Gilbert Rohde: Modern Design for Modern Living

摘要

Gilbert Rohde (1894-1944) was one of the most influential American designers working in the first half of the twentieth century. Today he is best known for his collaborations with the Herman Miller Furniture Company, which began in 1932. Rohde convinced the company, previously involved solely in period reproduction furniture, to experiment with and invest in modern design. He established an environment in which commercial and creative pursuits merged and, in effect, laid the corporate foundations on which George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames and many others worked to great acclaim in the post-Second World War period. To a design historian, Rohde would be significant for the Herman Miller legacy, if nothing else. Yet as Phyllis Ross' book ably demonstrates, his career was far more complex: in addition to furniture, he designed retail spaces and world's fair exhibitions; he wrote extensively for trade and art audiences about the state of the design industry and developments in Europe and he taught aspiring designers in a range of classroom settings in New York City throughout the 1930s.