Putting the Teapots back in Modernism

"Design combines good taste, technical knowledge, and common sense," wrote Raymond Loewy

So I first heard about this Modernism exhibit on 60 Minutes, I was intrigued how so many fantastic artists and designers got caught up in designing for the mundane. This State slideshow gives you a nice introduction into some of the things Modernists were doing back in the 20s and 30s in Europe, as well as making a good point on the distinction between European and American modernists.

While I appreciate the function and simplicity of many Modernist objects--the chairs, the teapots--it's a little amusing to see this same group get caught up in designing the blocky corporate neighborhoods that would later become low-income housing projects around the world. Sure, they look clean and streamlines--but it also invokes the image of a prison.

I suppose my conclusions about Modernism are mixed. I definitely see similarities between today's 'Real Simple' design aesthetics and modernism. Cultural navigators like Ikea and Martha Stewart present almost a rebirth of this old-fashioned ideal, but possibly with a more colorful, less metallic image. Instead of trying to create a hegemonic design standards for us to live, eat and breathe by, designers today are trying to break from that cookie-cutter role the Modernists got us into fifty years ago.

Modernism works on a small scale. Simple lines are refreshing and peaceful when applied to furniture or objects--reducing the clutter that so often builds up in our lives--but by trying to apply the same standards to a mass audience will only end with more Suburbia cookie-cutter nightmares that have become standard in our country today.

Lowey said design is a combination of good taste, technical knowledge and common sense. The Modernists definitely had an ideal utopia planned out in their heads, but they failed to see that if you try to implement a standardized style for everyone to live by, you lose your individualism in transfer.