The Goldstein Museum of Design

This week I visited the Goldstein Museum of Design on the St. Paul U of MN campus. The museum is small, in just one room, but it holds lots of information. Before going to the museum I thought designers designs were basically to please the eye and be stylish, but they are so much more than that! Sometimes furniture needs to be made in a way that is affordable and capable of being mass produced. The designer has to know materials and how to form them, because not all materials are workable. Furniture in the office has to be comfortable, space-friendly, and promote the function of the company. Furniture design has a lot of science and social science behind the scenes. Ultimately, I learned, that furniture can change a culture.

Designs by Charles and Ray Eames are featured in the museum. Check out lots of information on them here http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/eameshome.html. There designs in the 50s helped to modernize postwar America (Library of Congress, 2005). I noticed their designs at Goldstein are modern style; they are sleek, not much detail, functional, and some materials often are chrome and plywood. Their plywood chair was named "Best Design of the 20th Century" in 1999 by Times. Today, I still see their designs used. I see many similarities in some Ikea designs: modern style, easily mass produced, simple materials, simple designs, and still comfortable.

George Nelson's designs are also very interesting. He designed some very functional and unique pieces. Such as the roll top desk designed with Robert Probst. It had a roll top to cover a messy desk, a foot bar to use when standing at the desk, and no sharp edges to work at the desk with comfort. The communication table, also designed with Robert Probst, has sound absorbing panels for the person on the phone all day. At first when looking at one of his designs I thought it was a nice cabinet, then learned the door dropped down for a desk. I liked how he took sleek looking furniture and made it so functional. And if anyone has a desk like me that it un-neatly loaded with papers and various objection, it would be nice to just hide it.

Check out this youtube video by Herman Miller www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpdvEWEWETk&feature=related. A saying pops up,the overall message, "The authentic designs from the original designers". As mentioned before, I see some of these styles in Ikea furniture, but the Ikea furniture is not the quality furniture like Herman Miller has. Once I really liked a chair at Slumberland then saw it again at Schneidermann's for much more money. A sales associate heard me saying this is the exact same chair, I am going to buy it there. She explained that the Slumberland chair has a cardboard backing while theirs is wood and built with much more care and durability. Knock-offs are everywhere, but nothing is going to match up to the "real thing". And good design will offer comfort and durability. If the furniture at Goldstein were not durable and functionable, they would not be around today and featured the way they are. A mass produces Ikea chair will not be in a museum 50 years from now.

My favorite element of the Goldstein museum was the feature on the "ergonomic chair". I had to look up the definition in the Oxford dictionary of ergonomic meaning, "intended to provide optimum comfort and to avoid stress and injury". I learned so much about designing and the importance of an ergonomic chair. It is once of those things I take for-granted each day, the thought that went into my comfortable chair and how it allows me to do my job in an efficient way. There is a lot of science and research that goes into ergonomic chair design that the museum thoroughly covers; such as different gender proportions, sizes of people, spine curvatures, promoting function ability...

The second element, part of the museum I enjoyed learning about, was office layout and cubicle design. Layouts in an office with many desks can be traditional where desks are lined up with hallways or they can be more sparatically spread around the floor space in a "landscape" style. Each layout will affect the culture and function of the company, so therefore is very important. The cubicle design has to optimize space use and help the employee to be more productive. Component needs to be easily assembled, installed and rearranged.

And third I also like the small section of info they had on importance of office textile design. Alexander Girard was director of Herman Miller's textile division in 1952. His "sence of color, geometry, and humor into the fabric collection complement[ed] the modern designs from Nelson and the Eameses [for] environmental enrichment" (Goldstein didactice). An office would be boring with all gray textile, but a bright design could give a person energy to keep them in a good mood and be more productive.