Introductory description

This module will introduce students to the main currents of design in Denmark, Sweden and Finland from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1960s, introducing them to approaches to and debates in the history of design.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Scandinavian Design and Craft c.1900; Poul Henningsen: Design and Politics in the 1920s; Glass in Sweden and Finland; Nordic Modernism: The Stockholm Exhibition of 1930 and Paimio Sanatorium; The Danish Chair; Marketing Scandinavian Modern Design in Europe and the US; Finn Juhl and Arne Jacobsen in Denmark and the US; Verner Panton and Industrial Modernity

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of twentieth-century Nordic design
• Demonstrate an understanding of the materials, making and meaning of design objects
• Discuss the relationship of the national and the international in the making and use of Nordic design objects
• Discuss the relationship between objects, interiors and architecture
• Ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• Familiarity with essential ICT skills
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• Ability to formulate a sustained argument
• Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual and material analysis
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level

Indicative reading list

Mirjam Gelfer-Jorgensen, The Joining of the Arts: Danish Art and Design, 1880-1910, 2021; Lucy Creagh et al, Modern Swedish Design: Three Founding Texts, 2008; Lasse Brunstrom, Swedish Design: A History, 2019; Charlotte Ashby, Modernism in Scandinvia: Art, Architecture and Design, 2017; Marianne Aav et al, Iittala: 125 Years of Finnish Glass, 2006; Christian Holmsted Oleson, The Danish Chair: An International Affair; Lars Dybdahl, Furniture Boom: Mid-Century Danish Modern Furniture 1945-75, 2018; Per H Hansen, Finn Juhl and his House, 2014; Ida Engholm and Andres Michelsen, Verner Panton, 2018

Subject specific skills

• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of design and its history in twentieth-century Denmark, Sweden and Finland, and their relationship with global developments and markets •Demonstrate knowledge of relationships between design objects and their domestic or institutional settings •Demonstrate an understanding of the role of design in debates about national identity• sophisticated visual and material analysis • critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an
  appropriate level • ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level • familiarity with essential ICT skills • ability to collaborate effectively with others • show understanding of diverse viewpoints • ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence • ability to formulate a sustained argument • think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level • bibliographical skills at an appropriate level