3/12/10 Lecture Reflection: Interior Design

I have to say that I was actually surprised at how closely interior design mirrored social values over the past few centuries. Well, let me clarify. I guess I was not surprised by more recent developments, such as the connection between the welfare state and the design as a public affair, or even the anti-movement. I wasn't even surprised by older connections such as the one between classicism and democracy. But, I was quite intrigued by the way that the interior design profession emerged around the same time as the separate spheres ideology began to emerge quite strongly in Europe. Granted, throughout the history of the Western world, men and women have occupied different social positions, nevertheless, before the 18th century, these positions were not necessarily defined by which type of space one occupied, those being the public or the private. Men, of course, belonged to the realm of the public, enjoying freedom or movement, participation in government, and the ability to have a job. Ladies, on the other hand (and when I say ladies, I mean those of a certain rank - those of lower class positions were no longer considered feminine) belonged to the private sphere, and were expected to stay at home, watch the children, reside over the household duties.

And so it should have been no surprise to me that as this social position of women was being constructed, so too was the gendered nature of the interior design profession. With so little freedom of movement, it is no wonder that ladies became increasingly occupied with furnishing their homes in a way that not only reflected their status, but also reflected them as individuals. As the home became increasingly associated with the feminine, it is no wonder that men were uninterested in being interior designers - the position would have undermined the rigid binary between men and women, the public and private. For a man to stoop down into the women's sphere would have been seen, at best, as a mockery.

Early female interior designer, Elise de Wolfe (1865 - 1950) http://www.architecturaldigest.com/images/architects/2000/01/dewolfe/arar01_dewolfe.jpg

But, interestingly enough, it was acceptable for women to bridge this gap and take on the role of interior designer. Although granting her access to the public realm through the necessary contacts with architects, furniture designers and the like, she nevertheless maintained her femininity because her work ultimately belonged to the private. Still, why was it acceptable for women to reach into the men's world as opposed to men meddling with female affairs? Because for a woman, she was reaching for a high social position, that being business (although a feminine one). For men, however, their move would have been seen as a descent into a lower social position. People are encouraged to move up in the world, but when they lower themselves, it is unacceptable.

Arne Jacobsen's SAS Hotel interior http://style-files.com/images/sas500_2.jpg

Which finally brings me back to Denmark. One of the reasons I am so interested in designers such as Arne Jacobsen or even Nanna Ditzel is because of their rejection of this split (or even hierarchy) between furniture design, product design and interior design. Designers such as these considered every aspect, every medium equally important for creating design. Jacobsen in particular is famous for his 'gesamtkunstwerk' or total environments such as the SAS Hotel for which he designed everything from the architecture down to the textiles and silverware. He through about how furniture should be positioned, how the rooms should be lit. He literally rejected the notion that interior space was not the appropriate place for a man. Similarly, Ditzel, with her "Stairscape" room, also creates a total environment but by doing so refutes the notion that women are unable to design the architecture and furniture of a space. In fact, it could be argued that her "Egg Hanging Chair" from 1959 is equally iconic as any of Jacobsen's chairs. Once again, we still how closely related th social construction of gender and design really are.

Egg Hanging Chair (1959), Nanna Ditzel
http://blog.ounodesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/nannaditzelegghangingchair.jpg