Blog 2:

Mass Production and the Arts and Craft 

Movement

A style which challenged the Victorian Era which was the extreme décor found on all types of products and buildings and wanted to reform the term: Good design with Good Society.  The raise of the consumer class goods had overlapped with the raise of manufactured goods. Manufactured goods where done in a very low quality and design, which resulted into cheap products.

Red House - William Morris 

The Red house of William Morris (Above) and the Victorian Era hospital for sick children (Below) both of which are situated in London are a good example of styles which came right after each other. The red house was build by William Morris himself and Philip Webb in the 1860's. While the Hospital was opened in 1830 till the 1880, which makes a clear indication that the Victorian Era was before the Arts and craft movement but still made an impact on society in architecture. 

Having elongated and pointy rooftops for the hospital, in the Red House there was still a hint of the Victorian Era but much simpler and featured less windows, of course the hospital needed more windows because of more rooms available than the House of Morris. 

Hospital for sick children - Great Ormond Street, London

The revival of the Arts and Craft Movement was this: to have the worker produce beautiful objects and products which was the result of a good craftsmanship, as opposed to mass production. Mass production destroyed all of the craftsman elements and made it look simple to produce such objects or products which had a lot of thought and design behind it. For this movement the only thing they believed in was this: “for the people and by the people, and a source of pleasure to the maker and the user”, in simple terms eliminate the mass production so that there would be that sense of pride in every craftsman that he had produced such objects.

Having said this, a lot of the mass produced products and housing, are done with cheap materials and do not last a life time. In fact they are made to last less so that the consumer has to buy another. Mass production is the result of time is money and no one would really appreciated the process behind the products being made. No good design and no craftsmanship is need to sell a product that is going to be changed in a few months’ time.

Mass production dates back to the beginning on the 1910's. Henry Ford design the very first moving assembly line and revolutionized the manufacturing industry since than. For Henry, his main aim was to produce a lot of Ford cars showing simple designs and for the lowest price possible to introduce affordable vehicle to the general public. In a matter of time, the world was not run on wheels and everyone could afford a car which was mass produced and sold for the public. 

Workers on the first moving assembly line put together magnetos and flywheels for 1913 Ford Autos

Although the invention of the assembly line was an innovative idea, the skill of the craftsmanship was taken away from people who really loved producing products, and so it was slowly fading away. The Arts and Craft movement was the only movement who gave a living hope to these people, to unite skill with design, and produce good products.  

Local Concrete Buildings

As for architecture, the same thing is happening all over. Local architecture, which is rich in history and has a lot to offer, is being destroyed daily to be replaced by some concrete blocks which are of an eyesore to look at. From progress to regress making use of cheap material and lost all of the dedication for the good craftsman.

Many places throughout Europe are being neglected and once discovered they are either being destroyed or turned into a monotonous building which has no value at all. Based on what is seen locally, many think that we are stuck in the past and do not want to move on, but in fact we are not appreciating that at that time things were different and no one could ever build like that again. 

Reference 

Fiell, C. and Fiell, P. (1999). Design of the 20th century. Köln: Taschen.

Ford.co.uk. (2016). The evolution of mass production. [online] Available at: http://www.ford.co.uk/experience-ford/Heritage/EvolutionOfMassProduction [Accessed 23 Apr. 2016].

Victorianweb.org. (2012). Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London WC1. [online] Available at: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/hospitals/1.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2016].