Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution took place from the 18th to 19th centuries. Industrial production was organized through division of labor. Workers did not start and finish a product on their own. Mass production led to; cheaper goods, less variety of style, fall in quality and the need of the professional designer.  Design was associated with; production, marketing and pattern books for production developed into catalogues for sales. Many different types of goods were produced for the rising middle class.
Mass communication helped promote some goods
Catalogues were posted to consumers.

Changes resulted in crafts and trades. England became known as the “workshop of the world”. There was creativity in design in England, America and Germany. New ideas developed, new systems of how to produce things and new industrial materials such as prefabricated iron and glass.

Joseph Paxton – Crystal Palace – London 1851.

                                                             Crystal Palace Burnt

Another grand construction was built for a world exhibition.

In England and Germany there were opposing opinions on production.  Some were in favor of industrialized mass production. Several new products emerged. Many different products were created without attention to aesthetics. Industrially manufactured Victorian commodities were given a highly ornamental shell to make up for this after the mid nineteenth century.

Others opposed mass production:

-          William Morris from Arts and Crafts Movement

-          High aesthetics standards, craftsmanship.

-          Design based on nature

-          Mainly floral motifs

-          Natural materials.

Others combined industrial mass production and craftsmanship 

Chair No 14. - Michael Thonet - 1859

References:
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 2014, Yale Station, New Haven, Connecticut [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html [Accessed 29 December 2013)