Arts and Industry
About "Industria"
The main difference between what we produce today compared to old times does not reside in ways of manufacturing, because industrialisation does not mean sophisticated production technics, but rather the intention of careful and persistent work: industry comes from Latin “industria”, “diligens”, assiduous, diligent, from “diligere”: love, take delight in.
In other words, carefully and highly functional artisan products made with care and in different numbers can be considered and are part of the industry of a particular period in history. Industry has no relation with series production or digital logistics, these are different resources that point to the same goal, in different periods of history.
Egyptians, Sumerians and Greeks knew about series production, indeed with different technologies: archaeologists have found a precision factor of 5mm per metre in large stone pieces in Greece, which proves they knew exactly how to apply geometry into construction: we can mention the great Archimedes (Syracuse, c.287–212 bc).
In 1851, the first World Exhibition of Art and Sciences took shape in London. The Chrystal Palace, designed and built by Joseph Paxton, soon became the most visited exhibition venue and for decades attracted million of visitors.
Products, both industrial and hand-made were exposed in long, beautiful glass rooms. Machines, tools, furniture, appliances, carpets, and also vehicles and machines, like in the next engraving:
It is quite curious that we still use and love those kind of products, from all sort of furniture, carpets, lamps, garden tools, machines. The majority of the mass produced items we normally use are re-interpretations and (eventually) more efficient versions than the original designs.
Two World Wars... and a century later we suddenly are in the 60's. Below, original drawings by Joe Colombo, the great Italian industrial designer that redefined the nature of many types of items, chairs, sofas, beds, lamps:
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