Beautiful and Practical
Exclusive Design for Everyday Life
What is beautiful and what is practical? Can a product be both aesthetic and functional at the same time?
Before industrialization, most people did not ask these questions. Almost every product was unique. Only a few possessed significant wealth, and questions of fashion were reserved for an elite class. This changed with the age of machines and the expansion of the industrial raw material base. Increasingly, mass-produced goods, often overloaded with ornamentation, were manufactured.
What is affordable and practical should also be beautiful—that was the demand of reform movements at the beginning of the 20th century. Designers and form-givers saw themselves as a link between creativity and industrial requirements. New materials were introduced into series production. For industrially manufactured furnishings, clear forms, standardized dimensions, and interchangeable parts proved advantageous.
