Key Pages
- |Changes [May 05, 2008]
Ten Things 2006: Pr...Wedgewood was leading edge high-tech in his day. Even ceramic craft can be high-tech - another irony.
Wedgewood was a system builder - high-tech meant the manipulation of taste (the commodification of style in relation to class and "demographic") as much as ceramic science, new divisions of labor and the factory system, and a re-evaluation of antiquity.
- exploring the chracter of R and D and industrial engineering.
The Portland Vase
Blue Jasper
Pink Jasper
Wedgwood was one of the first industrial designers.
Design - the word unites the aesthetic with a process or practice - and much more ...
"A designed artifact is a form of communication and what it conveys depends on the framework within which it functions" (Penny Sparke)
"The history of design is the history of societies" (Forty)
"Design as rhetoric: technology speaks of the 'good life'" (Richard Buchanan)
"Design is an art of thought directed to practical action through the persuasiveness of objects, and, therefore, design involves the vivid expression of competing ideas about social life" (Richard Buchanan)
Design history
Since the 18th century design has been associated with mass production and comerce, industry and mass consumption
Capitalist modes of production are central to industrial design.
Features:
>> see also notes on Industry, art and craft - from Wedgwood to Morris
can we trace the beginning of mass produced "cult-objects" back to the wedgewood teapots?
Our discussion of the wedgewood teapot presents a narrative that is common to all hit/trend products (louis vuitton bags, i pods, starbucks coffee... )That is, someone came up with something refreshing/ something to get excited about and mass produced it, marketed it well and it becomes and remains: the "scarce" thing everyone desperately wants even if its the thing everyone already has.
Josiah Wedgewood was one of the very first "tycoons" who not only created a phenomenal and aesthetically pleasing teapot, it is the symbol of mass production, the industrial revolution, marketing and appealing to the needs of the market. Wedgewood created a buzz around a mass-produced product. He pioneered the idea of marketing and, in effect, manufacturing taste. The idea that a product that is extremely common and available in large quantities at reasonable prices and connote fine taste, high class and possess a sense of cachet is remarkable. Wedgewood's commitment to innovate, research, and experiment to differentiate himself from the competiton yet provide products the public wanted is a feat within itself!
1. "A designed artifact is a form of communication and what it conveys depends on the framework within which it functions" (Penny Sparke)
2. "Design as rhetoric: technology speaks of the 'good life'" (Richard Buchanan)
I completely agree with the first statement and I also believe that this goes back to some of the first discussions we had about artifacts at the start of the quarter. What does this 'thing' do for you? How does it enhance your life? or in a more specific way, how does it communicate your feeling/thoughts about yourself, the world and other people?
With regards to the second statement, I would have to say, 'yes and no'. When you speak of the design and technology of basic artifacts or things such as a knife, I don't think that has to do with a 'good life' or prosperity as is implied. In my opinion it is a reflection of a community or individuals desire and in many ways need for a more efficient product. Flipping the coin for a second, I do also agree with the statement, when speaking in regards to luxuries such as planes, shoes etc...those newer designs we see ever so often are less out of necessity and efficiency and more out of desire and 'want'.
