Scholarly record

THE APPLICATION OF THE RAM SYMBOL TO FURNITURE DESIGN

F. C. Ciobanu, C. M. Povian

Abstract

Period furniture styles, from Antiquity to Rococo, were characterized by the constant use of ornament as a way to connect visually and intellectually to Nature, as did Art in general. The evolution of furniture design in the last hundred years was marked by the almost total disparition of ornament. The thesis that form should originate solely from function, lead to the crisis of Modern Architecture. Innovation in furniture design faces today a number of challenges, which originate in part from the limitations set forth by the dominant artistic doctrines as well as by economics. In the end, one can argue that the functionalist approach, completed by the overuse of a minimalist vocabulary and the constant push for low production costs contribute substantially to the aridity of artistic expression in contemporary furniture design. The aim of the research project is to develop a design and eventually to produce a finished piece of furniture, in total opposition to the dominant minimalist trends of today, starting from the symbolism of the Ram in the Arts, in order to explore if such an approach could lead to a freer artistic expression. The paper focuses on the methods used throughout the design process.. An already researched body of symbolic representation of the Ram in period furniture styles is used to generate the first conceptual sketches which in turn lead to the design development phase and shop drawings. The actual making of the finished product in briefly presented as well. The intent of the whole exercises was to custom made a piece of furniture starting from a design based on animal symbolism, in order to find out if such an approach today, will enhance the artistic expression. By looking at the finished product it appears that the artistic expression is free, liberated from the coercions set forth by the conditions described above. The paper shows that creating a personalized piece of furniture starting from a symbol is possible. This lets us to believe that the same exercise can be extended to other symbols borrowed from the animal and vegetal worlds, in order to enrich contemporary furniture design.

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