1865-1975: 110 Years of Space-Age Design
From Jules Verne to Space: 1999
In this post we will speak about what is known as Space-Age design. It is not fully acknowledged that Space exploration started thousands of years ago, when ancient cultures, deeply connected with the Cosmos, observed stars and the complex solar system. An intriguing world made of circular geometry, ellipses, spheres and energy of light. By 1865 Jules Verne publishes “De la Terre à la Lune, trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes”, “From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes”. Here is the cover of the English first edition:
After WWII the US pushed the imaginary of the future: industrial utopias merged with Space exploration. Initially a territory of English fiction writers like H. G. Wells (1866-1946), the young Science Fiction was pushed through a generation of writes like Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), Isaac Asimov (1920-92) and Philip K. Dick (1928-1982). Filmmakers immediately joined the front: in Russia, Vasili Zhuravlov with his “Cosmic Journey” (1936), and in pre-socialist Germany, Fritz Lang (1880-1976) set new aesthetics rules with “Metropolis” (1927):
And two years later, herr Lang gave us his exquisite “Frau im Mond” (1929). Both movies are considered by many to be -and we agree- still unsurpassed.
The architecture world of Frank Lloyd Wright, already detached from classicism and even history, developed interesting forms associated with Space-Age. In the next photo you can see the Chair designed for his Price Tower (1952), a small office tower with double height and long vertical windows. Geometry is playing with materials. It is free, far from traditional schemes.
Thousands of books, movies and indeed architecture, art and furniture became the path for imagining the future. In the US, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and director Fred Wilcox created the exquisite “Forbidden Planet” (1956).
The great Walter Pidgeon (1897-1984) played mysterious Dr. Morbius, in what is considered the best Science Fiction, space fantasy movie of all times. The plot is vaguely inspired in William Shakespeare’s fine piece “The Storm”:
Fifteen years later, in 1969, Stanley Kubrick surprised the world with his stunning 2001: A Space Odyssey. Suddenly, living and floating in space, around the Earth or beyond, seemed something possible... but not at any price: he anticipated the risks of AI.
Impossible to forget those images, particularly if you manage to watch it in a real cinema, where silence merged with classical music.
Exactly at the same time, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Aldrin were walking on the moon: 124 years after Jules Verne publishes his trip to the Moon. Below, astronaut Aldrin ():
Soon the seeds planted in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century started to bloom; not in space but on the ground, by 1960 a renewed generation of designers from Italy (Joe Colombo (1930-1971) and Germany, Dieter Rams (1932, associated with Braun, we all remember his “Weniger, aber besser”, “less, but better”), created a large industrial world of simple, clear and geometrical utilitarian forms in furniture, music equipments, devices. accesories and tools.
In the next photo from 1975, a corner of Moonbase Alpha, frame from the British TV Series Space: 1999, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and shaped by production designer Keith Wilson (1941-2011):
We invite you to see some of our Space-Age collection, from the 19th Century, through the fifties -when the Space race between Russia and the US became news every day- to the 70’s and finally the atemporal, extraordinary and beautiful chaos created by Sir Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner... but that’s the starting of another epoch, made of deep, epic drama.
Many of the objects and gadgets we use today were imagined and created long, long ago, including our original floating magnetic moon lamp; We hope you enjoy our approach and visit our shop at Ethnika Time, where we continuously expand our offer to fulfil your dreams.
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