das Bauhaus - building house

today i went to the bauhaus archiv, the final resting spot of the bauhaus school of design in berlin. it's amazing to think that a school that moved 3 times (weimar, dessau, berlin) and was only in existence from 1919-1933 could have such an effect on modern design. i guess when there are teachers like kandinsky and klee, and chagall and einstein sit on the board of directors, a school would have no choice but to be influential. my own style preferences come from the bauhaus. you probably have a bauhaus inspired object in your direct line of vision right now. and if you are a bachelor from the 80's then you definitely have one of those black leather and chrome chairs that were inspired by the marcel breuer's 1930 design.

they had a whole theatre design concentration but i went specifically for the textiles, as i am a texticular artist (hee hee, dan hates it when i say that). every female student at the bauhaus was required to take weaving. there were some really amazing weavings there done by gertrude arndt (wife of the teacher alfred arndt). she created intricate designs and used color in completely new ways, including a rug for an office at the school that has become pretty famous. but she never wanted to touch a loom again after completing her 3 years of study. i totally get that. weaving with thread is mind numbing.

now the name bauhaus has been sold to a chain of do-it-yourself home supply stores like home depot. so sad. but the mission of the school was to create usable art, i guess it fits - loosely.

when i got home dan had emailed me a site that teaches cool german phrases. i put a link to it on the sidebar. use at your own risk - like everything you find on this blog. my favorite so far is: alles banane! = everything is fine! (literally everything is banana - ha!)