In today’s society, many designers are remembered by the world, such as Le Corbusier (1887 — 1965), Marcel Breuer (1902 — 1981), Massimo Vignelli (1931 — 2014), etc. They are all famous designers. However, in my researchof famous designers, I found thatalmost is mandesigners, just have several female designers are remembered.Why is this happening? What causes it? Why are female designers forgotten? I wrote this blog about these questions.

After my research, I found that a female designer named Sophia Hayden, her ability is very strong, but she was forgotten by the world. Sophia Hayden (1868 — 1953) was an American architect and the first female graduate of a four-year program in architecture at the Massachusetts institute of technology (Wikipedia, 2019). And Hayden won the national competition to design the Woman’s Building for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (Remembering Sophia Hayden, architect of the Woman’s Building, 2018). After Hayden graduated, she accepted a job as a mechanical drawing teacher at a high school in Boston because she was a woman and might have trouble finding an entry-level apprenticeship (Wikipedia, 2019). After a series of sexism, she became frustrated with the unfairness and broke down. She decided to retire from architecture (or maybe not), but she stopped being an architect. In 1894, she designed a Memorial Building for the Women’s Clubs of America, but it was never constructed. She later married artist William Bennett, and her name slipped into obscurity. When she died in 1953, Bennett died at the Winthrop Convalescent Nursing Home in 1953, her obituary did not even note her accomplishment (Remembering Sophia Hayden, architect of the Woman’s Building, 2018).

In her life, she graduated from MIT in 1890 with a degree in architecture, with honors. However, graduated in architecture was difficult to find work as a woman architect, so she accepted a position as a technical drawing teacher at a school in Boston. It was the first time she had experienced sexism, this shows that woman is not treated fairly when they look for jobs. In 1891, she saw a notice inviting female architects to take part in a competition. This is a women’s building for the world’s Columbian exposition, and this project is significant because women plan every aspect of the building. Hayden won the competition, she was number one in this competition, and she designed a three-story white building, the building including pavilions at the center and end, multiple arches and columned terraces. The classical features of the building in the style of the Italian Renaissance. She was paid only $1,000 for her designs, while some male architects earned $10,000 for similar buildings. This is the second time she has been subjected to sexism，this shows women are not treated fairly regardingpay. Hayden’s architecture won for its “exquisite style, artistic taste, and intimate and elegant interior lobby.” However, despite her gold medal from the women’s governing council, male commentators have been rather arrogant, claiming the structure has “feminine” qualities such as elegance and grace. This is the third time she has been subjected to sexism, this shows women are not treated fairly regardingdesign. Rumours that she had a nervous breakdown was taken as evidence that women were unfit to work in construction. After the fair, the women’s pavilion was demolished, and Hayden, frustrated with how he had been treated, quit architecture.  In her career, the Woman’s Building is the only one Hayden has ever designed.

Regardinggender discrimination, I have read a book called Design and Culture: The Journal of The Design Studies Forum, in which men can actually determine women’s aesthetic taste. They believe that the women have white skin are good-looking, which leads to the fact that women all over the world want white skin. During Sophia Hayden’s career,her works were always restricted by men, which led to many ideas that could not be realized, causing a heavy blow to her body and soul. Therefore, she decided not to design architecture and quit the industry. So much so that she was marginalized by society, and even her only architectural work was demolished, and there was no trace of her design in this world.

After the above detailed analysis of Sophia Hayden, I came to a conclusion. The reason why mostly famous designers are male designers is that there was discrimination against women in the early society, which led to the oppression of many talented female designers and their inability to show their strength, which resulted in their marginalization and made their information inaccessible to the present audience. Sophia Hayden is a typical example. After being oppressed, she chose to quit the construction industry with her outstanding ability, which makes it a pity that another excellent work is missing in the history of design.

I think society values men and treats women with sexism. This may be because men are in the dominant position in the society and family, while women tend to be treated unfairly due to their disadvantage. I hope there will be no more sexism in our society. Men and women are equal, and they do or perform the same duties in the society, we need to equal employment opportunities, equal wages, equal treatment of design outcomes and so on.

References:

En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Sophia Hayden. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Hayden [Accessed 11 Apr. 2019].

Blumberg, N. (2019). Sophia Hayden | American architect. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sophia-Hayden [Accessed 11 Apr. 2019].

Onafuwa, D. (2018). Allies and Decoloniality: A Review of the Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics, and Power Symposium. Design and Culture, 10(1), pp.7-15.

Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair. (2018). Remembering Sophia Hayden, architect of the Woman’s Building – Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair. [online] Available at: https://worldsfairchicago1893.com/2018/10/17/sophia-hayden/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2019].

The series of flax project by Christien Meindertsma aims to uncover the material’s rich history and showcase both its utilitarian capabilities and the work of craftspeople who specialize in working with it (Flax Project: Christien Meindertsma’s Newest Work, 2019). Meindertsma’s passion lies in uncovering the processing of raw materials and the lengthy journey these materials take a route to finished products (Flax Project: Christien Meindertsma’s Newest Work, 2019).

Christien Meindertsma is a female designer and born in Dutch. Meindertsma’s idea often focus to different products and research the use of raw material.From early on in her career, Christien Meindertsma has made an international name for herself with her inquisitive and explorative approach to the world and the products that surround us (Meindertsma, 2019). During the creation of her work, the result of her project may be a record of the process itself, or it may be an investigation and a reference to commercial products. After detailed investigation and documentation, locally produced themes and undeveloped resources feature in her work. Meindertsma seeks to uncover processes that have become distant industrialization and encourage a deeper understanding of the materials and products around us. Meindertsma has spent several years researching the possibilities of flax, even investing in crop from a flax farm to better understand the plant’s cultivation and processing (Christien Meindertsma designs fully biodegradable chair using flax, 2019).

“What I like about flax is that it’s a precious material that was traditionally used for high-quality fabric, but also the fact that the plant grows really well in our climate,” said the Dutch designer. “There’s a good reason to work with the plant, because it needs very little to grow.” (Christien Meindertsma designs fully biodegradable chair using flax, 2019).

The flax chair is designed in 2015, won the Dutch Design Award and Future Award in 2016 and manufactured in 2017. The main material is flax fibre (Linum usitatissimum) and polylactic acid ed. During the process of flax chair, her purchased an entire harvest of a Dutch flax farmer with the ambition of exploring show flax products might stay more locally produced, this is a typical of Meindertsma’s approach. From 2009 to 2015, she devoted her time to document the cultivation and harvesting of flax in the Netherlands. She teamed up with Label/Breed and natural fiber specialist Enkev to develop a new Breed of bioplastics that combines flax and PLA. It’s a groundbreaking material that combines natural flax fibers with powerful bioplastics and is hot-pressed in molds. The chair is made of a piece of composite material, which is rarely wasted. The flax chair is biodegradable and rugged, its volume and texture are hemp, and the resulting product is cheap, environmentally friendly and sustainable. 

Kant differentiates between different kinds of beauty. Pure beauty, which is considered non-useful. Another kind of beauty is that which has a purpose (Good Taste vs. Good Design: A Tug of War in the Light of Bling, 2012).The beauty of the flax chair is the second kind of beauty, the beauty of purpose. The purpose of the flax chair is to be environmentally friendly, produce almost no waste of materials, and have a good texture. This makes the flax chairs very tasteful. However, Meindertsma believes that as a designer, it is easy to make beautiful things, but these beautiful things may be useless or unproductive, so these things should not be the purpose of the designer’s design objects. Designers should design things that solve problems. Therefore, Meindertsma believes that pure beauty is considered useless without good taste.

I know this project is great for the innovation of materials and design concept, but my question is, do you think the flax chair has a good taste? What would an audience choose if it had a flax chair and a bling chair? Do viewers value the intrinsic value of an object more than the physical beauty of an object? Is it bad taste to like a useless work of art？

In my opinion, the flax chair represents that the materials used to make things can be pure natural and not waste the earth’s resources. It’s a great piece of art that helps to people realize that there are a lot of materials that need to be innovated to create things that don’t waste the earth’s resources. Good design has the capacity to solve problems that sometimes we didn’t even know we had.When designers look at an object, they should not only consider it is aesthetic appearance, but they should also challenge it to make it more functional, to meet the needs of the user, or to achieve its purpose more gracefully. However, it is debatable the audience’s choice of such a chair is good taste, and choice of useless design is bad taste.

References:

Housele, L. (2016). Interview: Christien Meindertsma | 2016/ Arita. [online] 2016/ Arita. Available at: https://cri-arita.com/2016/interviews/interview-christien-meindertsma.html [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].

Urback, M. (2019). Flax Project: Christien Meindertsma’s Newest Work | handful of salt. [online] Handfulofsalt.com. Available at: http://www.handfulofsalt.com/flax-project-christien-meindertsmas-newest-work/ [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].

Meindertsma, C. (2019). Christien Meindertsma. [online] Designskolen Kolding. Available at: https://www.designskolenkolding.dk/en/calendar/christien-meindertsma [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Tucker, E. (2019). Christien Meindertsma designs fully biodegradable chair using flax. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/14/christien-meindertsma-flax-chair-furniture-design-biodegradable-dutch-design-week-2016-awards/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Roodnat, S. (2019). christienmeindertsma. [online] Christienmeindertsma.com. Available at: https://christienmeindertsma.com/Flax-Chair [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Christoforidou, D., Olander, E., Warell, A. and Holm, L. (2012). Good Taste vs. Good Design: A Tug of War in the Light of Bling. The Design Journal, 15(2), pp.185-202.