New Opportunities: Greatest Effect Of Great Depression (Essay Sample)

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This chapter five of “New Opportunities,” in Makers: A History of American Studio Craft, narrates the greatest effect of great depression on the American craft. The rise of ‘Machine Age’ is claimed to have its roots from the great construction projects of the 1920s (specifically skyscrapers) and 1930s (bridges, dams, radio towers, electric transmission ways and parkways). This chapter is a significant and enlightening resource for industrial designers, curators, collectors, students and teachers fascinated about American craft. The scholar elucidates that the ‘Index of American Design’ was conceived as an innovation of ancient design and as a resource for application by American Industrial designers, therefore encouraging established modes of design. Moreover, the editors of the Index of American Design discussed the exhaustive search for a distinctive American art.[Koplos, Janet, and Bruce Metcalf. Makers: A history of American studio craft. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2010.]
The Bauhaus system outlined an experimental German design school that was established in 1919 and closed when the Nazis claimed authority in 1933 where it funneled all students via a basic course stressing exercises in abstract composition and experiments with materials. Moreover, the Bauhaus system enshrined the arts and crafts ethic of honesty to materials perceiving it as a central tenet of ancient modernism. From the analysis, it was assumed that such approach would reflect the school as a research and development arm for the industry. Though, the institution suggested that craft could existing a mutually beneficial relationship. Bauhaus design confirms that it focused on favoring industrial materials with absence of applied decorations to historical precedents. Additionally, the author says that the Bauhaus system licensed student and faculty designs to numerous manufacturers so as to enhance its vision of contemporary design for the public. Nonetheless, the most successful designs had its roots from the metals and furniture shops.
The scholar contends that the new field of industrial design mostly associated itself with the craft design. Nevertheless, the Koplos & Metcalf make it clear that America’s founders of industrial design had their roots in state design and illustration. Here, they viewed that a qualified designer had the capability to apply any form of medium in any industry and they whipped up design from airplanes till pencil sharpeners. In addition, the most gripping argument was that their modernized designs encouraged sales.
This reading coi...