The Emergence of Modernism

The emergence of modernism was an extremely exciting time in the history of interior design. What was once thought of as design and style would be totally flipped around as a new era was introduced. This was thought of as the new direction of design. Ideas were brought forth that had never been seen before by the human eye or drawn out by a designers hand.

Being one of the first major modern architects, and one of my favorite architects of this movement was Frank Lloyd Wright. I have always been interested in his work. I have only had the opportunity to have gone to one of his houses, The Mary Thomas house in Springfield, Il, but would love to get to visit other of his creations. I was so impressed with all the detail he put in to his work. I remember standing in the house and thinking about how much time, work, and thought it must of took to reach his final products. He was an incredible architect and designer and a genius from my perspective. It also amazed me how he designed all the furniture and even light fixtures in his houses and buildings as well. He had visions and knew there was only one way to get to those visions, if he considered every detail of the design and was a part of the whole process until the end. During his lifetime, he designed over 1000 structures and completed 532 of those. He was highly inspired by Japanese design which can be seen in numerous pieces of his work.

In terms of his residential design, he was known for adding in separate private and public areas of the houses. His clients at the time favored being able to entertain as well as being able to have more intimate space for just the family.

 The above picture is the Metropolitan Museum of Art but designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is a great example of all of his furniture that he designed too. You can see the Japanese inspiration in lamp designs as well as in the ceiling.

The above picture is Falling Waters that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. It is amazing how he designed the house to fit perfectly in with the scenery of the land around it.


My other favorite architect when merging into the modern movement, was Mies Van der Rohe who's motivation was "less is more." He had an International reputation with abstract work of art.

My favorite house that he did was the Farnsworth House in Plano, Il. Not only is there a dramatic love story behind the house, I love how it combines it's surroundings of the beautiful wooded scenery of the Fox River. I would love to visit this glass house and be able to experience walking through it enjoying all of the elements. Like Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies Van der Rohe also designed the furniture that would be put in his space as well.

 The above picture in the Farnworth house. You can see his suggestion that less is more. The bottom pictures are pieces of furniture that he designed.

Below are some designs that I think Meis Van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright would definitely approve of.  It shows the idea of less is more as well as keeping with that modern element.