Art + Design in Dialogue

In the course of industrialisation and the rapid progress of technical possibilities involved therewith, the conditions for the production of goods changed as from the mid 19th century. The traditional arts and crafts encountered competition from a new discipline that came to be called ‘design’ in the course of the 20th century. The industrial product, which was initially purely oriented toward its functional aspects – safety pins and paper clips are good examples of this – was increasingly assessed and adjusted according to its aesthetic qualities. The French-American designer Raymond Loewy ( Protected content ) finally hit the nail on the head: ‘ugliness does not sell’.