WHILST SCROLLING THE SWEDISH AUCTION HOUSE BUKOWSKIS, MY EYE CAUGHT A BOOKCASE: SCANDINAVIAN, FUNCTIONALIST, 1930S.
A SIMPLE, LOW CABINET, BLACK MATT, NO DOORS, NO DECORATION, JUST THE STEADY GEOMETRY OF A BOX SUBDIVIDED BY A SHELF.
AT FIRST GLANCE IT LOOKS ALMOST SEVERE. THE KIND OF PIECE THAT COULD VANISH AGAINST A WALL IF YOU DIDN’T PAY ATTENTION. YET THE LONGER I LOOKED, THE MORE ITS RESTRAINT BEGAN TO SPEAK.
NO HINGES, NO BRASS HANDLES, NO EXPRESSIVE JOINERY OR VENEER PATTERN TO SEDUCE THE EYE, ONLY PROPORTION, SURFACE, AND SHADOW. THE SHELVES APPEAR FIXED, THEIR RHYTHM UNCHANGING, LIKE MEASURED BEATS IN A QUIET COMPOSITION. THE WHOLE THING SITS LOW, CLOSER TO A BENCH THAN A TOWERING CABINET. IT FEELS SELF-CONTAINED, COMPLETE IN ITS MODESTY.
THIS IS WHAT FASCINATES ME, WHEN AN OBJECT IS REDUCED TO ITS ESSENTIALS, WHAT REMAINS IS NOT ABSENCE, BUT CONVICTION.
FUNCTIONALISM AND THE COURAGE TO DO LESS
FUNCTIONALISM EMERGED IN THE EARLY DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AS BOTH AESTHETIC AND ETHIC. IT REJECTED ORNAMENT AS DECEIT AND SOUGHT BEAUTY IN PURPOSE. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION, THE OLD MODERNIST CREED, WAS NOT ABOUT POVERTY OF IMAGINATION, BUT ABOUT HONESTY, A BELIEF THAT UTILITY AND ELEGANCE COULD BE THE SAME THING IF ONE LOOKED CLOSELY ENOUGH.
THE 1930S WERE ITS TESTING GROUND. AFTER THE EXUBERANCE OF ART DECO, WITH ITS LACQUERED SURFACES, EXOTIC VENEERS, AND HEROIC GEOMETRIES, THE FUNCTIONALIST IMPULSE SEEMED ALMOST RADICAL IN ITS REFUSAL OF SPECTACLE. DESIGNERS AT THE BAUHAUS, ALVAR AALTO IN FINLAND, AND THE SWEDES UNDER THE BANNER OF FUNKIS AFTER THE 1930 STOCKHOLM EXHIBITION ALL PURSUED THE SAME IDEA, TO STRIP AWAY ARTIFICE UNTIL ONLY INTENTION REMAINED.
THAT DECADE SITS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. ON ONE SIDE, THE OPTIMISM OF THE MACHINE AGE, ON THE OTHER, THE APPROACHING AUSTERITY OF WAR. FURNITURE BECAME QUIETER, MORE RATIONAL. WOODS WERE PLAIN, FINISHES MATTE, FORMS GEOMETRIC BUT SOFTENED BY HUMAN PROPORTION. EVEN IN ITS SPARSENESS, GOOD FUNCTIONALIST FURNITURE RETAINED A WARMTH THAT PURE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN SOMETIMES LACKED, A SCANDINAVIAN TRAIT OF EMPATHY EXPRESSED THROUGH PROPORTION AND TOUCH.
READING THE BUKOWSKIS BOOKCASE
SEEN THROUGH THAT LENS, THIS LITTLE BOOKCASE BECOMES MORE THAN A STORAGE UNIT.
ITS LACK OF ORNAMENT IS NOT INDIFFERENCE BUT A DISCIPLINE, A STATEMENT THAT BEAUTY NEED NOT ANNOUNCE ITSELF. THE DARK LACQUER MASKS GRAIN AND TEXTURE, FORCING ATTENTION ONTO SILHOUETTE AND NEGATIVE SPACE. THE SCALE IS DOMESTIC, ALMOST HUMBLE.
THERE IS ONLY ONE ADJUSTABLE SHELF, AND EVEN THAT MINIMAL FLEXIBILITY FEELS LIKE A CONCESSION TO PRACTICALITY RATHER THAN DESIGN FLOURISH. THE REST IS FIXED, CERTAIN, RESOLVED.
IN A WAY, THIS PIECE IS THE PUREST KIND OF FUNCTIONALISM, IT CONTAINS NOTHING IT DOES NOT NEED. THE FUNCTION IS TO HOLD, AND IT HOLDS. NOTHING MORE.
THE BLACK SURFACE ALSO PERFORMS A QUIET TRICK. BY MUTING MATERIAL EXPRESSION, IT ALLOWS LIGHT ITSELF TO DEFINE THE FORM. EDGES CATCH REFLECTION, PLANES DISSOLVE INTO SHADOW, AND WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A SIMPLE CABINET BECOMES A STUDY IN TONE. IT’S AN ARCHITECTURE IN MINIATURE, A MEDITATION IN SCALE AND RESTRAINT.
FROM DECO TO MID-CENTURY, THE LONG ARC OF SIMPLIFICATION
TO TRACE THE LINEAGE FORWARD, ONE SEES A SLOW TEMPERING OF CONFIDENCE.
ART DECO CELEBRATED GEOMETRY AS ORNAMENT, FUNCTIONALISM ERASED THE ORNAMENT AND KEPT THE GEOMETRY. THEN CAME MID-CENTURY MODERNISM, WHICH REINTRODUCED SENSUALITY, CURVES, WARMTH, HUMAN COMFORT, WITHOUT SURRENDERING CLARITY.
DESIGNERS LIKE AALTO, WEGNER, AND EAMES FOUND POETRY IN PROPORTION RATHER THAN PATTERN. THEY SOFTENED THE SEVERITY OF EARLY MODERNISM, PROVING THAT FUNCTION AND FEELING COULD COEXIST. WHERE FUNCTIONALISM WAS MORAL, MID-CENTURY MODERNISM WAS EMOTIONAL. YET BOTH SHARED THE SAME DNA, THE BELIEF THAT CLARITY WAS THE TRUEST FORM OF BEAUTY.
THE BOOKCASE SITS RIGHT ON THAT HINGE POINT, A MOMENT WHEN DECORATION WAS NO LONGER TRUSTED, BUT WARMTH HAD NOT YET FULLY RETURNED. IT’S DESIGN IN A STATE OF REDUCTION, BEFORE THE CURVE SOFTENED THE LINE.
LESSONS IN QUIETNESS
LOOKING AT IT NOW, I THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS KIND OF OBJECT TEACHES, NOT JUST ABOUT FURNITURE, BUT ABOUT PERCEPTION.
RESTRAINT IS AN ACT OF GENEROSITY
BY WITHHOLDING FLOURISH, IT ALLOWS THE USER TO BRING MEANING. IT DOESN’T DICTATE STYLE, IT ACCOMMODATES LIFE.
PROPORTION OUTLIVES PATTERN
FASHION DATES, BUT BALANCE DOES NOT. THE SAME RATIOS THAT FELT RIGHT IN 1935 STILL FEEL RIGHT NOW.
UTILITY CAN BE POETIC
TO SERVE A PURPOSE WELL, TO HOLD, TO SUPPORT, TO OPEN, CAN BE ITS OWN FORM OF GRACE.
SILENCE IS A FORM OF PRESENCE
IN A WORLD OF NOISE, AN UNASSUMING OBJECT CAN BECOME A POINT OF CALM. IT DOESN’T COMPETE, IT STEADIES THE ROOM.