John Ruskin

"Born in London, John Ruskin is mainly known for his magnificent work in the field of art, literature and architecture. A fervent art critic, Ruskin is also remembered for his ideas of socialism and immense contribution towards promoting Gothic architecture. He gained popularity as a social critic and a poet in the Victorian and Edwardian eras." http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/john-ruskin-2.php

The theorist John Ruskin, whose ethical contribution to art and design was of major consequence to the Arts and Crafts movement emphasised the ideology of ‘honesty’ in his essay in 1849 ‘The Seven Lamps of Architecture’. The lamps represent the benchmarks which good architecture should entail. The seven lamps were titled as below:

Sacrifice – dedication of man's craft to God, as visible proofs of man's love and obedience. 

Truth – hand crafted and honest display of materials and structure. Truth to materials and honest display of construction were bywords since the serious Gothic Revival had distanced itself from the whimsical "Gothick" of the 18th century; it had been often elaborated by Pugin and others.

Power – buildings should be thought of in terms of their massing and reach towards the sublimity of nature by the action of the human mind upon them and the organization of physical effort in constructing buildings.

Beauty – aspiration towards God expressed in ornamentation drawn from nature, his creation.

Life – buildings should be made by human hands, so that the joy of masons and stonecarvers is associated with the expressive freedom given them.

Memory – buildings should respect the culture from which they have developed.

Obedience – no originality for its own sake, but conforming to the finest among existing English values, in particular expressed through the "English Early Decorated" Gothic as the safest choice of style.

Practically, he suggested an 'honest' architecture with no veneers, finishes, hidden support nor machined mouldings and that beauty must be derived from nature and crafted by man. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Lamps_of_Architecture

The first point in my manifesto is the theory of ‘honest architecture’, which revolves around the paradigm that a space should not cover up its structure and pretend to be something it is not, as well as also rejecting decorative design and therefore implying the use of materials in their purest forms. John Pile, A History of Interior Design (2009) London (pp. 271) states:

"This combination of a desire for honesty and in terms of expression of function, material and techniques of production, combined with a conviction that only hand craft can achieve such honesty, is central to the doctrine of the movement. Excessive and ugly ornamentation is to be banished, but “meaningful” decoration devised by craftsmen is welcome."

In this statement John Pile is attempting to illustrate that Ruskin’s ideological views on ‘honesty’ lie at the very heart of the Arts and Crafts Movement. This is not to say that I am anticipating that all my designs are to be handcrafted without the use industrial techniques, as this is not the case. It can be argued that the Arts and Crafts Movement has a major influence on one of the leading expressions of design theory and practice in the twentieth century; that of Modernism, my point being that the major doctrines of Modernism can be linked back to the ideals of John Ruskin and his views of ‘honesty’.