Adolf Loos argued in 1908 that, “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use.” He is referring to his argument that as society evolves so does our urge to use ornament with our designs and we cannot continue to use ornament as it, “can no longer be borne by someone who exists at our level of culture.” That at his era of time the not only is ornaments made by criminals but it is a crime in its self because of what it does to the economy. Also that ornament is causing problems with labor because workers get paid low wages due to having to work longer to get something with ornament made than something without.
I agree with some parts of his argument as I think that It is a waste of materials and time of workers to make them work longer just for something to have added aesthetics to it while nothing to do with the product is improved and even in some cases hindered. I believe that to a certain extent the main focus should be only on the materials and how well it works because then it just turns into something that’s purpose is reduced to merely the use of looking at it.
One point that Loos argued that I do not agree with however is that “as ornament is no longer organically related to our culture, it is also no longer the expression of our culture.” He is stating that it is a thing of the past ornaments to be used in the modern culture while things should be stripped back to the basic raw form of the object. However I think that as culture evolves there should be no set rule on whether or not there should be ornaments on designs as with the development with “culture” it should be up to the designers of the time to decide how they make their creations aesthetic. For example with this gaming controller decoration, it is an ornament being used that signifies the culture of our modern time.
http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/video_game_controller_ornaments_2.jpg
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