Nothing Else ’23

“The legacy of Bohemia”

Although I was born shortly after the end of the communist era in Czechoslovakia in my childhood I was surrounded by products that I like to refer to as socialist minimalism. In a closed economy with no imports, everything was produced locally. The products were produced efficiently with an emphasis on production price. Following Functionalism and Gute form, the products had a very industrial character. Clean geometry and imprint of machines. Logical, less organical and very iconic.

Aleš Boem

Functionalism, later Gute Form and contemporary minimalism, is characterized by an emphasis on function, leaving the subject free from any unnecessary elements and details. Form follows function, less is more and ornament is a crime. This consideration of usefulness and how it relates to beauty gave birth to one of the most influential cultural and artistic movements of the early twentieth century.

Vila Tugendhat

The history of Functionalism is closely tied to the Bauhaus school. Established in Dessau, Germany in 1919 by Walter Gropius and a group of artists and architects focused on the development of high-quality, utilitarian mass-produced consumer goods, the school’s program uniquely featured the melding of industrial production methods with handicraft. Functionalist design is a reaction against the prevalent taste for academic historicism and to the rediscovery of the arts of Japan.

In 1950 Max Bill, Otl Aicher and Inge Aicher-Scholl decided to found a college of design in Ulm. They regarded the reconstruction period in Germany as an opportunity to revive the ground-breaking philosophy of the interdisciplinary teachings of the Bauhaus in terms of both style and content, but now taking into account new production technology. The school achieved its best results working together with the consumer products company Braun.

Eileen Grey 1927

Watering Can Czechoslovakia