POSTMODERNISM & PLURALISMThe 80's -- 90's

What happens after "Modernism"? Why, Postmodernism, of course! Postmodernism represents a reaction against the pure ideas of "good design" preached by the 1930’s architects and designers, which had become the standard for design well into the 60's and 70's. In fact, during the 70's Modernism was the leading design philosophy in the world. It was big business. Consumers demanded it and furniture manufacturers churned it out.

An influential writer, Charles Jencks, writes in his book Post-Modern Architecture (1977) that "Happily we can date the death of Modern architecture to a precise moment in time. Modern architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15th, 1972." That 'moment' he is referring to as the death of Modern architecture occurred when the socially undesirable Pruitt-Igoe high-rise tenement blocks, built 20 years earlier, were blown up.

The movement covered by the umbrella term 'post-modern' rejected the absolutist approach of the Modern Movement. Postmodernism describes a general cultural mood, expressed in such diverse disciplines as literature, philosophy, political theory, critical theory, politics, architecture and design.

In the design fields, the Postmodern countermovement first became manifest in architecture. The most obvious characteristic of the Postmodern was the reference to, and combination of, historical stylistic "quotations." Postmodern designers also combined rich ornamentation with minimalist forms, and expensive materials with kitsch. Formally, Postmodernism in the 1980's was above all a blow for freedom from the dictates of the modern.

It is generally agreed that the first objects of Postmodern design were furniture issued by the Italian group Alchimia out of which came the Memphis movement. The goal of Memphis was to produce a new emotional and sensual relationship between user and object, as opposed to the indifferent functionality of modern mass products.

For Memphis, ordinary daily things were the particular characteristics of contemporary life. Thus, they transplanted the colorful plastic laminates from the bars and coffee shops of the 1950's and the 1960's into the private residence. These materials, a "metaphor for vulgarity, poverty and bad taste" were stylized into a work-a-day mythos and declared a statement – newly laden with meaning.

Memphis derived their ideal home decorations from mundane daily life: from comic strips, movies and punk music, screaming in sweet pastel colors, at once playful, symbolic, and witty. Their intention was to excite a form of spontaneous communication between object and user. The practical purpose of the object was of no concern.

Postmodernism is a term for all of those 'messy' design manifestations which for several decades defied categorization. It has had a wide influence, emerging in a number of countries, particularly Japan, the US, and Italy in both avant-garde and commercial contexts. Through its acceptance of 'mass culture' it succeeded to some extent in bridging the gap between the two ends of the cultural spectrum, going some way towards fulfilling the symbolic needs of today's pluralistic society.

In the 1980's technical, social, ecological, and cultural developments, as well as those in style, accelerated to such an extent and so radically that this decade stands out against the backdrop of those that went before. So let’s take a look at the ‘wild eighties’ and design that finally turned away from the dogmas of modernism and functionalism….
--Text liberally borrowed from Design: an illustrated historical overview, by Thomas Hauffe (1996) and Design in Context, by Penny Sparke (1987)