International studio (32.1907)

The Designer s Approach to His Problem

FIGURE 4

ment. In Fig. 6 the threads which hold the book
together appear as ridges upon its back. As these
are the points from which the force is exerted which
joins the separate parts of the book into one, they
have with propriety been used as the start points
of decorative lines, which spring from them to
enclose the cover in their grasp.

ADAPTATION OF DESIGN TO MATERIAL

The second principle requires that the design be
adapted to the material in which it is to be developed.
Five statements follow, which define the manner
in which such adaptation may be secured, (i) The
character of the material should be expressed in
the design. (2) Naturalistic elements should be
conventionalized. (3) The limitations of material
should control details of expression. (4) The design
should lend itself to the technique of the tool. (5)
The means taken in expression should appear in
the completed pattern.

1. The character of the material should he ex-
pressed in the design.

Every material has a character of its own, and
it follows that that decoration is best suited to it
which permits this character to be fully shown.
Clay when decorated should express its plastic
quality, the ease with which it yields to the spatula
or to the hand of the potter. Clay forms are flowing

as compared with those of wood,
which in its turn, when carved,
should bear the crisp edge made by
sharp steel.

It is evident, too, that great differ-
ences must exist in patterns designed
for mosaics and those intended for
woven forms. The little cubes of
marble or glass in the one case, and
the closely packed threads in the
other, necessitate very different forms
of expression. The lines of the mo-
saic must be kept simple, and on
each must be felt the impress of the
single unit, which multiplied makes
the whole. The woven pattern, on
the contrary, with its very much
smaller constructive unit—a single
loop of thread—permits finer de-
tails, more refined curves, and a far
greater range of color. Every ma-
terial has some one form of design
best suited to it. Metal forms should
show the stable and resistant quality
of metal, and when fretted or pierced
must seek in the decoration the
beauty of line and silhouette. When
raised in relief it must show agreeable contrast of
light and shadow.

Fig. 7 shows a vase of clay most appropriately
decorated with leaves, which will express the
plastic qualities of the material. These leaves
appear properly a part of the form, not added as an
afterthought, but growing up with the shape and
helping to emphasize its grace and beauty. Simply
modeled in low relief, the lights upon the edges and
planes of the leaves cause a soft play of color over
the form, without those violent contrasts of light
and dark which would result from deeper tooling
of more florid decoration.

2. Naturalistic elements must he conventionalized.

The designer may employ lines and masses which
bear no hint of natural objects, or may use the
forms which nature offers on every side in pro-
fusion. But such forms he cannot use unchanged.
They must be translated into pattern, they must be
conventionalized. Conventionalization is not a
process, but is a method of treatment. To con-
ventionalize a form is so to represent it that its
appearance proclaims its pattern. This process
contemplates no necessary stiffening or formalizing
of the object, but only its decorative treatment.
The nature of the decoration may require that the
natural forms used, be represented by the simplest

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