Construction decorated or decorated construction?
“Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.”
Jones meant that nature should only be idealised not copied. He believed that, “in the best periods of art, all ornament was based upon an observation of the principles which regulate the arrangement of form in nature”. Quite simply, he meant that nothing should be designed just for the sake of decoration.
I find it hard to agree or disagree with Jones’ statement as I believe beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes and what appeals to one person may or may not appeal to another. Why shouldn’t something be designed purely for decorational purposes? It only means we end up with a unique design that may not appeal to the majority but in fact the minority. I do believe that if people were to agree with Jones’ statement then there would be less over production but perhaps that is what the world needs. It creates a sense of competition, with people constantly evolving designs and creating new designs, people are pushed to better their own designs and as a result the world is able to experience only the best design. Perhaps without uneccessary decoration the world of design would be at a stand still.
If we were to remove the barriers to decoration or just general design we could be faced with the same problem of the 17th and 18th centuries such as over population causing poverty. However, things may be different today with a greater understanding of technology and populations.
The image of the ‘tree lamp’ by J. C. Penney is an example of decoration constructed. It has been designed purely for aesthetic purposes. It branches out (excuse the pun) of the conventional designs for a lamp but succeeds in the eyes of someone that likes trees.
Blog assignment three. beauty+utility
“Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.” In The Grammar of Ornament (1856) this was Owen Jones argument. This principle of design was important to Jones as he and others before him such as Pugin believed that in design there were rules that needed to be followed for something to be considered good or ‘true design’.
The basis of these rules revolve around the above statement (“Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.”) In saying that, simply I believe this means that something should never be constructed for the sole purpose of looking good or being decorative and ornamental, just as something perfectly functional shouldn’t be added to and modified with decoration that adds no value to what is was intended for. Everything must have a use and a purpose.
When this statement is broken down and put so simply it becomes hard to either agree or disagree. This difficulty of judgement is all based on two things; the extent to which ornamental value is either constructed or decorated upon or within an object, and the individual viewers opinion as there are rules to what people can like.
An example of this is the flower candlestick pictured above. Based upon Owen Jone’s idea this would be considered ‘false’ design as it has decoration that has been purposely constructed upon it that adds no functional value. This candlestick is quite similar in design to the gaslight that was featured in the lecture as they both fall into the category of having ‘false’ principles of design. These being; imitating nature, having inappropriate decoration for its function and having constructed ornamentation. On the candle stick the inner part of the flower at the top serves both an aesthetic and functional purpose as it looks intricate and well crafted as well as catching the melting wax. However the extra leaves and floral base are just added to visually emphasise the flower theme, adding no functional value to the use of the candlestick.
On the other end of the scale the second candlestick has its visual appeal built into it. The construction has included the decoration through wavy continuous curves in the S shape and has no extra, unneeded design to take away from the fact that it is just a simple but attractive candlestick. There are no other themes that are irrelevant to a candlestick meaning it is ‘true’ design as it has appropriate ornamentation that is suited to its construction and purpose.
Based on the points above and the fact that each person has there own individual views I personally find it hard to believe that all design needs to follow these rules, however in saying this I do agree with what Owen Jones was meaning when he said “Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.” Adding decoration for the sake of it is not needed and for something to be truly designed the beauty of it needs to be an integral part that is included in the construction from the beginning.
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