Modern Groove

Abstract

Robert Venturi’s assertion that “Orthodox Modern[ists] have tended to recognize complexity insufficiently or inconsistently” is at the heart of the disconnection between modernist and post-modernist responses to the world around us and represents the primary rift in the modernist continuum (Venturi, 1966). Whether for rhetorical impact or his own dogmatic beliefs, the point that Venturi failed to acknowledge is that often designers do not choose to “eschew ambiguity” because they don’t recognize complexity. Rather some prefer clarity as a natural reaction to complexity, and some fifty years after his “gentle manifesto” the search for order in a chaotic world is still an important creative imperative. The goal of my research is not to argue against the merits of embracing complexity directly. It is to create a personal guidebook for why I choose not to. My work is not a misguided attempt to suggest that life and the world are simple. My tendency to favor the design principle of unity over variety is due to my appreciation for the preciousness of aesthetically quiet moments precisely because the world is complex. I prefer to use formal qualities to create harmony rather than tension in an attempt to create elegant moments as a counterbalance to a sometimes chaotic existence. Throughout this investigation I have also realized that there is an important distinction to be made between the goals and responsibilities of a furniture designer as opposed to other disciplines, and I have found there to be more latitude within furniture to embrace post-modernist ideas than I originally expected. Scale and the use of furniture automatically make it able to have specific conversations with the user and viewer, but similar to my thoughts on architecture, furniture’s lifespan and prominence in an environment make overtly ironic compositions difficult for me to justify when the user must interact with the work daily. With some pieces I have purposefully experimented with the effects that furniture and posture can have on the user, and I have embraced the use of metaphor and semiology to extend the potential of my furniture to communicate visually more effectively. I believe that chronological distance from the hardline orthodoxy that Venturi challenged has given me more freedom to utilize post-modern concepts without feeling the need to use them as an argument for or against modernism, but it is still important to me that complexities and contradictions in my designs are perceived as whispers rather than screams.