History of Interior Design: The Emergence of Modernism: International Style

The international style began in 1920 and lasted until 1930. There were 3 main principles that went along with an international style design, which included expression of volume rather than mass, emphasis on balance rather than symmetry, and finally, expulsion of applied ornamentation. Some other attributes were transparency of buildings and the use of curtain walls, along with accepting mass production and technique. Many of the designs during this time were functional and geometric. In addition, rather than the exterior walls supporting the buildings, there came about a change, which included the columns of the structure supporting the building. The construction during this time was an honest expression of the structure. Some of the preferred materials used in this type of design were glass, steel and concrete. Some of the main influences of this style were Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Walter Gropius started his own practice in 1911. His style consisted mostly of unornamented interiors along with a functional and industrial feel. Gropius was the most influential because he founded the Bauhaus in 1919. It was an education center which studied all the arts. There was an important relationship between emerging modernism and fine arts, architecture and design, town planning, advertising, and stage design. It was at the Bauhaus were students would learn and create things. 2 of the teachers that taught there were Marcel Breuer, who was a Hungarian modernist architect and furniture designer, and Wassily Kandinsky who was the founder of abstract art.
Another influential person of this time was Mies van der Rohe who was a German architect and was known for his use of rich materials, such as marble, textures, and colors. He coined the terms "less is more" and "God is in the details". Finally he was the head of the Architecture program at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and created the Farnsworth house which can be found in Plano, Illinois.