Recent Posts
Super Normal, otherwise known as Extraordinarily Ordinary
From the chairs of our classrooms to the buses on the roads, there are many designs which have become “normal” to us through exposure. We do not question the design, nor where it originated. We instinctively reach for the folding desk arm on the right, and find it disquieting to feel nothing there. It is simply what it is.
“These are Read more →
History of American Design
History of American Design American Modern (1925-1940): Design for a New Age
The 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Moderne was a key event that initiated the beginning of American design. This provided designers and producers the opportunity to display the skill and achievements of their nation’s fine craftsmen and manufactures. Subsequently, the Great Depression in 1929 served as Read more →
Essay: Super Normal
Naoto Fukasawa designed aluminum stools to be displayed at 2005’s Milan Furniture Fair—however, instead of being displayed on plinths like other new products, the Japanese designer’s stools were “plonked” on the floor, where people were allowed to sit on them. Fukasawa was worried that no one would notice the stools. However, a British designer named Jasper Morrison praised them, and Read more →
History of Design: Minimalism Essay
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Minimalism, also known as ABC Art or Minimalist Art, is a loose design movement which began in New York in the 1960s. A form of abstract art, minimalism Read more →
Written Essay : Neoconceptualism
First, it was Cubism, then later was Conceptual Art, that had challenged the practices and the nature of what art is perceived. The first major rejection or breakthrough of art practices was initiated by Pablo Picasso, inspiring generations of artist forming new movements within the realms of unrealistic paintings. Amidst the evolution of the art movement with progressive absurdity in Read more →
Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution during the period of 1760 to 1840 marked a huge turning point in human history as it ushered in a period of radical technological, social and economic change. Some of its most notable changes included the transition from hand to machine productions, creation of new manufacturing processes through developments of machine tools as well as the rise Read more →
Neo Conceptualism Essay
Bryan Leow Ee Kwang
Neo Conceptualism
Neo Conceptualism happened between the 1980s to 1990s, which is the revival of Conceptualism of the 1960s to 1970s. The very idea of conceptualism stems far into the past, during the 1910s where Dadaism was formed. Dada founded the idea of conceptualism, through Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain”. Displaying a found object in an art gallery for the Read more →
Written Report: Neo-Conceptualism
Duchamp defied the conventions of art the day he was denied the privileges as a Cubist painter and was abandoned by his contemporaries. He was left without any status on the quagmire interlinked between Cubism, Futurism and Abstract., and with that, he created Conceptualism. Conceptualism closely paralleled Dadaism, spearheaded by Duchamp; striving on nonsense, irrationality, Read more →
Postmodernism Written Report
Postmodernism arose from Italy after World-War II, gaining popularity in the later 20th century (1980s-1990s). It was a counter movement against modernism, rejecting its ideologies and questioned its previous emphasis placed on logic, simplicity and order, seeing them as merely conceptual constructs that are only valid within the used established intellectual traditions that they always go by.
It was largely based on Read more →
The Past Present & Future of Humanistic Design
Scandinavian Design Research
Scandinavian style always associates with the coziness at home, and Scandinavians enjoy the simple things in life. Hygge, the word that explains this phenomenon. It is the key part of Danish culture since the 1800s. This is probably the reason that Denmark is always at the top of the list of the world’s happiest countries. Hygge is a Read more →