Burn Baby, Burn, Design Inferno!

Permalink 02/03/05  

We've been awfully preachy lately, and it occurred to us that we hadn't given you a pure jolt of visual design karma in a while. Sure, function gets overlooked a lot, and we love championing insightful, socially power design. But we also want you to look good doing it. They say that no fashion ever dies; They just skip a generation. At the rate fashion changes these days, it seems more like they skip a year or two. With that in mind we thought you might be able to use a look back at that decadent decade, the 1970s!!!
Panton Pattern

Recently, two things have happened in the fashion world that have made the 1970s visual styles ripe for re-introduction: Flash and vector illustration have blown up, and a resurgence of crafts like knitting, crochet, and screenprinting is sweeping a generation of young designers.

At the same time, designers like Tord Boontje and Anish Kapoor, are challenging the idea that design with long-term relevance has to be rectilinear and white.

After the opulence of the 70s, and the burnout of the 1980s, the 1990's was all about calming, safety, preservation, and making peace with the environment. Now, after years of oatmeal colored wool, blond wood veneer, and artfully placed cactuses, the design world is ready for a little shake.

So first off, lets give you a short 1970s primer:
Bright colors, campy movies, Cool Hand Luke, Verner Panton, Bubble Letters, Polyester, Disco, drugs, Moroder...

Tell you what, this is getting kind of out of hand. Why don't you browse through these beauties instead, while we go give our acid-poster addled brains a rest.

This is an interesting site rounding up style from all over the seventies, from Barbarella, to the Sphere Chair.

Classic Modern has tons of vintage bits for sale, including great samples of fabric and pottery that you don't often see in books that tend to focus on all the cool lights and fiberglass furniture.

Fashion Era lays out the ins and outs of the disco-dancing 70's fashionista.

Or, if you're interested in particular 1970s designers:

Aarnio Aero, designer of the above mentioned sphere chair, and quite a few other memorable fiberglass "blobosities"

Verner Panton, though known as a 1960s designer, his work was so far ahead of its time, that it heavily influenced 1970s style, and is still punchy enough for today.

Poul Henningsen, also became popular in the 1950s movement to adopt Scandinavian design, but his timeless designs found a place in the 70s with a fresh color scheme of greens and oranges.

So go to town guys. We'll be back to our socially activist selves in no time, so until then, just don't take the bad acid.
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