The Arts & Crafts Movement (The Art and Craft Movement)
Fig 1. Tulip and Rose
The industrial Revolution was first completed in Britain, and the results of the industrial revolution were first displayed in Britain. The contradiction between early mass production and poor design was also most evident in Britain. Mid-19th century British arts and crafts movement for the inferior quality of popular industrial products, to revive handicrafts and respect for handicrafts as the premise, its purpose is to produce beautiful and practical goods, embodies the democratic thought of modern design, therefore, the arts and crafts movement become the beginning of modern design.
William Morris (1834-1898), the initiator of the movement, was receiving the retro and democratic ideas represented by Ruskin during his studies at Oxford University. His design activities originated from his aversion to industrial products and was also the need of his own life. When he began his family life, he felt that the market had no items he liked, so he personally designed the well and opened his own company, engaged in the design and production of furniture, textiles, books and so on. His arts and crafts movement has attracted many followers, but the price of high-quality design and exquisite handmade products is not accepted by the common people. Their design activities cannot realize the ideal of serving the public, and they cannot be carried forward because they are not consistent with the development trend of The Times.
The arts and crafts movement creates a simple and fresh style, the decorative patterns with natural flowers and plants as the motif, the composition is symmetrical and stable, but the curved lines and elegant outline lines show the vitality of the plants, and all kinds of designs strive for elegant style. The Arts and Crafts movement was not really a modern design movement in the true sense, as William Morris admired revival crafts and opposed great industrial production, although he also saw a trend in machine production. In his later speeches, it was acknowledged that we should try to be "masters of the machine, using it as" a tool to improve our living conditions."His dedicated arts and crafts movement was opposed to industrial civilization. But the real art that he proposed must be " being created for the people and serving the people, which is a pleasure for both the creator and the user.
Fig 2. “Trellis” (1862) - The first, specialized wallpaper design
by the firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
The design concept of combining art and technology is the spiritual connotation of modern design thought, according to which the later Bauhaus and modern design movement were developed.
Image List & Reference List: THE ART STORY. (n.d.). The Arts & Crafts Movement. [online] Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/movement/arts-and-crafts/ [Accessed 10 July 2022].
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