History of Industrial Design

Author: Zhu Xiaoyue
Editor-in-Chief: Wang Kangsheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-10-01
Features:
Section 2: The Industrial Revolution in Europe and the Emergence of Mass Production
Industrial design is a product of the industrial age. The Industrial Revolution first began in Britain's cotton spinning industry. In 1733, workers in Lancashire invented the flying shuttle. In 1764, weaver James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, which could increase efficiency by 8 times. In 1768, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, which was the world's first large machine, and the world's first modern industrial factory was born, with a scale of over 400 people. The operation of large machines required a "power source" that could generate superhuman power. People showed strong interest in using steam to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy with steam engines. In 1705, Scottish blacksmith Thomas Newcomen built an atmospheric steam engine, which could be used for draining mines. However, it had the of consuming a lot of fuel and low efficiency. In 1764, Glasgow University mechanic James Watt (1736–1819) conducted experiments while repairing a Newcomen steam engine, successfully inventing a high-efficiency steam engine by utilizing the principle of latent heat and moving the condenser outside the cylinder. Watt's steam engine could increase efficiency by 5 times, save 75% of fuel, and could be connected to any machine tool, greatly transforming the landscape of industrial production and social life. Engels once said: "The steam engine and new machinery transformed the artisan workshops into modern large-scale industries, thereby revolutionizing the entire foundation of bourgeois society. The slow development process of the artisan age turned into a period of true tempest in production." (Engels, Anti-Dühring, People's Publishing House, 1970, p. 258) The emergence of large-scale industry completely broke the production method in artisan production, where products were completed by craftsmen individually. In the 18th century, British economist Adam Smith (1723–1790) pointed out in The Wealth of Nations that: "The greatest improvements in labor productivity seem to result from the division of labor." Division greatly increased labor productivity and created social wealth unparalleled in the artisan age. However, division of labor inevitably made the product manufacturing process collective, and labor no longer had independent value. "The worker became a mere appendage of the machine, requiring only extremely simple, monotonous, and easily learned operations." (Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, People's Publishing House, 1964, p. 30) The relationship between products and their creators became distant. This created a demand for someone to plan the overall product design before its manufacturing. At the same time, mass production led to the rapid expansion of urban scale and a sharp increase in urban populations, as well as the massive consumption of urban consumer goods, requiring large-scale markets for commodity circulation. It was impossible to continue the individual sales methods of the artisan age, so labor products must have distinct commercial characteristics to enter the market. This also required someone to plan products based on market demand rather than the needs of individuals or a few. This is the social background and basis for the emergence of industrial design activities.
Section 3: The Separation of Technology and Art
In the history of product development, technology and art were combined for a long period of time. Products were not only materialized forms of human practical needs but also materialized forms of human aesthetic needs. Many ancient artisan products, such as Greek pottery, Chinese porcelain, Persian carpets, and Italian glassware, achieved high achievements in both technology and art. However, with the changes and development of the times, technology and art tended to separate. From the perspective of cultural and historical development, it cannot be denied that this was a historical detour. In Europe, this separation began with the emergence of the "Academy." A typical example is the founding of the French Royal Academy in the 17th century. During the reign of King Louis XIV (1638–1715), France was at the height of its absolute monarchy. To showcase the king's love for art, France established the "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture" in 1648, with Le Brun (1619–1690) as its president. The academy deliberately emphasized the artistic ideals of the king and court, while guiding artists to abandon practical design and manufacturing and pursue winning in art exhibitions. Artists became distinguished members of high society, while the design and manufacturing of daily goods were considered low-status occupations, handled by artisans with low cultural levels. This inevitably led to stagnation in the development of product forms. This trend quickly spread throughout Europe. The development of machine production in the 18th century greatly accelerated the separation of technology and art. If artisans still possessed some artistic cultivation, allowing the practical function of products to coordinate with their artistic forms to some extent, then after the division of labor, workers no longer bore any responsibility for the overall quality of products. Factory owners were untrained manufacturers, engineers were responsible for arranging production processes and processing methods, experts in technology but novices in art. As a result, a large number of vulgar machine products emerged. The upper class disdainfully rejected them, still using artisan goods, while the lower class used vulgar machine products. However, this separation soon underwent new changes. With the development of mass production, a new social class—the bourgeoisie—grew stronger. They amassed wealth through factory management and trade and became the main consumer force in society. They had a strong desire to imitate the lifestyle of the upper class. Limited financial resources made it impossible for them to use expensive artisan goods everywhere like the nobility, but the existing vulgar machine products could not satisfy them. As a result, some astute entrepreneurs began to think about how to enhance the artistic appeal of machine products to improve their quality and sales. Thus, the issue of reuniting art and technology was raised again. British entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) hired painters, sculptors, and model workers in his ceramic factory to create samples for his ceramic products. These members did not participate in general product manufacturing but engaged in future product planning, a new professional role, which Wedgwood called "designers."