Late English Renaissance

 In the late English Renaissance, Robert Adam started to lead the way with his interior design and furniture style. As often seen, he rejected the previous style of Palladian furniture and design. Rather he was inspired by classical antiquity and wanted his pieces and spaces to gave movement and visual interest. Adam's goal was to integrate elements in a space to create a cohesive space where individual elements spoke to one another. This encompassed furniture, lighting, flooring, textiles, and decorative elements. 

This goal for cohesion came from dislike for repeated materials and motifs, Adam wanted to show that variety can go hand in hand with cohesive design. His designs often featured architectural elements such as arch forms and motif panels. As can be seen in the image to the left, arch forms were used in motifs and created the look of an arched doorway when it is actually square. What can also be seen is his usage of the ceiling as another portion of the room. The ceiling was the perfect place to detail beautiful geometric shapes. He was able to do this without the ceiling feeling heavy or closing in the space, the design and colors were kept soft. 

Upholstery was another place to showcase beautiful designs and motifs. These often tied in well with the panels and ceiling designs. The usage of similar colors and shapes helped to create the cohesive look of the space without using the same pattern or color. Adam was able to successfully balance between bland and chaos within his designs. 

Another prominent furniture designer was George Hepplewhite. Although, he specialized in cabinetry in addition to furniture design. Some of the key features of his work included his usage of gilded mesh, fabric, and painted designs as opposed to glass lining the inside of doors. Typically, the same wood was used for a piece but, George realized how well some species can blend with one another. His chair designs often featured straight legs that tapered off into a space foot. The seat back shape would contrast the rectangular frame as he often used oval, shield, or even heart shaped seat backs. This helped create a visual tension between these two parts of the same piece. 


The wheel back arm chair, seen to the left shows how he liked to play with the shapes but, the proportions as well. The seat seems to narrow the further back that is goes, and creates the sense of varying proportions. Additionally, the frame seems thicker and sturdier than that of the back. This creates a beautiful balance throughout this piece. 





Modern Applications

Ceiling design has always been a critical portion of interior design. The Adam style ceiling motifs of arches and other geometrical shapes still persists. Rather than using paint to create these shapes, modern designers have turned towards a more three dimensional approach. The image to the right shows how the structure of the ceiling itself can be designed and layered to create a rose shape. The fascination of geometric shapes has not let up and they are still used to create dramatic ceiling designs. 



Upholstery is a heavily used material in interior design, that can help create an impactful space. Motif designs have evolved to be more abstract as opposed to Adam's time of depicting nature and people. While, those types of fabric are still being used, there has been a shift towards abstract and geometric textiles. 



Wooden arm chairs are still a prominent piece of furniture design. A more simplistic approach is becoming popular as of late with the emergence of the Scandinavian style, which uses light woods and neutral fabrics with simple frames. The ornate details that were seen in Hepplewhite's have been smoothed out and focused on simple forms with quality craftsmanship. 




Comments

  1. Eva SerratoNovember 16, 2023 at 12:58 PM

    Meaghan, I loved how you explained Adam's style and the origins of the characteristics seen in Late English Renaissance design. I appreciated how you explained the different fabrics seen during this time and the detail you went into. Lastly, I enjoyed the modern applications you chose, the pictures you used gave me a better understanding of the characteristics we still use in our interior and furniture design today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Professor VanderNoordaaNovember 18, 2023 at 11:47 AM

    Excellent Blog 50/50

    ReplyDelete

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