Introduction
This essay will explore the cultural, social, political and stylistic influences on three pieces of innovative design spanning the 20th century; The Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margerete Schütte-Lihotzky, Stool 60 designed by Alvar Aalto and The Pantone S Chair designed by Verner Pantone. Mass cultural shifts such as World War One and the “counter culture” movement dramatically impacted societies outlook on life and structure, which inevitably impacted design. This essay will analyse how the individual designs have been shaped due to the context in which they have been created.
The Frankfurt Kitchen
During the period spanning from 1890 to 1918 there was little to no interest in equality for women. In spite of this, women played an extremely pivotal role in the war effort in supporting the male soldiers abroad. This resulted in the females demanding recognition by being active within political parties. By 1918, the Social Democrats came into power, with Clara Zethin “leader of the women branch” (Henderson S, 2013, p.145) who promised to empower women for their exceptional efforts. Soon after, in 1919 (Beisenherz M,2018), the Weimar Constitution declared that women were to be equal to men and were certified the right to vote. (Henderson S, 2013, p.145)
With vast industrial growth across countries during this period, women were used as cheap labour. Many working-class women juggled two jobs, becoming more than just a house wife and mother, yet there are obvious struggles associated with balancing the paid work and household duties. This highlights why the “modernisation of the home was vital to the re-domestication of women” (Henderson S, 2013, p.147). In 1925 the New Frankfurt project was put in place to create affordable and efficient housing that would “ease the burdens” (Henderson S, 2013, p.147) of housework. Initiated by the mayor of Frankfurt, Ludwig Landman and governed by general manger Ernst May (Bugaric B, 2017), 12,000 new apartments were built in five years, accommodating 10% of Frankfurt’s population (MOMA, no year), and nearly all were equipped with the Frankfurt Kitchen (MOMA, no year). These new homes were said to be a “professional workplace that would free women’s time for more meaningful endeavours.” (Henderson S, 2013, p.147).
Margerete Schütte-Lihotzky’s inspiration for the design was taken from a train dining cart kitchen which allowed for two people to efficiently work side by side to prepare meals for 80 people (MOMA, no year). Schütte-Lihotzky also took great inspiration from “F.W Taylors Scientific Management, a system that analysed the most efficient way of undertaking tasks in the home and workplace.”(MOMA, no year) This sparked Schütte-Lihotzky to undertake her own studies of women performing household tasks and timed their different movements with a stopwatch (MOMA, no year). These investigations helped Schütte-Lihotzky formulate a design of a kitchen that would increase efficiency by reducing walking distance between appliances – allowing for a more effective use of time.
The kitchen came equipped, with a swivel stool, gas stove, built-storage, a fold down ironing board, an adjustable ceiling light, removable garbage drawer and labelled aluminium storage bins.” (MOMA, no year) Since their introduction in 1925, by 1927 around “10,000” (V&A, no year). Frankfurt Kitchens were installed in Frankfurt, in a range of different colours and sizes to fit all homes.
Several adjustments were made to the kitchen design to reduce the possibility of unwanted pests. The prototype of the Frankfurt Kitchen was originally painted in a monochromatic blue. This meant that flies would be unable to see it as a solid and so wouldn’t land on it (MOMA, no year). Moreover, different types of woods were used for their individual hygienic properties; including Oak wood for the floor boards, as it deterred mealworms, softwood and plywood for the kitchen cabinets and beech wood for the kitchen surfaces as it was easily wipeable. Fridges had not yet been invented, however cupboards were specially designed to keep food cool to slow down the production of mould and decay as cupboards were vented from the outside with holes. The rubbish bin had its own individual cupboard, sectioning it away from work surfaces and even allowed for easy emptying. Furthermore, “utilised raised plinths“ where used to avoid dirt catching and attracting insects in nooks and crannies.”(MOMA, no year) Finally, metal storage containers were designed into the walls for easy access to accommodate kitchen staples like flour, sugar and rice (V&A, no year).
In conclusion, it is clear that the shifting role of women in post war society dramatically influenced design, specifically design, layout and materials of the kitchen as a modern and efficient workspace. This movement effectively created the blueprint for the kitchen as we know it today.
Figure 1, The Frankfurt Kitchen: View Towards the Window (1926)
Alvar Aalto Stool 60
Alvar Aalto was born 1898 in Kuortane, Finland and created the iconic Stool 60 in 1930. The stool celebrates Aalto’s “signature functional style” (Charlotte Luxford 2017). The stool’s simplistic three-legged design meant that the stools could be stacked into towers. This was an ingenious way of saving space when necessary. Therefore, the stool could be used in different environments like schools, libraries and within the home.
Aalto’s desire to celebrate his Finnish heritage comes through his products. Stool 60 was originally made with local Birch Wood from Finland (Elly Parsons 2016). Not only was the stool innovative in terms of its simplistic and functional design but Aalto invented a new and ingenious manufacturing process; called Kerfing. It involved slicing the end of the leg, then using glue and steam at a 90-degree angle to mould the now malleable wood into the iconic L-leg shape (Elly Parsons 2016). The new invention meant that the stool would be made out of solid wood. Due to its success and clever design the stool influenced IKEA’s Frosta which copies Aalto’s design but with four legs. Ikea’s version of Stool 60 was much cheaper due to laminating the wood which would allow for mass production. However, it lacked the sturdiness, durability and life span in comparison to Stool 60.
The stool was first shown to the public in November 1933 at Fortnum and Mason in London at a Finnish furniture exhibition called “Wood Only” (Charlotte Luxford 2017). In 1935 he founded the furniture company Artek. The company was set up to directly sell furniture designed by Aalto himself due to their raging success world-wide.
The 1930s was a project of modernism obsessed with order and cleanliness (Atha 2018). Key concepts of the 1930s were manly to do with compact living and simplicity so everything needed to be to be super-efficient and functional. This was in part due to poor living conditions with many people living in cramped squalor. This was due to second industrial revolution which happened from 1870 to 1914 which saw explosion in the growth of the steel, electricity and the petroleum industries (no date Patricia Chappine). This pushed people living in the countryside to move towards the city to gain work. This meant that houses needed to be built very quickly to accommodate for huge influx of people looking to live near the factories where they could obtain work. These houses were built incredibly quickly which meant that they weren’t going to last. By the 1930’s the working-class citizens of the industrial revolution were living in horrific conditions with many houses decaying and a state of partial collapse, frequently putting people in life-threating situations. For example, many houses didn’t have any direct access to water which lead to lack of cleanliness, lack of sanitation, poor health conditions, even contributing to a high mortality rate (Housing Problems 1935).
The designers and architects of the 1930s battled the slum-living by designing and building new simple functional homes. Designers like Aalto’s goals were to create furniture and architecture that’s only purpose was to be functional and efficient. This new way of living drastically improved people’s mental health and quality of life. (Atha 2018)
It is clear that pressures on space and a desire for clean, modernistic design informed the creation of the Stool 60.
Figure 2, Artek Alvar Aalto Stool 60 – Three-Legged – Birch Veneer (no date)
Verner Panton Pantone Chair
The 1960s and 1970s are notoriously known as the hippy movement due to its extremely eccentric and eclectic style that dominated the design industry globally. The hippy movement emerged when people started challenging social values and politics. People of the era grew weary of war and demanded peace. The Cold War brought the threat of a nuclear war worryingly close, especially so with events such as with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. As a result, people lived every day to the full. In doing this they rebelled against the system and the establishment in every way, thus developing into “counter culture” (Atha 2018). This change in society is reflected in artists and designers, by shifting away from functionality and standardisation. Fuelled by the coming of age of the baby-boom generation, counter Culture led to industrial growth because of an increase in consumer spending as people were more willing to spend disposable income. With an economic boom, new manufacturing process were needed to keep up with consumer demand and new materials were able to be developed; especially plastics. Although plastics had been used commercially since early 1900 it wasn’t until 1960s that new developments were made to allow products to be “visually sophisticated” (Caite 2015). The advancement of plastic technology allowed artists and designers to push boundaries that could not be possible with other materials which gave products a new aesthetic edge – moving beyond symmetrical shapes and veering more into the fantastical. This directly links to Verner Panton having the ability to bring his outrageous designs that went against standardisation and the plain functionality of a product.
Verner Panton was born in Denmark and joined the resistance during the second world war (Kate Watson-Smyth 2010). This instantly shows that he was someone who didn’t like to conform to social constructs, which answers the question as to why he was so successful in the era where everyone was against social norms.
As well as counter-culture, an obsession with space began due to the space race between Russia and USA, from 1957 to 1975. This was amplified to a captive and growing audience, embracing the emerging and rapidly growing media of television, with series such as Flash Gordon, Lost in Space , The Jetsons and Star Trek pushing the boundaries of fantasy. Therefore, a futuristic style was adopted in a lot of design and artwork of the time. This is reflected in the design of the Panton S Chair due to the futuristic curves. Secondly, by using plastic in way that has never been done used before appears out of this world and allows the consumer to be amazed and ask questions about how the product was made.
Verner Pantone developed his idea of designing, “furniture that grows up out of the floor” (Verner Panton 1960, cited by Kate Watson-Symth 2010) in 1960. The design of the chair definitely executes the organic style that Panton was looking to developed through its curved simplistic style. The idea to create a piece of furniture entirely out of one sheet plastic that defied gravity was deemed impossible by many manufacturers – however it wasn’t until 1963 that Vitra took on the challenge. The ‘Panton S Chair’ was the Vitra’s first own developed product (Vitra 2017).
The original process that was determined by the partnership was to use cold pressed glass fibre reinforced polyester. The Panton S Chair was realised in 1967 launching only “150 chairs”(Utility Design 2018). The chair received a rapturous reception from the public and the demand increased. Unfortunately, production costs were too high, and the multifaceted process meant that the factory could not keep up with the high volume of demand. Further tests were made to find a more efficient. In 1968 a new process of using rigid polyurethane foam was much better suited to mass production (Vitra 2017). However, it required having to manually finish each individual chair. This took too much time and they wanted to have as little human interference with the process as possible. The team continued to look for a more efficient manufacturing method. A new type of plastic became available developed by BSAF called thermoplastic which involved injecting the plastic into the moulds. This method increased production and reduced cost and human interference. However, another problem arose, due to the technologies hinderance of not being able to alter thickness throughout the shape it caused modifications and sacrifices to the design and quality. Some differences included, “ridges between the back and the seat” (Vitra 2017). The material also turned out to be less durable and more susceptible to ageing and weathering causes them to break. This led to many complaints from customers and impacted Vitra’s image so production of the popular Panton S Chair ceased in 1979(Vitra 2017). It wasn’t until 1990 until Vitra had financially recovered and they were able to resume production of the chair and in doing so, returning to the rigid polyurethane foam construction due to its durability and high quality. (Vitra 2017).
Here, a powerful combination of excess and futuristic thinking drove the creation of non symmetrical and bold design. The Verner Panton Pantone Chair is a great example of the result of this combination in action.
Figure 3, Pantone S Chair in Red (Vitra 2017)
Conclusion
Above all the politics of the era has impacted the stylistic properties of the designs most. It’s been evident that the position that society is in has a large impact on the reason for the need of the design; for the Frankfurt Kitchen it was to lighten the housekeeping burden on wives and mothers, allowing her to also have a paying job. For Alvar Aalto’s Staking Stool, around a time where living conditions where cramped, the stool allowed for multipurpose use and neat storage. Finally, the Pantone S Chair was created for the individual who strived to go against social norms. These designers have pushed the boundaries of materials as well as exploiting them to their full potential and have battled the social constructs of their era.