Open an interior decoration magazine, peruse a sartorial blog, or catch-up with the latest fashion on television, and you’ll know mixing prints has been the trend for the last few seasons.  Endorsed as a risky and intimidating choice, it is often accompanied by a number of rules and guidelines. English-born industrial designer George J. Sowden...

In 2011, Italian designer Michele de Lucchi (b. 1951) reflected in an interview, “design is truly a kind of witness to history. Design documents the spirit of the age.” [1]  His 1981 drawing of Two Designs for Tables (and Three Designs for Tables) is an example of how design records its historical and cultural context, and...

A valentine from graphic designer Marian Bantjes is more than just a valentine—it is an artwork, to be cherished and displayed year-round. These unique cards are coveted by design enthusiasts; by lovers of ornament, who believe that at least sometimes, more is more; by the curious, the whimsical, and those who, like Bantjes, wonder. Each...

To the western reader, graphic design of the early Soviet period carries a mysterious and even hyperactive aggressive effect. This feeling can certainly be attributed to the foreignness of the Cyrillic script, with its thick strokes, bold outlines, staggered and almost rudimentary spacing. When it’s illegible, the Russian alphabet bares some similarities to the Roman...

With the establishment of Yellowstone National Park on March 1, 1872, Americans began embracing the idea of preserving and protecting the best of the United States’ natural treasures for the benefit and enjoyment of generations to come. In the years following the end of the Civil War, an increasing number of travelers navigated the country...

The color palette of contrasting red, black and white symbolized Russia’s Communist Revolution and represent the polarities in ideologies between the Socialist Reds and the Whites of the aristocracy. This Constructivist theory of art as political message was brilliantly depicted in El Lissitzky’s Beat the Whites With The Red Wedge, 1919. Rather than use abstract...

The ITF Internationale Tentoonstelling op Filmgebied (International film exhibition) poster is an unusual advertisement. The subject of the poster – an educational exhibition on the history of film, new technologies, screening (all film types including the avant-garde) and all other facets to the world of film – is reflected in the poster’s execution. The focus...

Garden designers and brothers André and Paul Vera designed stunning landscape architecture that reflected the changing mode of the early 20thcentury and the shift toward rational modernism. Their unique vocabulary of geometric forms, symmetry and bold color contrasts, helped usher in the Art Moderne style, applying it not to just furniture and architecture, but the...

Though in western cultures, suntans are appreciated for their indication of good health and a leisurely lifestyle, the Japanese standard remained quite different even up to the mid-1960s. Since ancient times, Asian cultures have idealized lighter complexions because they indicated a person’s privileged status. Those people living richly enough to remain indoors maintained a whiter...

This etching, a screen design by great artist François Boucher, is iconic for its inclusion of the French word rocaille. In the eighteenth century, rocaille referred to the irregular rockwork that was used to embellish picturesque grottos and garden fountains but the word has since come to be synonymous with the rococo as a style....