Furniture of Fin de Siecle Vienna: An Informational Blog

This blog contains information about Fin de Siècle Vienna and the Wiener Werkstätte. In addition, it also contains student work inspired by the aesthetics and production methods of the Werkstätte. This blog was created for Michelle Duncan's class, "Art and Design in Turn of the Century Vienna" given at the Rhode Island School of Design, Spring 2010.

Rationale for Student Project:

We wanted to expand upon the philosophy of the "Gesamtkunstwerk" which characterized the Wiener Werkstätte's production methods. We applied this philosophy in order to collaboratively re-design the freshman dorm rooms here at the Rhode Island School of Design. We decided to work within a set materials list and a set color palette, as well as within a contained vocabulary of shapes. For this project, we took the perpendicular and decreasing patterns found in the ratio of Nautilus shells--the golden ratio. We used this motif, sometimes adhering to its original proportions, other times abstracting it, in order to create a unified space. This unity is appropriate for the standardization of dorm rooms. Additionally, the unity provides visual cohesion, which helps to create a space in which students desire to both live and work.