Hugh Pizey: Aesthetics and Technology

On Thursday's Design & Technology lecture we discussed a lot the question does form follow function? As a designer it is a very interesting topic and you find numerous arguments against and for it. I did a bit of research on the topic and found that one of the first people to state the whole idea of form follows function was an American architect called Louis Sullivan. I think that it is quiet interesting that it was an architect instead of an engineer who came up with this concept because usually in architecture through out the whole history the most memorable buildings have been fighting against that statement.

Personally I don't think that form should follow function since that would reduce the creativity and playfulness of design. In the other hand I think that people see the "form follow function" principale as a boring way of designing which doesn't create beautiful object which is not the case! For example the picture below interest me since it is a chair where form follows function and it is a beautiful chair.

Dutch designer Daan Mulder has created the 'Form Follows Function' sofa. A three dimensional model of the sofa is created with a computer program


It was also interesting to get a bit of timeline of different design periods. I knew a bit about it but I think it would very useful to know more about it.  I found an interesting website where you have a timeline of remarkable design's of the 20th century.

http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/timelineproducts

The lecture made me also think that I should drill in to Finnish design since it was an interesting movement since design gave the country a way to build their national identity. These days it doesn't happen as easy anymore because of globalization.