective

Everyone creates an object expressive of the postmodern aesthetics of

communication in New Design furniture using with recyclable objects or materials.

Objects and materials will to be transformed through student’s interpretation of metaphor

in everyday life, with students by teams of two or three working collaboratively.

Contextual Information:

This lesson will explore the creativity of the students through their expression of

the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture by creating an

artwork with recycled objects such as box, cup, light, shelf, and/or, chair or recycled

materials such as cardboard, plywood, fabric, and/or stone. They can adopt or adapt the

postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture in relation to beauty, decoration, or

craftsmanship into the objects or materials. Thus, I will deal with current issues such as

durability, recycling, and frugality by contemporary furniture design for an approach to

our ecology at present and in the future. I will lecture and discuss “out of fashion”

furniture, durability, and mass production of New Design furniture, and a new design philosophy emerging with a new aesthetics for our environment.

Recyclable furniture for our ecologv. Today, furniture designers influenced by the need for conservation of resources try to create furniture by adapting recyclable and nonpolluting materials, using energy saving systems because our energy resources are limited. Out of concern for the ecology of our environment, it is significant for the designers to reuse and recycle materials in creating their furniture in reaction to issues of pollution and destruction of resources. Moreover, the designers must make the consumer

207 base his decision on keeping his/her furniture not on its being out o f fashion but on its no longer being able to perform its function. They have responsibility for producing durable and sober furniture for our ecology beyond fashion. Current furniture trends depend on the designers’ ideas of theory and practice. Today, it is possible for the mass-produced furniture to approach a broader number of people than one-offs or limited-editions in considering quantity and economy. However, the shoddy furniture mass-produced by manufacturers can cause waste of energy resources and tons of garbage because of the poor quality of the furniture. One-offs or limited-editions also tend to end in a pile of refuse because they soon go out o f fashion because of the fast production on small scale.

Thus, furniture designers are now attempting to obtain quality, functionality, and beauty in creating their furniture according to the need of environmental sustainability. As the designers consume fewer materials, minimize and simplify pieces, and invent and use alternative materials like recyclable ones, they can make a contribution toward the sustainability of our ecology. Through recycled and reused materials, the designers will lead the society to share their intentions, and people may leam and adopt the designers’ ideas about life.

Keeping in mind the concepts of the recycled and reused materials stated previously, the students will explore creation reflecting the postmodern aesthetics shown as metaphor, narrative, symbol, humor, animation, mysticism, and fluidity in New Design furniture or interiors. For the postmodern aesthetics o f communication in everyday life, not only through animation, fluidity, humor, imagination, symbol, metaphor, narrative, mysticism, etc., designers of New Design furniture express their ideas in their furniture but also by using fashion, media, and design, along with color, light, and pattern, the

208 designers complement the images of their furniture in interiors.

Integration of Subiect Areas

Readings: The books Neo-fumiture by Claire Downey (1992) andArt Synectics by Nicholas Roukes (1982), and the articles “Minimal lamps” by Silvia Suardi (1997),

“Design and ecology” by Vittorio Mangnago Lampugnani (1995), “Parsimony and luxury by Vittorio Mangnago Lampugnani (1996), and “Designing sustainability” by Francois

Burkardt (1997)

The reading materials of the books show sources for transformation of diverse postmodern aesthetics of New Design furniture in beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship.

The articles will encourage the students to use nonpolluting, natural, durable, recycled materials and objects to protect our environment through the understanding, interpretation, and transformation of postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture.

Through these reading materials, the students will become aware of one way of using parsimony in relation to our ecology and environment at present and in the future.

Thus, the students can define, interpret, and transform their own metaphor through their own objects in terms of the questions What is symbol? What is narrative? What is humor? What is animation? and What is fluidity?

Inquiry Strategies fobiectives)

The students will:

1. become familiar with the aesthetic characteristics of the postmodern

aesthetics of New Design furniture such as metaphor, narrative, symbol,

humor, or wit through the description of beauty, decoration, and

craftsmanship;

209 Evaluation; Were the students able to figure out the metaphor from beauty,

decoration, and craftsmanship? They will discuss their opinions in teams

of four or five. They will take a note on their discussion and turn them in.

2. appreciate slides of the New Design furniture aesthetics to get and adapt ideas

for transformation of a recycled and functional object through selected New

Design furniture such as Pecora’s Chamaleon table and stool (see Picture 24),

18 Aout’s F/ower polished-aluminum vases (see Picture 28), 18 Aout’s

Navaronne vase (see Picture 29), Azzabi’s Anelli elastic lamp (see Picture 30),

Azzabi’s Fiaccola elastic lamp (see Picture 31), Wood’s Moody chair (see

Picture 32), and Dalmon’s Sarah chair (see Picture 33);

Evaluation: Were the students able to get some ideas for creating an object

Through the slides? They will talk about their ideas, develop, and

describe them in teams of two or three. The teachers will collect the

description of the object being created by the teams and give the students

comments.

3. bring to the class functional and recycled objects such as box, cup, light,

shelf, chair, etc, to be transformed for everyday life in our environment.

4. create a studio project with postmodern aesthetics such as metaphor,

symbol, narrative, and humor using nonpolluting, natural, and recycled

materials and objects through their interpretation and transformation.

Evaluation: Were the students able to develop and present their ideas in relation

to metaphoric decoration such as metaphor, narrative, symbol, or humor in

connection with natural, cultural, personal, group, and familial contexts?.

210 The teacher will observe and make a note the process of the work being

created by each team. The teacher will give the teams comments.

5. prepare and present their artwork by groups in the context of metaphor,

symbol, narrative, humor, animation, and fluidity.

Evaluation: Were the students able to convey the metaphor of their teams in

class? Each student will write about his/her response to the other teams’

work. The teacher will collect their responses and give the teams

comments such as excellent, good, or so so with reasons.

6. write a reflective paper about his/her feelings about the groups’ use of

postmodern aesthetics in their work.

Evaluation: Were the students able to expand their idea in relation to

appreciation and transformation in writing reflectively about the use of

postmodern aesthetics? They will write about extending their ideas for

other crafts such as jewelry, metal work, or textiles in everyday life. The

teacher will collect their writing and give the students comments.

Lesson Preparation

1. Research and provide references about how to use and decorate recycled

objects and materials like New Design furniture. If real examples of New

Design furniture are not available, the teacher should create an object and

show the process by him/herself based on the book Synectics by Roukes

(1982).

2. Research and review of transformed New Design furniture selected or referred

to as examples for students from references such as books and articles.

211 3. Prepare a poster with examples of transformed New Design fiimiture with

descriptions.

4. Prepare an artwork with a useful function and a piece of New Design furniture

as examples using nonpolluting, natural, and recycled materials, (see

resources)

5. Prepare question sheets for students to use in writing about how postmodern

aesthetics transformed various materials in a recycled object (see procedure).

Procedure

1. Briefly review New Design furniture as metaphor in transformation by

interpretation based on lesson two.

2. Show slides of New Design furniture transformed from posters and books.

3. Describe the pictures of New Design furniture in relation to metaphoric

characteristics such as narrative, symbol, humor, animation, mysticism, and

fluidity in beauty, decoration, and craftsmanship.

4. Introduce articles and books related to adaptation and transformation of

artworks and furniture in order to come up with creative ideas for objects.

5. Introduce the operational techniques of adaptation and transformation through

such questions as: How do New Design furniture designers do this? What are

some of the underlying methods, techniques, and pictorial devices used to

adapt and transform ordinary subjects and visual perceptions into the

uncommon, the extraordinary, and the fantastic? Study the works of modem

and traditional furniture designers for this purpose.

6. Discuss the concepts of the aesthetics of New Design furniture and develop

212 ideas by using the examples. When students (by teams) decide on an idea for

a studio project, each student will explain his/her concepts from the slides.

From among the students’ ideas, the group will select the best idea for a

functional project, and then the recycled object and materials to be used, and

they will separately find materials appropriate for the project, create parts, and

put the parts together.

7. Explore creative thinking about adaptation and transformation by introducing

the book Art Synectics by Nicholas Roukes (1982).

8. Ask the students to form teams of two or three and discuss with each team

their ideas for creating a functional piece of furniture, using recycled materials

and reused objects for protection of our environment.

9. Ask the teams to discuss their concepts with the teacher and create an object.

10. Ask students to prepare and give a presentation.

11. Have students discuss and consider the concepts of function, beauty,

decoration, and craftsmanship in their works based on 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

and 10 in response to the following specific questions in teams of two or three.

Question sheet: (to be used as a handout)

1). What is the metaphoric meaning of the work in your team?

2). How did your team convey the meaning literally and nonliterally?

3). What do you think about using recycled materials and reused objects in

recreating a functional and beautiful art work for your life?

4). What do you do for the sake of our ecology in your own life?

213 Resources and Materials

Slides of selected New Design furniture: Pecora’s Chamaleon table and stool, 18

Aout’s F/ovver polished-aluminum vases, ISAout’s Navaronne vase,

Azzabi’s Anelli elastic lamp, Azzabi’s Fiaccola elastic lamp. Wood’s

Moody chair, and Dalmon’s Sarah chair

Books and articles: Art Synectics written by Roukes (1982) and Neo-fumiture

written by Downey (1992), “Minimal lamps” written by Suardi (1997),

“Design and ecology” written by Lampugnani (1995), and “Parsimony and

luxury written by Lampugnani (1996)

Objects made from recycled materials and reused objects: cup, light, and shelf

Transition

The Students will communicate with their work through the metaphor, and explore art appreciation through their work. They will be able to explore art and everyday life through furniture, ceramics, or metal work transformed by their concepts about the postmodern aesthetics in daily life

Follow-up

Have each student write a reflective paper as to their feelings about their metaphoric and literal work. Have each student create his/her own work, relating it to an idea or concept that he/she feels strongly about in the postmodern aesthetics of communication.

Unit Evaluation

This unit of instruction can be evaluated according to the criteria established.

Those criteria of evaluation are designed for each unit from its objectives. The evaluation

214 o f the achievement and performance of the students will have to be made by the design and objective of the teacher according to the maturity of the student.

The value of this unit as an alternative approach to teaching postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture arises from these phenomena: 1) the unit of instruction clarifies the students’ learning and understanding of the postmodern aesthetics function as metaphor in New Design furniture, 2) the three lessons differ in the student’s degree of mastery when defining, writing, and creating, throughout the unit of activities; 3) the unit constitutes critical activities which, when carefully structured, addresses the students’ learning and understanding; 4) it also contains activities to encourage the students involvement. It can now be stated, on logical grounds, that this approach to the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture can be made to function as curricular content in a unit of instruction directed toward the art teacher’s use in an aesthetics class.

CONCLUSION

The unit of instruction has been developed for an alternative approach to teaching an aesthetic of art and everyday life. Based on a content analysis of the postmodem aesthetics in New Design furniture, each lesson explores discourse, activity, and writing about metaphor according to the teacher’s objectives. The students experience the postmodern aesthetics of communication such as symbol, narrative, imagination, or humor as metaphor. Thus, the teacher designs three lessons in definition, interpretation, and transformation of the aesthetics in terms of the maturity of the students.

Lesson one is planned to let the postmodern aesthetics be defined in the context of nature, culture, group, person, and family according to the teacher’s description and

215 interpretation through New Design furniture. The students are involved in exploring

“What is New Design furniture for?” derived from the inquiry ‘’What Is Art ForT by

Ellen Dissanayake. The discussion of what New Design furniture is for explores diverse social-cultural contexts through anthropological approaches. The objective is to lead the students to know how New Design furniture functions as metaphor in the social-cultural contexts between the teacher, the students, and the students and the students in personal and group contexts. The students appreciate and define the diverse postmodern aesthetics in natural, cultural, personal, group, and familial contexts. When they write about and discuss the definition of metaphor in New Design furniture, they can understand and interpret the postmodern aesthetics of communication.

Lesson two is designed to interpret a selected piece of New Design furniture by writing about the postmodern aesthetics according to each student’s perspective through natural, cultural, group, personal, and familiar contexts. For the interpretation, the students, who are familiar with linguistic metaphors, explore visual metaphors in New

Design furniture transformed by their perception. In writing about the visual metaphor linguistically, the students are inspired by the reading Meaning and Visual metaphor by

Feinstein and Metaphors We Live byby Lakeoff and Johnson. The objective of this lesson is to make the students understand the differences in linguistic and visual metaphors and guide them to develop their own ideas of the postmodern aesthetics as metaphor. In identifying each student’ s metaphor through presentation and discussion of his/her writing about the interpretation of the postmodern aesthetics, the students are able to develop ideas for creating an object adapting the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture.

216 Lesson three is scheduled to use the postmodern aesthetics of communication

through creation of an object in transforming teams’ perception of metaphor. The object

is created with recycled materials and reused objects in teams of two or three students.

An important current issue in furniture design in the postmodern era is defending the

ecology of our environment. The designers have considered use of recyclable materials,

new system, and less waste of materials in creating their furniture. They attempt to use

natural and artificial materials in their pieces appropriate to their concern for the reduced

use o f raw materials like wood which the designers have often used in their furniture in

the postmodern era. Thus, currently designers tend to create durable, sober, minimal, and

simple furniture. In this way, the designers have created a new aesthetics with a new

design philosophy in their furniture. The students leam and come to understand

parsimony in contemporary furniture through the reading of “Design ecology” and

“Parsimony and Luxury” by Lampugnani, and “Designing sustainability” by Burkardt.

The objective of this lesson is to have the students create a metaphoric studio project with

the postmodern aesthetics of communication, using such elements as metaphor, symbol, narrative, or humor and using nonpolluting, natural, and recycled materials and objects according to their interpretation. The students are aware of the need for protection of the ecology through the process of the activities in their everyday lives.

Therefore, through these three lessons designed according to the intention of the teacher in an aesthetics class, students come to understand and appreciate postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture through definition, interpretation, and transformation; they explore art visually and linguistically and everyday life in their life spaces, especially in objects created by themselves.

217 CHAPTER 6

IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study has examined the phenomena of the postmodern aesthetics of contemporary furniture in the postmodern era. New Design furniture has presented not only positive aspects but also negative aspects through the features of Postmodern aesthetics in response to Modem aesthetics. When the designers develop the positive value of the postmodern aesthetics of communication, the furniture is accessible to the largest number of people for everyday use and appreciation in their life spaces, galleries, and museums. Thereby, the postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture provides the potential for an aesthetics class in art education for awareness and realization of art and everyday life through the integration of practice and theory by teaching the postmodern aesthetics through an alternative approach. Therefore, I will address the implications of postmodern aesthetics for art education and offer a recommendation for the application of the new postmodern aesthetics in making postmodern furniture accessible to the broadest possible public.

Aesthetics in art education has been designed to enrich students’ understanding and knowledge of aesthetic diversity in inquiry directed toward aesthetic issues. I believe that through aesthetics elements communicated by New Design furniture in the field of

218 art education, art educators will be able to explore applications for their teaching about

postmodern aesthetics expressed in New Design furniture.

Implications in the Context o f Fine Arts and Crafts

My intention is to help art educators and the students understand the implications of the postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture as a context of fine arts and craft we may have overlooked in art education. In the postmodern era, art education may need to deal with various contexts in relation to fine arts and craft created by blurring the distinction between fine arts and craft. As furniture is one o f the crafts, along with ceramics, jewelry, metal work and textiles, postmodern furniture, which emphasizes decoration, beauty, and craftsmanship, has been referred to not only as ftmiiture but also as a form of decorative arts. This phenomenon stems from eclecticism and pluralism established in the postmodern era from the traditions of craft in response to Modernism.

Thus, the fiimiture is not only beautiftil and practical but also meaningftil. The meaning of the postmodern furniture conveys messages to people, who respond with, enjoy, and appreciate it in their lives. In fact, Sproll (1990) mentions that in terms of a Modem chair in relation to art and everyday life.

The chair is designed to be functional, to take its place in the domestic environment; yet it is an artifact when exhibited in a museum of art, that assumes the stature equal to any other object of “fine art” housed under the same roof. Arguably indeed, this chair is so significantly emblematic that the canopy of a museum may not be required for it to be designated as a work of art. (Sproll, 1990, pp. 324-326)

However, New Design furniture in the postmodem era does not need an argument to defend it as a work of art because the furniture has been considered as an art work like painting or sculpture. The furniture is called art, craft, and handmade furniture. 219 In terms of the boundary between fine arts and craft in the postmodern era, Kuspit

(1996) observes:

In the last few years the idea of craft has achieved a new prominence. There has been a new emphasis on craft in the “fine” arts, to the extent that many so-called fine artists have begun producing craft objects, or objects in which the boundary or difference between fine art and craft is not easy to determine. The vogue of fiimiture art is an example, as is the renewed sense of the autonomy of the ceramic object, functional or not. (Kuspit, 1996, p. 14)

The idea of craft has been adopted in contemporary art-making as an increasingly serious issue. Kuspit (1996) mentions that this integration of fine art and craft was carried out under the auspices of the idea that the avant-garde revolution in art was part of a broader revolution in life; now, in Postmodernism, the new integration of art and craft is post­ revolutionary, if not exactly reactionary in response to Modernism (p. 15). Thus, many contemporary artists have attempted their art work through the ideas of craft in the field of fiimiture, which has fiinctions useful for a broader spectrum of people. Rather than using the furniture in the postmodern era symbolically or metaphorically, the artists have adopted fiimiture’s practical functions so that their art seems to be associated with craft or the decorative arts and their work has been presented in a variety of styles like features of postmodem furniture. Some minimal artists such as Donald Judd, the sculptor, theoretician, and a leading figure of minimalism, have tumed to useful ends through the idea of craft. The fiinction of furniture and the furnishings have become the primary concem in their art. For example, Jude’s multiple boxes have strongly directed the movement of his art within the field of fiimiture:

Judd first made fimctional works in 1978, when he conceived of “site-specific fiimiture” in order to give a consistent aesthetic look to the interior o f his home and studio in Marfa, Texas. Whereas previously he hired workmen to fabricate his industrial steel box sculptures, here he employed craftsmen Jim Cooper and Ichiro Kato to give to his ideas the precision of form and skillful sense of 220 perfection that had characterized his sleek sculptures. Since 1982 Judd has made limited editions of chairs, benches, stools/tables, desks, and bookshelves available in choices of woods. (Manhart & Manhart, p. 1987, pp. 178-179)

Sol Lewitt, another leading figure of minimalism, has adapted function in his

gridlike cube sculpture. Scott Burton’s work exists as objects that are simultaneously

sculptural and functional, with the idea of a chair available to many people. Manhart &

Manhart (1987) observe that in taking on commissions for spaces of public use. Burton

finds the aesthetic and practical ends of his work to be complementary, especially in

making his art more accessible to a greater number of people (p. 180). To Burton, the

most important thing in creating his art is to create an object common to everyone’s life

and with which the viewer can interact; this seems to bring his art and ideas to his

audience. Thus, the function of furniture plays a major role in making his sculpture

accessibile to the broadest possible public. Burton’s art can be called sculptural furniture,

which the public can sit down in and appreciate simultaneously. Accordingly, Kyle

(1996) mentions that today the furniture created by the Craftsman Movement is simple

and well made in the spirit of true craftsmanship so that the contemporary furniture is

comfortable, beautiful, and built to last. In addition, interiors with the furniture are

designed with simple and pleasant arrangements and seem to meet the needs of

wholesome family life.

In fact, fine arts may emphasize the subjective aesthetics of creative expression

firom the artist’s emotion or thought. According to Kuspit (1996), to the extent that art

has aesthetics purpose—which is what makes it “fine”—it loses practical purpose, which

also means that the way it is made becomes secondary to its aesthetic purpose (p. 16).

Thus, an object expressing subjective aesthetic experience tends to make the very concept

221 of well-made collapse; an aesthetic is generated by whatever way the object is made.

Kuspit (1996) mentions that in his opinion one of the reasons the Impressionists began to paint without preparing the canvas—one of the reasons there was a new emphasis on what Clement Greenberg called the ‘frank declaration of the surface of a painting’—was to achieve a new aesthetic sensation and feeling (p. 16). The work of the Impressionists as expressed in different materials and surfaces evoked different subjective aesthetic responses so that the expression depends on the artist’s emotion or feeling. Today, fiimiture, influenced by fine arts like the work of Impressionism, through the eclecticism established by the postmodern era, has represented a subjective aesthetics, which emphasizes the designer’s feeling or emotion so that the furniture tends to go too far away from the idea of craft or the spirit of craftsmanship and is not appropriate for people to use. Therefore, it has been necessary that the designers return to the idea of craft for accessibility to the largest number of people. The artists and designers in the postmodern era have attempted to bring their art closer to the public by using the ideas of craft or the spirit of craftsmanship.

In fact, art education has tended to focus on fine art in terms of many developments in literature in relation to art criticism, while it has shown a tendency to overlook craft education. The crafts such as postmodern fiimiture are effective for art education in terms of the integration of practice and theory because the students can appreciate the fiimiture in their daily lives through everyday experience, while in order to appreciate such fine arts as painting or sculpture, the students need to go to a gallery or museum. Thus, when art education explores art and everyday life, the curriculum may consider the addition or more extensive development of craft education. In terms of

222 curricula emphasis in relation to everyday objects through the 1930s, Efland (1983)

describes art in elementary schools as the pursuit of beauty.

Beauty was... to be found in great art masterpieces housed in the museum. Tliough mention is made of the common objects of everyday life such as clothing, furniture, and gardens, these are treated as matters where good taste used in their selection would be facilitated by the study of the fine arts.... To acquire art appreciation the students, we are told, do many things by way of practical application. These include drawing, painting, modeling, sewing, costume design, and interior design. They leam “through the making of original works the three art fundamentals— line (shapes and spaces); dark and light (tone mass contrast); and color.” They leam that the three factors “rightly used produce the fine art of the world. Wrongly they produce the commonplace.” (Efland, 1983, p. 39)

Visual art was described as a creative outlet to permit the children to express their ideas freely; the children study art because it is necessary to have some means for giving outward expression to the inner feelings; the wise teacher encourages the elements of creative expression so that the children can tell the story of their iimer feelings in their visual art (Efland, 1983, p. 40). To balance this emphasis on visual art, art educators need to rethink the development of the craft education, for example, through postmodem furniture, in many practical ways so that the students can develop creative expression relating to their real lives directly.

Philosophv for Teaching

As I am a furniture designer and an art educator. My philosophy of teaching bridges the gap between art and everyday life through the postmodem aesthetics of

223 communication in New Design furniture. I, thereby, integrate practice and theory in art

education.

Exploring art and everyday life for the students, I intend to help them

communicate, enjoy, and appreciate the postmodern aesthetics in New Design furniture in

their life spaces through their daily experience. Experiencing the postmodern aesthetics

through metaphor, the students will become aware of New Design furniture not only as

useful objects but also as work of arts like painting or sculpture which they have known

as fine arts. Therefore, they will come to realize art appreciation through their everyday

experience in terms of the exploration of art and everyday life in art education.

Furthermore, the students will be able to expand art appreciation to include such crafts as

ceramics, metal work, jewelry^ and textiles in the postmodern era through their life

spaces, galleries, and museums.

Guidelines and Recommendations

Based on the analysis of the study, the implications, and my philosophy of

teaching, I recommend postmodern furniture as a good resource for the examination and

realization of art and everyday life in an aesthetics class in art education. I suggest that teachers should: 1) provide the background of New Design furniture as a relation to

Postmodernism in response to Modernism; 2) present the characteristics of New Design

furniture; 3) conduct the critical discourse in terms of the problems in New Design furniture in relation to the protection of our ecology. The students will understand and appreciate the New Design furniture as useful and beautiful objects beyond the

224 phenomena of the postmodern era, which provides diverse and complicated aspects from the traditions and in response to Modernism.

In presenting the postmodern fiimiture aesthetics of communication, the background of New Design furniture, information on the postmodern era in the context of history, should be offered. Based on Jencks’ double-coding, the Post-Modern furniture has been expressed for communication with people. Thus, the communication aesthetics has been presented in numerous aspects such as pluralism and eclecticism, decoration, semantics, and materials expressed in the furniture and architecture based on the Post-

Modern definition. In this section, the teacher should discuss Modem and Postmodem concepts by comparing Modem and Postmodem furniture. The Post-Modem furniture can be described as a clear example through which the students can distinguish

Modernism and Postmodernism. In addition, showing some illustrations of the furniture will help the students understand the differences in the comparison of Modem and

Postmodern furniture.

The characteristics of New Design furniture should be presented with the pictures and the concepts of the designers, who intend to draw out communication with people through the metaphor, narrative, symbol, and humor in their furniture. In relation to New

Design fiimiture designers’ work and concepts and cultural considerations, the teacher should discuss the content in terms of pluralism and eclecticism, metaphor, narrative, humor, symbol and myth, collaboration, and fashion for upholstery; through roles of the postmodem aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture, the teacher should discuss the designers’ concept and art appreciation; through problems of New Design furniture, the teacher should discuss mass production, materials, and viewer accessibility.

225 The teachers need to address the designers’ intention to create a new culture by

communicating with people through their New Design furniture; art appreciation through

everyday experience should be addressed in helping the students understand New Design

furniture through their life spaces, galleries, and museums.

As questions arise from the problems of New Design furniture, a critical discourse

about New Design furniture in terms of the postmodern aesthetics of communication is

significant to lead the students to explore how we can protect our ecology. As furniture

belongs to our lives, in using the ftimiture the students need to keep in mind the

designers’ intention to create awareness of our ecological issues. The students may need

to follow the designers’ intentions to preserve their ecology. Thus, the teacher should discuss love, politics, the beautiful and good, materials, and a plastic and wooden chair in relation to Philppe Starch’s concept; through critical discourse about the postmodern aesthetics, furniture design for our ecology, reusing and recycling materials, out of fashion furniture, durability, mass production, design from reused and recycled materials, furniture, habitat, and sustainability, and a new aesthetics should be discussed in the aesthetics class in art education. The students can become more aware of the need to defend our ecology through the issues raised in contemporary furniture design.

Through the entire lecture as outlined in the guidelines and recommendations, the students can understand, enjoy, and appreciate the postmodern aesthetics of communication in New Design furniture in knowing about the context of where it comes from, what it is, and how they can communicate as they experience the postmodern aesthetics as metaphor in their lives through their everyday use.

226 APPENDX LIST OF PICTURES

227 Picture 1. Santa chair. Luigi Serafim, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

228 Picture 2. Suspiral chair. Luigi Serafini, 1989 (Downey, 1992)

229 Picture 3. Libabel bookcase. Jeannot Cerutti, 1989 (Downey, 1992)

230 Picture 4. Rose chair. Masanori Umedia, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

231 Picture 5. Collection of flower-shaped chairs including prototype, Masanori Umedia, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

232 Picture 6. Interior of the Ria Leslau accessary boutique, designed by Volker Albus with Reinhard Muller and Barbara Szuts, 1991 (Downey, 1992)

233 Picture 7. Colosseum chair and stool. Charles Jencks, 1984 (Collins & Papadakis, 1989)

j A n fli

234 Picture 8. Colosseum chair and stool. Charles Jencks, 1984 (Collins & Papadakis, 1989)

235 Picture 9. The Venturi Collection. Robert Venturi for Knoll International

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236 Picture 10. Queen Anne chair. Robert Venturi for Knoll International, 1984 (Dormer, 1987)

237 Picture 11. Lounge chair. Michael Graves for Sunar Hauserman, 1984 (Domer, 1987)

238 Picture 12. Side table and chair. Michael Graves for Sunar Hauserman, 1984 (Domer, 1987)

239 Picture 13. Heart & Industry chair. Ron Arad, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

240 Picture 14. Looming Llovd chair with weighted shoes, Ron Arad, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

241 Picture 15. St. Petershurg chair. Marcode Gueltzl, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

242 Picture 16. Sol/Sol garbage can. 18 Aout, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

243 picture 17. Hotel Ukraina chair and sofa, Siegfiried Michail Symuga, 1987 (Dormer, 1987)

244 Picture 18. Antinea console. Cherif, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

245 Picture 19. Bench and stool. Cherif, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

246 Picture 20. Domestic Animals collection exhibition. Museo Alchimia, Milan, 1985 interior and furniture designed by Andrea Branzi (Downey, 19920

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247 Picture 21. Spine chair. Andre Debreuil, 1989 (Downey, 1992)

248 Picture 22. Copper and steel chest with glass breads, Andre Dubreauil, 1989 (Downey, 1992)

249 Picture 23. Mariposa bench. Riccardo Dalisi, 1989 (Downey, 1992)

ami;:

250 Picture 24. Chamaleon table and stool, Terry Pecora, 1991 (Downey, 1992)

251 Picture 25. Zita table. Epinard Blue, 1985 (Dormer, 1987)

252 Picture 26. Table. Danny Lane, 1985 (Dormer, 1987)

253 Picture 27. Table. Danny Lane, 1985 (Dormer, 1987)

I

254 Picture 28. Flower Polished-aluminum vases. 18 Aout, 1989 (Downey, 1992)

255 Picture 29. Navaronne vase. 18 Aout, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

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256 Picture 30. Anelli elastic lamp. Karim Azzabi, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

257 Picture 31. Fiaccola elastic lamp. Karim Azzabi, 1990 (Downey, 1992)

258 Picture 32. Moody chair. Eleanor Wood, 1985 (Dormer, 1987)

259 Picture 33. Sarah chair. Gerard Dalmon, 1986 (Dormer, 1987)

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