THE
AMERICAN ARCHITECT
FOUNDED 1876
THE ARCHITECT AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
By Sir Lawrence Weaver, K. B. E.; Hon. A. R. I. B. A.
President of the Architecture Club of Great Britain
President of the Design and Industries Association of Great Britain
Whatever view the individual may take on the issue of modernism versus tradition in the design, whether of buildings or of things of common use, it is clear that modernism is here and has to be reckoned with. Moreover, too many men, whose grasp of traditional design is unquestioned, and whose taste is of a recognized soundness, have welcomed modernism as an authentic movement of the aesthetic mind of the day. It cannot be ignored.
I am not precisian enough to define modernism successfully, but it is common ground that it seeks to replace the definite historical forms of one century and another by forms and decorations logically developed from the facts of modern construction in building, of novel materials, and of mechanical mass production for things of common use. The expert in styles may see in one type of modern decoration an echo of Cambodia, and in another
WRITING TABLE AND TWO CHAIRS DESIGNED BY JOSEPH EMBERTON
MR. EMBERTON’S GENERAL OUTLOOK ON FURNITURE DESIGN IS CONDITIONED BY HIS DEVOTED ADMIRATION FOR THE FIGURE OF TIMBERS. HE TAKES THE VIEW THAT NATURE HAS LAVISHED INFINITE INGENUITY ON GIVING TO WOOD DESIGNS OF RARE BEAUTY AND COMPLEXITY. HE FEELS THAT FURNITURE SHOULD REVEAL THESE NATURAL
BEAUTIES WHICH ELABORATE MOULDINGS TEND TO VEIL IF NOT TO ALTOGETHER DESTROY
AMERICAN ARCHITECT
FOUNDED 1876
THE ARCHITECT AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
By Sir Lawrence Weaver, K. B. E.; Hon. A. R. I. B. A.
President of the Architecture Club of Great Britain
President of the Design and Industries Association of Great Britain
Whatever view the individual may take on the issue of modernism versus tradition in the design, whether of buildings or of things of common use, it is clear that modernism is here and has to be reckoned with. Moreover, too many men, whose grasp of traditional design is unquestioned, and whose taste is of a recognized soundness, have welcomed modernism as an authentic movement of the aesthetic mind of the day. It cannot be ignored.
I am not precisian enough to define modernism successfully, but it is common ground that it seeks to replace the definite historical forms of one century and another by forms and decorations logically developed from the facts of modern construction in building, of novel materials, and of mechanical mass production for things of common use. The expert in styles may see in one type of modern decoration an echo of Cambodia, and in another
WRITING TABLE AND TWO CHAIRS DESIGNED BY JOSEPH EMBERTON
MR. EMBERTON’S GENERAL OUTLOOK ON FURNITURE DESIGN IS CONDITIONED BY HIS DEVOTED ADMIRATION FOR THE FIGURE OF TIMBERS. HE TAKES THE VIEW THAT NATURE HAS LAVISHED INFINITE INGENUITY ON GIVING TO WOOD DESIGNS OF RARE BEAUTY AND COMPLEXITY. HE FEELS THAT FURNITURE SHOULD REVEAL THESE NATURAL
BEAUTIES WHICH ELABORATE MOULDINGS TEND TO VEIL IF NOT TO ALTOGETHER DESTROY