Zala Zsófia
Design MA
supervisor
Kerékgyártó András
masterwork opponent
Kiss-Gál Zsuzsa
thesis consultant
Horányi Attila
thesis opponent
Aknai Kati
masterwork
Ornamentation and craftsmanship in furniture design
In developing my masterwork, my aim was to design a piece of furniture that would be connected to the past by reviving the tradition of ornamentation, and that would become relatable through the details of its craftsmanship - thus ensuring it will be passed on and preserved in the long term. In the dressing table created, handcrafted ceramic details meet a mass-producible wooden structure. The furniture's geometric ornamentation is linked to femininity: water as a feminine symbol is represented in the lines of the dressing table.
thesis
Ornamentation and craftsmanship in furniture design
In my thesis I explore the process in our culture that led from traditional, richly ornamented, handcrafted articles to our current objects that lack all ornamentation and are manufactured in optimized production processes. It was after the industrial revolution that the role of ornamentation was questioned, so it is from this point to modernism that I follow how the significance and perception of ornamentation and craftsmanship changed. In my thesis I present the artists of successive creative movements that reflected on one another, including Arts and Crafts, Deutscher Werkbund, Wiener Werkstätte, Bauhaus and the HfG Ulm School. I analyse examples to compare the different opinions of furniture designers and schools on typification, craftsmanship, artistic expression and functionality.
