-
Live
help
Old architecture
1.1 Saint Paul’s Cathedral, a major landmark in London, is one of British architect Sir Christopher Wren’s greatest achievements. After the Great Fire of London destroyed the old Saint Paul’s in 1666, the city commissioned Wren to design a replacement, which was completed in 1710.
In the 18th century few English buildings followed the ornate patterns of the baroque and rococo architectures used in Europe. Rather, a more restrained, neoclassical style was introduced in Britain by Scottish architect Robert Adam. This style was based on the ancient ruins of Greece and Rome and incorporated such elements as colonnades and stone domes. English furniture and ceramics also became renowned in the 18th century. Thomas Chippendale and Thomas Sheraton were noted for their elegant furniture styles, and the ceramic designs produced by Josiah Wedgwood are still made.
Victorian architecture borrowed from a variety of styles, including classical, Gothic, and Renaissance, and was characterized by ornate decoration. The most famous Victorian neo-Gothic building is Parliament, built between 1840 and 1870. The only truly original building of the Victorian era was the Crystal Palace, which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was made of metal and glass, materials architects would come to use in constructing office buildings in the 20th century.
Osterley Park House in Middlesex was redesigned in the neoclassical style by Scottish-English architect Robert Adam. The style, known as Georgian, is characterized by symmetry and straight lines. It was influenced by the 16th-century Palladian architectural style and inspired by classical Greek and Roman ruins.
In the early 20th century, Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh rejected elaborate Victorian architecture styles for a more modern, functional design. His work influenced 20th-century architects and interior designers. After World War II many new buildings were needed to replace the ones destroyed during the war. Because London’s subsoil is not suitable as a foundation for tall skyscrapers, many of the new buildings erected were big and boxy with geometric designs. One of the largest examples of this style is the National Theatre in London. These cold and impersonal buildings have been criticized because they clash with the graceful London architecture that survived the war.
1.2 MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Among notable early modern architectural projects are exuberant and richly decorated buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie (1868-1928), Scottish architect and designer, whose chaste, functional style exerted a strong influence on 20th-century architecture and interior design.
Born June 7, 1868, in Glasgow, and trained at the Glasgow School of Art, Mackintosh rejected overdecorated Victorian styles in favor of a spare simplicity that featured geometric shapes and unadorned surfaces. Between 1899 and 1910 he designed several houses near Glasgow in this style, but his fame rests primarily on his designs for the Glasgow School of Art (1897-1899), with its austere rectangular framework, long, simple curves, and unornamented facade. His later addition of a library (1906-1909) was based entirely on straight lines and right angles: Its horizontal beams alternate with vertical pillars in a vigorous, rhythmic juxtaposition.
Mackintosh was also an important interior designer, and from 1897 to 1912 he created the design scheme for the Cranston chain of tearooms in Glasgow. His furniture, usually painted white with delicately colored stencils of stylized flower patterns and occasional insets of amethyst glass, combines attenuated straight lines with subtle curves. The designs, although unmistakably art nouveau, avoided the excesses found in the work of some Continential practitioners of the style. This appealed to avant-garde designers such as the members of the Vienna Secession (see Sezessionstil). Mackintosh exhibited in 1900 at the Secessionist Exhibition in Vienna, where his designs gained an international following. His work exerted an important influence on the growing 20th-century trend toward simplification and functionalism. Mackintosh, all but forgotten, died in London, December 10, 1928; decades later, his work achieved a permanent place in the history of design. In the late 1970s the Mackintosh House, his studio-home in Glasgow, was reconstructed and opened as a museum.
1.3 NEW MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY
Developments in two materials—iron and concrete—formed the technological basis for much modern architecture. In 1779 English architect Thomas Pritchard designed the first structure built entirely of cast iron: Ironbridge, a bridge over the River Severn in England. At around the same time, another Englishman experimented with a compound of lime, clay, sand, and iron slag to produce concrete. Iron had been used since antiquity to tie building elements together, but after the erection of Ironbridge it took on a new role as a primary structural material. Builders throughout Europe and North America began to erect warehouses with beams of iron instead of wood and to create storefronts with cast-iron facades.
One of the most spectacular examples of early iron construction was the Crystal Palace in London, England, designed by English architect Joseph Paxton to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Spreading over 7.3 hectares (18 acres), the building consisted entirely of panels of glass set within iron frames. Paxton adapted two major features of the Industrial Revolution to the architecture of the Crystal Palace: mass production (in the manufactured glass panels and iron frames) and the use of iron rather than traditional masonry (stones or brick). He managed to erect this vast building in less than six months, a feat he accomplished by detailed planning and by prefabrication of the building parts off-site.
II CRAFTS
2.1 HISTORY OF CRAFTS
Crafts are as old as human history. Originally fulfilling utilitarian purposes, they are now a means of producing objects of intrinsic aesthetic appeal. Among the earliest basic crafts are basketry, weaving, and pottery. Nearly every craft now practiced can be traced back many hundreds or even thousands of years.
Craftwork formed the basis of town and city economies throughout Europe until the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Once items could be mass-produced, however, individual artisans were no longer needed. In reaction to the effects of industrialization, the Arts and Crafts movement began in England in the late 19th century, led by the designer and social reformer William Morris.
2.2 ARTS AND CRAFTS AND RELATED MOVEMENTS
The Arts and Crafts movement was started by Morris in reaction to the decorative excess of the Victorian style and the lifelessness of mass-produced products. The furniture, textiles, and wallpaper are all handmade. The Arts and Crafts Movement, which began in England around 1860 and continued into the first decade of the 20th century, shared many of the ideas of art nouveau. The movement’s earliest proponents reacted against cheap manufactured goods, which had flooded shops and filled houses in the second half of the 19th century. The Arts and Crafts ideal they offered was a spiritual, craft-based alternative, intended to alleviate industrial production’s degrading effects on the souls of laborers and on the goods they produced. It emphasized local traditions and materials, and was inspired by vernacular design—that is, characteristic local building styles that generally were not created by architects.
English designer William Morris sought to restore integrity to both architecture and the decorative arts. The Red House (1859) in Kent, designed for Morris and his family by English architect Philip Webb, demonstrates the architectural principles at the heart of the English movement. The unpretentious brick facades were free of ornament, the ground plan was informal and asymmetrical, and the materials were drawn from the area and assembled with local building techniques.
Spurred by the experience of furnishing his home, Morris set up a studio with several associates, including Webb and English artists Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Edward Burne-Jones. They designed everything—from wallpaper to stained glass, books, and teapots—according to the highest standards of craftsmanship. The idea of the house as a total work of art, with all of the interior objects designed by the architect, emerged from this studio and remained standard practice throughout the Arts and Crafts movement.
2.3 SHOPS THAT SELL CRAFT WORKS
From ceramics to silversmithing, calligraphy to textiles, hot glass to bookbinding, crafts have played a rich and complex role in the social, cultural, and artistic history of Britain.
There are lots of places where u can buy art and craft work in the UK. It is wrong to think that Publicly-funded galleries , both local authority and independent, only show the works of art or craft, they may run their own craft or fine art shop. The other place to buy craft work is a Craft fair. Participation in the Craft fair gives a great opportunity to buy something directly from the hands of the person whose work it is. The other places to visit are: department stores, trade fairs, various studious and you can even order something with the help of your e-mail.
2.4 SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT ARTISTS IN UK
How many visual artists are there?
• 93,200 artists, commercial artists, graphic designers, according to analysis of the 1991 Census
• 16,892 craftspeople, according to the 1994 Crafts Council survey
• 52,372, according to AN ARTISTS INFORMATION COMPANY
Where do they live?
• 30% of artists and photographers live in London, according to a report in 2000 by the London Development Agency
• 50% of artists live in London, statistic from an Arts Council of England report, as quoted by Lynda Morris in AN Magazine 08/00
• AN ARTISTS INFORMATION COMPANY estimates that 25% of visual and applied artists live in London.
• 6% of artists live in Scotland, according to analysis of the 1991 Census
•14% of craftspeople live in Scotland, according to the 1994 Crafts Council survey
How do they make a living?
According to the 1990 Visual Arts Survey, London Institute/Arts Council of Great Britain:
• 25% of visual artists make their main income from selling work.
• 33% make a main living from residencies and commissions
According to the 1996 National Artists Association report into artists' fees and payments:
• 20% of artists cited teaching as their single most important source of income
• 20% cited sales from exhibitions as the most important source
• 19% said private sales were the most important source
• 16% put workshops, residencies and community arts in this category
What do they earn from their practice?
According to research in 1995 by the National Artists Association into artists' fees and payments:
• 37% of artists earned less than £5,000
• 62% earned less than £10,000
A 1995 socio-economic study of artists in Scotland showed:
• 37% had incomes of less than £5,000 a year
• 29% earned no income from artistic work
In Creative Futures: what do artists and designers do? Published in 1994 by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services:
• The average visual arts and design salary two years after graduation was £7,800 or 63% of the average graduate salary.
III CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
3.1 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CREATIVE INDUSTRIES?
Those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent, and which have their potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. These have been taken to include the following key sectors: advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software and television and radio.
3.2 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN THE LIFE OF THE CITY
The creative industries play a central role in the reputation, profile and economic strength of cities. Over the past ten years, the creative industries have been one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy ranking alongside financial and business services and tourism. In 1998 it was predicted that by 2006 nearly 560,000 people in the UK would have creative professions as compared with fewer than 220,000 in 1981.Government predicts that these industries will be the fastest-growing source of new jobs between 1998 and 2006 with a current growth rate of 5% - double the growth rate for the UK economy as a whole. Across Europe the creative industries achieve employment growth of 2.5% per annum. In the creative industries London dominates the South East – with at least 70% of the regions creative sector based in the capital. London is the UK’s centre for the creative industries, dominant in almost every creative sub-sector of the economy and generating at least one third of the total UK revenues generated by this sector10. London is also one of the world’s major creative and cultural capitals and is at the centre of global networks for the creative industries. The creative industries add value to the life of the city by contributing to social, economic and environmental regeneration –inward investment, helping to retain creative and skilled workers within a city and attracting visitors from the UK and beyond. They have the potential for high media profile: they attract or become stars and this “rubs off” on the wider city profile. The creative industries tend to thrive in city centers rather than in peripheral or estate based areas. They bring life and economic activity to town centers in the evening. In general terms the creative sector tend to very low tech or very high tech – it has an in built tendency towards environmentally friendly and sustainable production and distribution methods – essential features in the development of sustainable cities.
The creative industries and creative individuals are, by definition a creative and innovative, mobile and flexible part of the economy. These attributes fit the sector for the challenges of the new “knowledge economy”. Never before have the twin attributes of innovation and creativity been so highly regarded as essential to the future success of city economies. They are regarded now, across business and industry, as providing the core added value in post-industrial economies derived from the knowledge base and from the intellectual property rights created. The sector is also in a strong position to maximize the benefits of globalization and technological convergence and to respond quickly to the challenges facing the whole economy of how, when, where and with whom business is done.
3.3 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN BRIGHTON AND HOVE
In Brighton and Hove, there are many opportunities to establish the city's reputation for creativity in the first part of the new century. This needs to be strongly grounded on getting a number of basic requirements right in the public and business domain. These include an uncompromising search for quality and success, the right kinds of encouragement for people and companies, and good connections allowing creative businesses to help make the city a more prosperous and better place to live. All of this should aim to make a measurable difference to the city and the quality of life of all who work and live in it. It can do this with the creative companies and individuals working to the same ends as the Council and other public sector partners. In the next ten years, Brighton and Hove should aim to get its name recognized world wide as a powerhouse for creativity and innovation. It should have increased substantially the number of high growth high value companies based in the city; it should demonstrate that it has a working and public environment which has successfully tackled the long standing problems of poor urban design, difficult transport and access, and poverty of opportunity for many in its communities.
3.4 WHAT ARE THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT?
A new generation of creative and cultural entrepreneurs has come to live and work in the city. They share three essential characteristics for the creative economy of the future: creative origination – in film, music, story lines, visual arts, dance; command of the technological opportunities both for creative work and for the digital economy; and an understanding of how differently and profitably businesses might be run within the creative and digital sectors.
At the centre of all of this fast moving commercial and creative activity are companies in which:
• The core skills and activities of the enterprise are creative
• Creative activity produces intellectual property
• Intellectual property rights add significant value to the creative process and the product
• The creative skills deployed have the capability to use technology and to innovate to create high added value products and services
Digital media is of critical importance to many parts of the creative sector, and whilst growing exponentially in local and global markets is very far from being the only area of creative success in Brighton and Hove. There will undoubtedly be a digital dimension in almost every area of economic activity now and in the future, but creative origination really adds value and quality. The size and depth of the creative community is one of Brighton and Hove's really distinctive qualities. The challenge is how best to nurture and strengthen it. The exploration of new ideas and their application, and their exploitation in local, national and global markets will be central to the future success of the creative industries in Brighton and Hove and as a result to the future prosperity of the whole community. Creative businesses provide a key to unlocking the new knowledge based economy. The creative industries are broadly taken to include advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software and television and radio, the visual arts, heritage, museums and galleries. This is a widely based sector, with widely differing very different histories and prospects. It is closely connected to the wider economy, with creative businesses working closely and profitably with the public and personal service sector, with financial services and with tourism. There are important connections between the creative industries and the research and development skills in engineering and high technology.
3.5 WHAT ARE REALLY STRIKING THINGS ABOUT CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN BRIGHTON AND HOVE?
The number of creative companies in Brighton and Hove is large, growing, and heavily dependent on micro-businesses. Brighton and Hove is a small city near one of the world’s great creative and commercial markets, and other parts of the South East are doing just as well if not better. Just under 1,600 of the 8,600 businesses in Brighton and Hove are part of the creative economy: this is nearly one in five of the local business community. 48% of these are involved in the media or the performing arts; and one third in design and visual activities. A small number of new media companies are on a fast track, some employing hundreds of people and still growing. Most other creative businesses are much smaller scale. Throughout the United
Kingdom, the creative economy is founded on the skills and efforts of a very large number of very small enterprises, and thousands of freelancers and independents: musicians, actors, writers, designers, film and media technicians. This is especially true in the South East, where 98% of creative businesses are sole traders or employ fewer than 20 people – which is the picture in Brighton and Hove. There are large numbers of individuals living in the city–musicians, actors, writers, designers and freelance film and media technicians – who work in Brighton and Hove, London and elsewhere. There is already some good practice and the potential for some really strong creative chemistry in Brighton and Hove, in the relationship between the creative and the cultural sector, and between commercial and publicly funded work. Digital companies work with the Universities, dancers work with engineers, new music and new audiences are developed with commercial and with public funding. For some creative businesses success is growth; others wish to win prizes and stay small - size isn’t everything. There is a commitment to attracting the most talented people and developing their skills, and achieving quality of work with quality of life. A lot of creative companies are very committed to Brighton and Hove, and want to make it a better place to work and live in. Their skills and energies should be tapped. They have a very keen interest in ensuring that the regeneration of Brighton and Hove produces a highly skilled work force and a distinctive urban working environment of international quality. Brighton and Hove must promote itself nationally and internationally as a seriously creative city and as a place where innovation and experiment take place, and where diversity and change are valued can strengthen its welcome and its reputation. In the last few years, Brighton and Hove has developed a clear profile of the kinds of business visitors and tourists which it is seeking to attract. Its artists and creators make a significant contribution to its international profile as a tolerant, vibrant, innovative place which offers quality and choice, diversity as well as diversion. The same arguments will attract businesses and skilled creative workers looking to move to Brighton and Hove from London and elsewhere. The Brighton Festival - the largest in the England - provides a continuing focal point for innovation, world-class performance in an annual programme with a truly international reputation. The completion in the next year of a multi-million pound rebuilding investment, and the substantial development of its programme and its audiences on a year round basis will give Brighton and Hove a world class facility. The Brighton Dome and Corn Exchange will set the standard for other venues throughout the South East of England. For large and small companies, getting the connections to London and to international markets is absolutely essential for success. It is equally important that international decision makers can get easily to Brighton and Hove and that the city is a place companies want to bring their clients to. The city should exploit every opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Brighton and Hove’s creative community and to use this as a platform to promote Brighton and Hove’s creative industries locally and nationally.
IV DESIGN
4.1 “BRITAIN – HOME OF DESIGN”
Internationally, Britain is regarded as a world leader across all design disciplines. In particular, high-profile projects such as international airports and transport design – from trains and planes to automobiles – keep British architects and product designers at the forefront of international design. In addition, British designers head a number of international fashion houses. The work of contemporary British furniture designers is regularly on sale in leading European furniture showrooms. In graphics, branding and multi-media, British consultancies’ work can be found in the corporate liveries of international airlines, corporate letterheads and websites of global brand owners worldwide. British design agencies more than of any other nation, have set up partnerships, subsidiaries or branch offices around the globe and 64% of all UK design agencies work in more than one country. Britain ranks very highly internationally for transport design and British designers are strongly represented in all the major international automotive design studios. Renowned Italian designer Alberto Alessi says: “Britain is the home of design . . . I have great admiration for British design and its history. It’s the richest in the world.”18 The fashion designer, Donna Karan stated at the launch of the New Designers’ Exhibition in July 1999: “I have always felt that the British are encouraged to flourish in their creative thinking and consequently 90% of my staff are from the UK.”
4.2 DESIGN EDUCATION
British design education scores top marks all over the world. More than 80% of people interviewed in a wide range of countries agreed that Britain has an excellent standard in this area.19 This is recognized by the growth in the number of overseas students who come to the UK to study design. Over the last four years, the number of design undergraduates and postgraduates enrolled on courses has increased by 24%. A similar increase is reflected in UK art and design foundation courses, which provide the gateway into higher education. These courses saw a rise of 11% in student enrolment over the two-year period from 1998/99 to 1999/2000.20 The number of overseas undergraduates and postgraduates enrolled rose by 112% between 1994/95 and 1998/99.The Schools Minister, Jacqui Smith MP (speaking at the Design and Technology Association Millennium conference, 12 April 2000) stated: “Britain was the first country to have a design and technology curriculum, and it has been used as an inspiration by other countries. Design and Technology encourages young people to become creative, autonomous problem solvers, able to work individually and with others. It is a fundamentally important subject at all stages of the National Curriculum which helps young people develop the key skills they will need in future life.” This recognition of the UK as a centre of excellence for design education is also reflected by the high number of British design graduates working in a variety of overseas markets, with a particularly high profile in the automotive, product and fashion areas.
4.3 AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
British designers are featured among the winners of all international design competitions, be they commercial architectural competitions or design effectiveness awards. The work of many leading British designers is exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and internationally many British designers have achieved “Design Icon” status. British designers feature strongly in over 100 international annual design award schemes. These include “Best of show” awards at leading trade exhibitions and classic design awards such as the New York Clio’s, D&AD, Germany’s Red Dot awards for design innovation and the European Design Prize, which was won in 2000 by James Dyson. Britain’s corporate identity designers featured strongly in the “world’s top 50 logos” compiled by the Financial Times; and international airlines, including Air 2000, Air Delta, Austrian Airlines, Canadian Airlines, British Airways, SAS, Ryan Air and many others, are sporting brands designed by leading British design consultancies. Arguably, a key factor in Britain’s award-winning work is its strategic approach coupled with its creative flair. For design to be truly laudable it must be commercially effective at the same time as being aesthetically pleasing – here Britain appears to have an edge over many other nations. The Design Business Association’s Design Effectiveness Awards are the only UK awards which celebrate the deployment of design expertise to deliver commercial success. In 2000, the Grand Prix was awarded to the Heathrow Express project, which applied design consistently and innovatively throughout all aspects of the project to provide a world class service.
V FASHION
5.1 INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL ACCLAIM
Young British designers enjoy an excellent reputation internationally and all too often are “poached” from Britain by the international fashion houses, e.g. Stella McCartney at Chloe and Alexander McQueen at Givenchy. However, both Anthony Symonds and Matthew Williamson are UK-based with a considerable international reputation. Symonds made his London Fashion Week debut in 1998 and receives sponsorship from Marks & Spencer. Britain is acknowledged as being the international leader in “young, leading edge” fashion design and as a source of fashion inspiration. It is seen as particularly good at taking trends from the “street” and it is often allied to the music industry.
5.2 POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH
One of the biggest contributory factors to growth in the last couple of years has been the launch of designer diffusion ranges through high street retailers; basically off-the-peg ranges around a designer name. Debenhams, for example, now includes ranges from Pierce Fonda, Jasper Conran and Maria Grachvogel. This trend is likely to develop further. Designer fashion is an area which attracts a new generation of young consumers with significant disposable income; 35% of people in the 25-34 age group now live alone. Recent international indicators are good: Gucci reported record earnings in the fourth quarter of 1999 with a 18% sales increase year on year.
5.3 GROWING THE SECTOR –POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION
Key issues are the financial backing and development of business skills in new designers as they graduate. Young designers need help and advice on how to acquire and exploit the backing of large companies. Diffusion ranges could provide a good opportunity for young designers to launch themselves. Designers’ relationship with manufacturers remains a key issue: in Italy and France designers tend to work with manufacturers as business partners therefore sharing the risk. In the UK this is not the case and the manufacturers operate as suppliers with tough minimum order requirements that can prohibit young designers from getting started. Children’s and men’s clothes are the sub-sectors showing the most growth. Globalisation and consolidation are key market trends which could lead to more difficulties for young designers in establishing themselves. Equally there could be major opportunities, for example, they could be “adopted” as individual designers under the guidance of a large brand. In the absence of an international British-based brand such as Chloe or Gucci, retaining talent in the UK will continue to be difficult. Retail opportunities outside London: Mintel report that 13% of the population felt that they purchased less designer fashion than they wanted to because they could not find retail outlets. More market information is required, particularly in the area of exports.
VI CONCLUSION
It is evident that British people can be proud of themselves. They achieved a great progress in design, architecture, creative industries and contemporary crafts. This country with it rich history and traditions has also a good taste, it is regarded to be the best in the design sphere and can be proud of its talented architects such as: Christopher Wren, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Thomas Pritchard and many others. People who received education connected with design in this country will have no problems with finding a job, because there in the UK young people become creative, autonomous problem solvers, able to work individually and with others. And this provides them with opportunities all around the world.
The UK is a heaven for tourists who are interested in buying a good piece of art. There are lots of places where you can find a real masterpiece. This country really knows how to attract tourists and has what to show them. British architects are not afraid of changes they use new materials and technologies in order to move with the time.
London is not only the capital of Britain its also can be called one of the world’s major creative and cultural capitals and is at the centre of global networks for the creative industries. The UK is a leader in design, architecture, creative industries and contemporary crafts and many countries can only envy its’ flexibility in creative industries and try to achieve it .