Bauhaus Still Felt Today
Is Bauhaus's influence still felt today?
In 1919, architect Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, a school of craft and fine arts. The aim of Gropius was to reimagine the material world and reflect the unity of all arts (Bergdoll, 2009). Only active for a mere 14 years, this essay will consider whether the Bauhaus's influence is still felt today by looking at the links between Ikea and Bauhaus. This essay will also look at the influence in teaching within art courses today with references from Ikea, The Guardian and Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity.
Around the time of Bauhaus opening, the Weimar Republic was established after Germany had lost the First World War. Between 1918 and 1919 Germany was in ruins. People …show more content…
In the first half of the 20th century, design reacted to the World War, poverty, inflation and class divisions. There was a huge economic crisis within Germany so Bauhaus wanted to design for mass production and to increase affordability for all, whilst combing arts and crafts (Davis, n.d.). The reigning principles were unity of form and function, the idea that design is in the service of the community and a belief in the perfection and efficiency of geometry (Hoffman, n.d.). The Bauhaus encouraged the study of functionality, cost and industrial production. They worked by the motto "form follows function", meaning they created furniture and other household items by the way they work, not by the way they look. This in a way made the items simple and stripped down to their essentials, resulting in a purity of form. (Rowe, …show more content…
They also described that there were two other elements; quality and sustainability. Ikea design with price being priority to make it affordable and cheap to produce for mass production. This is one of the big differences between Ikea and Bauhaus. This can cause some quality issues as they will be looking for cheaper materials, although the manifesto states that they design for quality (Ikea, n.d.). They make it easier to mass-produce by selling flat packed furniture that is to be built by the customer. Ingvar Kamprad came across the flat pack idea when an employee took the legs off tables to fit into a customer’s car. This saves Ikea money in transport and storage, as well as saves sales space. The furniture they design could be argued that it is highly influenced by Bauhaus, their aim to mass-produce efficient and affordable, modernist and simplistic furniture. Ikea's furniture could be classed as more efficient and comfortable as, unlike Bauhaus, they do not follow any type of "truth to materials"
In 1919, architect Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, a school of craft and fine arts. The aim of Gropius was to reimagine the material world and reflect the unity of all arts (Bergdoll, 2009). Only active for a mere 14 years, this essay will consider whether the Bauhaus's influence is still felt today by looking at the links between Ikea and Bauhaus. This essay will also look at the influence in teaching within art courses today with references from Ikea, The Guardian and Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity.
Around the time of Bauhaus opening, the Weimar Republic was established after Germany had lost the First World War. Between 1918 and 1919 Germany was in ruins. People …show more content…
In the first half of the 20th century, design reacted to the World War, poverty, inflation and class divisions. There was a huge economic crisis within Germany so Bauhaus wanted to design for mass production and to increase affordability for all, whilst combing arts and crafts (Davis, n.d.). The reigning principles were unity of form and function, the idea that design is in the service of the community and a belief in the perfection and efficiency of geometry (Hoffman, n.d.). The Bauhaus encouraged the study of functionality, cost and industrial production. They worked by the motto "form follows function", meaning they created furniture and other household items by the way they work, not by the way they look. This in a way made the items simple and stripped down to their essentials, resulting in a purity of form. (Rowe, …show more content…
They also described that there were two other elements; quality and sustainability. Ikea design with price being priority to make it affordable and cheap to produce for mass production. This is one of the big differences between Ikea and Bauhaus. This can cause some quality issues as they will be looking for cheaper materials, although the manifesto states that they design for quality (Ikea, n.d.). They make it easier to mass-produce by selling flat packed furniture that is to be built by the customer. Ingvar Kamprad came across the flat pack idea when an employee took the legs off tables to fit into a customer’s car. This saves Ikea money in transport and storage, as well as saves sales space. The furniture they design could be argued that it is highly influenced by Bauhaus, their aim to mass-produce efficient and affordable, modernist and simplistic furniture. Ikea's furniture could be classed as more efficient and comfortable as, unlike Bauhaus, they do not follow any type of "truth to materials"