Edith Heath, on elements of good design (from "Edith Heath: Philosophies")
1/4: truth (in terms of materials, method of construction, and use)
2/4: a sense of evolution (has it evolved through [the] search for new understanding of materials, processes, and a good way of life?)
Conversation
3/4: spirit (does it bring dignity and pleasure?)
4/4: perspective (does it exist harmoniously in relation to other things?)
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I was really curious to understand why Heathware so enduringly captured Californian design consciousness for so long, seems so vital even now. This anthology helped!
One framing that explains a lot (for me) is that it's the mass manufacture of an art object, like Eames chairs.
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It's interesting, though, that it seems the Eameses designed for manufacture to a much greater degree. Reading this history, it seems the more common story for Heath was 1. make and refine one-off art objects; 2. figure out how to produce them at scale. More disconnected.
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interesting to contrast this heath approach to something like ed ruscha's limited edition artists books (34 parking lots, royal road test, etc) (that were, iirc, intended to be mass produced, or at least be accessible paperbacks, also feel very californian in spirit)
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design's full of folks who want to exploit mass production to turn good ideas into pret-a-porter goods, always stymied by producers realizing that this isn't exactly great business sense. feels like only the humble poång/lack can lay true claim to this kind of long-term legacy.
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Hm. Poång/Lack seem closer to the Eames tradition than to Heath's. The key difference I see between these is that for Heath, thoughts of mass production seemed to be much more separated from the creation of the original art object. Makes for a very different result I think.