Thinking design from the outside in Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Thinking design from the outside in - Essay Example al attention or techniques that might have added value to the finished result; or perhaps points to the value in terms of discovering or inventing new techniques for further study. Knowledge of the degree of expertise involved in the making of the object also lends a degree of value to the finished product. However, the design must also be understood from within its museum context. This includes consideration of whether the museum is working to highlight a particular characteristic or illustrate a noteworthy period in history or design. To more fully understand what is meant by socio-cultural, economic, technological and museum contexts, this paper will closely examine a decanter created by William Burges in 1865-66 that is currently on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In terms of its socio-cultural context, this decanter captures the opulence and elaborate detail of the later Victorian period in which a great deal of the artwork designed represented a return to some of the more ornate Gothic styles of the past. Although speaking of architectural elements, Brett Ketter’s definition of the Victorian Gothic is equally applicable to this piece: â€Å"The characteristic feature of Victorian Gothic is its polychromy, in which materials of different colors and textures are used to create decorative bands †¦ different materials are used as well† (2001). In its use of several varieties of metals and glassware to present differing colors and textures as well as the use of gemstones and other materials to provide decorative elements, this decanter certainly typifies this definition sufficiently to reflect this culture. Further, the illustrative details of the piece, including the Greek and Roman coins and Roman font-style used in the engr aving throughout the piece denote the deep connection to England’s past. â€Å"Burges looked to the arts of China, Assyria, ancient Greece and Rome, and medieval Europe as inspiration for the design† (Eatwell, 1997, p.

Write a letter to a friend what it was like being a 19th century Essay

Write a letter to a friend what it was like being a 19th century worker. involving karl max and Robert Owen odeas - Essay Example As many factories began to emerge, people started to work at factories instead of at farms as it was before industrialization. Children started working for many of factories, Mines, and shops that needed help, and there were not enough men or women to meet the increasing labor demands. Children were seen as cheap, plentiful, and easy to control labor. Orphanages and even parents would give up their children to the cotton mills owners and other operators in exchange for sustenance. As young Children, we had to do the most dangerous and difficult jobs like coal mining, and fixing broken machinery. The coal mines were the worst because young children had to travel through the mines with poor lighting, and often carrying loads. Working from six in the morning to nine at night with no meals and a long distance from home the children suffered. If late for work, the children were often beaten, and if we worked slowly, or fell asleep at the machines, the supervisors could hit us using a strap. Women and children offered cheap labor and could work for less than a man would accept. Spending so many hours a day over factory machines often left us with bowed legs and poorly developed limbs and muscles. If one of us not "lucky" enough to be employed in these mines, he had the unpleasant option of living on the streets, which was accompanied with raw sewage, rotting animals, vegetable wastes, rats, disease, and putrid water. They also had to find food and a place to stay in when it is rainy and cold. Karl Marx was an idealist. He envisaged the cruelties and injustices that children, endured during the period of the industrial revolution. It was from the events that Marx developed the communist idea. Karl Marx was one of those reformers proposing and arguing for the reforms through the Communist Manifesto. His goals of the communist party were to end the exploitation of the working class and create a society with equality and no social classes. Marx has helped