Point: Reflections

                The reflections unit was concentrated during the period of time after the Renaissance and the time we now know as Modern. It’s described as a diverse adaptation of multiple design styles from across the world, as well as, across time. Few designs have exploded out from the past or previous prototypes, and it’s almost safe to say that nothing that we produce nowadays is new causing a struggle to create and follow one solid design identity. Majority of the time and effort spent is now focused towards bettering ideas and taking them to the next level. Designers have become more interested in the potential of materials and are less focused on tastefulness and refinement.

                In class, we discussed a comparison throughout different design cycles. Illustrated by a web graph, the Revolution, a drastic change in ways of thinking and behaving, is positioned in the center and an assortment of subcategories surrounds it. These categories include Renaissance; rebirth, transition, revival of learning and culture, Revival; coming again into activity, Rotation; uniform variation in a sequence, Cycle; a recurring sense of events, a phase, and Reform; a change for the better.  Because I’m a visual learner, this illustration helps me to realize how things respond to the past and continue to build upon that. There will always be an inkling of the previous within the present. Attempts to decode and make sense of the cacophony of design languages are near impossible.

Technology has had a major impact on the world of architecture. Now that heavy and not easily transported material can be transported by railways, there’s a rise of mass production and new materials have been extended to cast iron, steel  and large pieces of glass. Because of these materials, the bones of structures are improved and sturdier. The use of machines rather than hard hand labor caused an important change in industry. With the introduction of machines capable of performing repetitive tasks, mass production of consumer good started. “The result was a dynamic increase in production and a lowering of production costs, meaning that goods formerly available to only aristocracy became available to the growing middle class and even eventually to the workers themselves.” (Roth, pg. 462) Now it was easier to reproduce any design style and possibly making up your own adding to the design controversy.

During the World’s fair of 1851 at The Crystal Palace an international exhibition of manufactured products was held showcasing the ideas and styles of eastern countries. The silk trade routes were a far-reaching network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting Asia with the Mediterranean world and Europe. Because of these routes Europeans were able to witness alternate styles to their own and began to develop these approaches and techniques. The Chinese style influence came to be known as chinoiserie. This style is characterized by the use of far-fetched imagery, whimsical contrasts of scale, asymmetry in format and the attempt to imitate Chinese porcelain and lacquer-like materials and decoration. As Roth explained, “one newly fashionable style was Chinese—or more correctly, what eighteenth-century architects and landowners imagined as Chinese.” (pg. 456) This interest in Chinese style lasted through the end of the century leaving behind structures like that of the Pagoda built by Sir William Chambers in Kew Gardens outside London.

Even though England was a major design influence during this period, it did not stop the eastern forces, like China, Japan and Indi, from marking their stamps on the world through the power of the trade routes. After this influential time period where the multiple design styles all meshed together we have no other choice but to press forward and expand, always keeping an eye out on the past. 

The World's fair of 1851 at The Crystal Palace was a grand exhibition of international design that started the eastern influence on the west. The reflection of the east on west.