Tip-toe through the Tulips

as promised: an entry on international design. what is it? what does it mean? why do i like it so much?

it all started shortly after the turn of the century (last century) with the bauhaus arts school. some of the century's greatest architects and designers emerged from that school, taught at that school, etc. what it taught was raw. edgy. the core of true design. which probably gives the strongest reason why i am so in love with it. the toast lady (see icon to the right), professor paula peek, introduced us to this concept our sophomore year of college at auburn. i think its one of the things that separates auburn graduates from other interior design programs. not that its necessarily better than others...just different (in a good way :) )

we executed some serious projects to really develop an acute understanding of the raw talent behind interior design: eyes for the elements and principles of design (if you don't know them, look them up), a knowlege of the masters that paved the way before us, and the ability to create something new when we design. its so much more than just recreating a picture in architectural digest. and that's what the bauhaus did by putting the focus back in the important parts of design.

a popular phrase that will help you identify international design is what ludwig mies van der rohe became famous for (among other things): "less is more." international design is simple: clean lines, use of the elements (like natural light), long strings of windows, simple colors (white is very popular), and a beautiful lack of fancy mouldings knick-knacks. here is one of mies's famous houses, the villa tugendhat:

also from the bauhaus came le corbusier. this house is right outside of paris. i've been there personally. it was one of the great moments in my growth as a designer.

emerging in the furniture world came eero saarinen. knoll has the rights to many of the designs and you can still buy them today. i remember my babysitter having a tulip table and chairs. she lived in a trailer...little did she know she had a treasure inside those wood panel walls. you've probably seen these chairs all over the place and not even known how important they were.

in these pictures its easy to notice how easily these classics fit in anywhere. its part of why they've remained around for so long. international design in itself is a breath of fresh air from steel rectangles and cookie cutter suburbs that dominate architecture today. witnessing, myself, the process of new buildings spring out of the ground, all it really is composed of is a copy of the last thing someone built, but tweaked and changed enough to not look like a clone.

international design can speak to anyone, anywhere, like a living piece of art. villa savoye is nestled among a circular grove of trees, planted on some of the greenest grass i've ever seen. just sitting there. right in the middle, like "hey. what's up ya'll. check me out." of course to the people of france it probably says something that sounds like "wee wee, sach bluh cccchuhh hohn" (i took spanish. sorry). and it still looks so modern, even though most of these pieces and buildings were created over 60 years ago. how amazing is that?!

so keep an eye out wherever you are. chances are even the most behind parts of the country (even pensacola) have international design thats been snuck in somewhere. kudos to them!

hope that was educational--its pretty difficult to sum up something like this in a blog post thats short enough to keep the interest of the reader. and i hope part of you has developed a small interest in international design. do great things!!