streamline
MODERNE 1930-1950
•Fig. 1. Broadway Limited Train-Pennsylvania (1938)
•Fig. 2. Normandie Hotel-San Juan (1935)
1930
Streamline
1950
moderne
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Contents 8. Introduction •Overview of sections and topics to cover
10. Vacuum •When it started •What it evolved from
14. Materials and Elements 16. Leading Thinkers •Who were the leading thinkers •Raymond Loewy •Walter Dorwin Teague •Norman Nel Geddes •Gilbert Rohde
20. Transport and Products •1930-50 style of tansport •1930-50 style of products
24. Streamline Graphic Design •Graphic design •Typography
26. Architectural design •Influential building design
28. How Streamline Moderne has influenced today’s design
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Introduction
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Introduction America was hit by the great depression during the summer of 1929. The infamous Wall Street Crash, also known as Black Tuesday, was the beginning of the most devastating economic crisis in the entire history of the United States. Stocks had lost 90 percent of their value and jobs were at an all-time low. Customer demand had shrunken to the bare necessities and the future of companies and businesses was looking bleak.
Manufacturers needed new ways to increase consumerism and so formed an alliance with new modern product designers that created household items that were functional and practical but, unlike the other home appliances of the 1930’s, were also stylish works of art.
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•Fig. 3 Van driver strike- New York City (1920)
People wanted modern appliances in their homes as they represented progress and gave them an optimistic view of the future. Style became equally as important as function and advertisers now had lots to talk about, promoting desirable lifestyles from new designs and giving the consumer the impression that by buying these products they were participating in economic progress.
The great depression was still ongoing, but the economic innovations brought in by designers had made products affordable for everyone. By using stamping and moulding they had the opportunity to use cheap but efficient materials, such as chrome, aluminium, stainless steel. vinyl, bakelite and plywood. I=ndustrial products began to “receive a Machine Age makeover.” (Steven Heller & Louise Fili – Streamline.)
•Fig. 4 Greyhound bus terminal-Ohio (1930)
Lamps, hairdryers and staplers began to be characterised by curvaceous shapes that shouted speed and progress; everything was being designed with an optimistic vision of the future in mind. The Streamline movement had a huge influence on the American architecture of this time, giving birth to vast curvaceous buildings that presented little to no right angles.
Consumers started to embrace the modern day living and styling of their homes with products they may not have needed, but that served as an emotional pick up from the Great Depression.
This book explores the characteristics of Streamline design at its best, the powerful effect that it had on America during the depression and how it still has an effect on modern design today.
Vacuum
Vacuum The Art Deco movement came to light soon after the end of World War I, in a time of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The movement began in France and then flourished internationally reaching England and as far as America and India.
Lee Lawrie, Louis Lcart and Adolphe Cassandre were the lead thinkers of the movement and began to use distinctive bright colours, large bold geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation, avoiding any organic or floral figurations from Art Nouveau, the precedent movement. Art Deco was extravagant and
•Fig. 5 Art Deco styled pattern (2013)
Although the Streamline movement rebelled against the feminine, natural methodology of Art Nouveau, the two movements still showed similarities; they are both driven by the invention of new technology and they were both incredibly contagious styles, making there way into Graphic design, film, photography, architecture and transport design. The main difference between the two movements was that Streamliners wanted to strip back the exaggerated ornamentation of Art Deco; they felt that the ornamentation was purely aesthetic and had no purpose. American Industrial designers saw art deco as an “effete and falsely modern art movement�.
The difference between Art Deco and Streamline Moderne can be shown with examples of clocks designed from both movements; On the left, the Art Deco designer has used angular shapes to create a brightly coloured static geometric pattern. The clock on the right is dominated by the horizontal lines used commonly in Streamlined Design to express speed. In this case the design contradicts the ethos of Streamlined design that says that ornamentation should have a function as clocks have no need for aerodynamic features.
•Fig. 6 Mercur train design-New York City (1938)
MATERIALS
AND ELEMENTS
Materials and Elements The streamlining of transport in the 1930‘s made the shipping of materials to the USA more efficient and affordable, allowing American designers to use a range of materials that they wouldn’t usually have had access to. Aluminium, stainless steel, chromium, plywood and vinyl were used to make everyday objects, novelties. Everyone wanted to be a part of the exciting new future that these products symbolized.
One of the most popular materials used in this period was Chromium, also known as Chrome. Chrome is a hard and brittle, silver metal that is used to manufacture stainless steel by hardening it and preventing rust and corrosion. Stainless steel was another popular choice of the streamliner designers as steel was used in creating aerospace structures and large sleek buildings during the Art Deco period. The most common material used in streamline designs is aluminium, a light, silver metal that is vital to the aerospace industry due to its durability and lightness. Products made from aluminium were extremely popular in the 1920’s as they were known to have been made from the same durable material as airplanes and therefore were considered trustworthy.
The materials were used in geometric designs similar to those used in Art Deco, designs that were quick and easy to produce.
Plastic materials such as Bakelite, Plexiglas, vinyl and polystyrene were all invented in this period and immediately caught the attention of streamline designers. Bakelite was particularly useful in the electrical and automobile industries because of its extraordinary high resistance to heat and electricity. The plastic could be poured into, or injected into, moulds that created rounded corners, creating the sleek and clean appearance that was sought after by streamline designers.