Medieval Period

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Design in the Medieval Period

The Medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages, ran from the 5th to the 15th century. In this blog post I will focus on this era, relating it to my own context as a contemporary designer.

Indian Shantraj set, 12th Century

As a designer I have an interest in the effect of competition on our society. I have created the mood board below to represent what design in the Medieval period represents to me - an important element that I have introduced into this board is the chess board, as chess was invented in this time. It is believed that it reached Europe via India, China, then Persia.

Chess represents the medieval period for me because there is so much that directly mirrors the society at the time, for example: 

• There are different players, of varying importance in society - each of the members has different rules about the ways in which they can engage
• Each team plays with a different colour, but the pieces are all the same, meaning that in the game, just as in life, there is balance to the competition
• The game is all about strategy and the way you play it - there is an element of force, but ultimately the mind rules the game

My trip to a Medieval Castle

Blarney castle is in Co. Cork, Irelend and was originally built in 1210A.D., the current structure was built in 1446, but is no longer liveable. I have included photos from my visit in 2010 below, and I'll discuss the different design elements I found when I was there:

1. Castles were built on high ground to give good visibility from the castle, so that if attackers were coming toward the castle, they could be seen from many miles away.

2. Castles were built with tunnels underneath them to allow the lords to escape while the peasants fought off attackers

3. walls were often built up to around 2m thick in stone, which is why so many of them are still standing today, even though their timber roofs and floors have eroded

4, 5 & 7. Windows are very small to allow for archers to aim their arrows out, but to make the target hard to shoot

6. Different floors were accessed by stone spiral stairs

Interior design scheme

Image source

 I will explain my choices below:

Design in the Medieval period

Vogue Italia September 2005, Pictorial Marina Dias by Richard Burbridge

Design in the Medieval Period

The Medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages, ran from the 5th to the 15th century. In this blog post I will focus on this era, relating it to my own context as a contemporary designer.

As a designer I have a core interest in fashion and beauty. The images below offer a sample of my contemporary interests in this area:

Below is a sample of Medieval Fashion and beauty:

1. Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, c.1525 2. The Arnolfini Portrait from by Jan van Eyck, 1434 3. Philosophy Presenting the Seven Liberal Arts to Boethius from the manuscript The Consolation of Philosophy, 1450 4.  5. Maria Portinari by Hans Memling, 1470

My trip to a Medieval Castle

Blarney castle is in Co. Cork, Irelend and was originally built in 1210A.D., the current structure was built in 1446, but is no longer livable. I have included photos from my visit in 2010 below, and I'll discuss the different design elements I found when I was there:

1. Castles were built on high ground to give good visibility from the castle, so that if attackers were coming toward the castle, they could be seen from many miles away.

2. Castles were built with tunnels underneath them to allow the lords to escape while the peasants fought off attackers

3. walls were often built up to around 2m thick in stone, which is why so many of them are still standing today, even though their timber roofs and floors have eroded

4, 5 & 7. Windows are very small to allow for archers to aim their arrows out, but to make the target hard to shoot

6. Different floors were accessed by stone spiral stairs

A Medieval mood board
I have created this mood board to represent what design in the Medieval period represents to me - an important element that I have introduced into this board is the chess board, as chess was invented in this time. It is believed that it reached Europe via India, China, then Persia.

Interior design scheme

Image source

 I will explain my choices below:

Arts & Crafts - design movement

William Morris, 1834-1896

The arts and crafts movement was a direct response to the industrial revolution and mass production - the designers, artists and craftspeople involved were trying to return to the art of hand-crafting to remind us of our abilities to create, not just mass-produce (read more here).

In design you can't go past the name William Morris when investigating this subject - he was a British textile designer, artist and furniture craftsman. Much of his textile design inspiration came from nature, particularly his own garden. His textile designs are still created today, under his name. Below are some examples, re-coloured as prints, embroideries, woven patterns and wallpapers:

Forest (velvet) 

Forest Velvet in-situ

Acanthus (wallpaper)

Acanthus in-situ

orignial Morris chair, crafted by Ephraim Colman

Adapted Morris chair, by Gustav Stickley

He had his own company, the Morris company which created furniture pieces. One of the most well known pieces created by his company was the Morris chair, which was an arm chair with an adjustable back (pictured left). One of the most well known adaptations of this style of chair (pictured right) was designed by Morris enthusiast, American designer Gustav Stickley in the early 1900s (read more here)

Jane Morris, 1839-1914 (image source)

Reverie by Dante Gabrielle Rosetti
(image source)

He was also a part of the pre-raphaelite art movement - I'll show some paintings below. William Morris' wife, Jane Morris (as pictured) was one of the models for these paintings - they show a keen interest in a romantic view of medieval design and a return to nature:

Ophelia, 1852 by Sir John Everett Millias 

La Belle Iseult, 1858 by William Morris

This interest in hand-crafting and nature is very apparent in the New Zealand examples of arts and crafts design - like those pictured below:

Christchurch home, 1915 (image source) - note the simplicity of the timber panelling and the chair

Fendalton home, designed by J S Guthrie for Captain MacDonald, 1913 (image source) - note again the simplicity of the space, the constant picture line running around the space with the window and the door at the top. Note the unpainted timber panelling and the timber beams on the ceiling. Also note the simplicity of the furnishings

And how do we see this in design today?
The image below has echoes of the arts and crafts movement in the simplicity & romanticism seen through the muted colours, the truth to materials and the colour palette inspired by nature. Although there are many machined elements present, all the elements in the space, especially the wall panelling and the chair involve an element of hand-crafting in their creation.

Victorian and Edwardian design

Queen Victoria, 1819-1901

The Victorian era refers to the the period of design which related to the reign of English Monarch Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901.

King Edward VII, 1841-1910

When Queen Victoria Died, her son Edward VII took over her rein. His rein only lasted from 1901 to 1910, but covered an important part of British history, meaning that the Edwardian era has become a memorable period of design.

These two eras were smack bang in the midst of the industrial revolution - a period in which mass production started to allow the working class to afford more desirable objects for their homes, and even to travel to foreign lands for the opportunity to build their wealth and own large pieces of land.

As a New Zealand designer I have a keen interest in the way that these two design periods, named after the British monarchs at the time, affected New Zealand design.

Victorian design:
It was during the Victorian era that New Zealand was being ferociously colonised by European expatriates, with the non-Maori population rising from 2,000 to 250,000 between 1840-1870 (read more here), and this is why much of what we call colonial New Zealand design can also be considered Victorian design - I'll show some NZ examples of interiors below:

Victorian interior in NZ - notice oil lights (this was pre-electricity) - oil lights gave off quite a bit of black smoke that stained interiors so dark, patterned wallpaper and heavy drapes disguised this, while masses of furniture/ decoration helped display wealth/status in society, including objects from travel (read more here)

Mt. Peel station, Canterbury - note the use of heavy drapery, the tapestry over the fireplace and the oriental rug (read more here)

Government house, Wellington, approx. 1897-1904 (source) - note the use of heavily patterned carpets, wallpaper and house plants - house plants were a new invention, now that houses were warm enough to support them, leading to an obsession with them in the 19th century (source)

The Victorians looked back at the beauty created by the Gothic and the Baroque/Rococo designers, and due to their ready access to new technology, the creation of some of the more decorative elements was more accessible (read more about this):

Old St. Paul's cathedral, Wellington (image source) displays many gothic features like the pointed arches, decorative window tracery and stained glass windows, built in timber instead of stone due to the likelihood of earthquakes

They went about re-creating and mass-producing furniture like the pieces below to help them keep up appearances with the neighbours, and remind them of 'home' (read more about this)

Bedroom washstand, around 1900 (image source) - note how elaborate the design for this piece is, compared to the function of the piece

Stock in an unidentified Christchurch store (source) - note the myriad of different styles and cultural influences

Edwardian design:
It was during the Edwardian era that New Zealand started to mature as a nation, when the population grew to one million, and New Zealand was declared a dominion (read more here). It is also the time when the All Blacks were formed, showing that people were starting to reap the rewards of the industrial revolution and have fun with them - I'll show some NZ examples of Edwardian interiors below:

House interior, Christchurch 1910. Note the simplicity of the decoration and furniture use in this image when compared to those in the Victorian era. Also note the use of electric lighting, introduced into homes in this era. (read more) Also note the similarities to Arts and Crafts interiors, as this movement started to be seen in the Edwardian era

House interior, Christchurch C.1910. Note again the simplicity of this image when compared to the Victorian era

House interior, Christchurch C.1910. Note again the simplicity of the space and the use of painted, pale walls as opposed to highly patterned wallpapers. (link)

Let's create an interior based on Victorian and Edwardian design!!!
We'll start with a mood board - on this mood board you can see that I've created tension by incorporating both the industrial elements that influenced the Victorian era so strongly, and the more organic, arts & crafts elements that influenced the Edwardian era. There is also tension in the clutter of the Victorian era and the simplicity of the Edwardian era:

There is a space in our houses today that is a hangover from past eras that we still hang on to as important, despite it being rarely used. I am talking about the dining room. This is a space that reminds me of the spirit of the Victorians and the Edwardians, it is a space that we fill with mass-produced pieces of furniture, it is a space that has a secondary function of making us look cultured in front of our friends, and it is a space that reminds us of historical design elements. These spaces are often cluttered with objects, paintings/photographs which remind us of moments we would like to remember, and although we have electricity now - the dining room is a space where often candle/firelight are used to make us feel like we're at home - below I have created a design scheme for a contemporary dining space based on the mood board above:

Below I will describe the reasons for my selections:

Thank you!