A Global History of Object Design - Michael Smythe

Come along for a fascinating journey following object design through pre-history, classical periods, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, Arts & Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, the Werkbund, The Bauhaus, Modernism, Post-Modernism, Globalism and finally what might come next.

Human-made objects through the ages will be the focus of this course with an emphasis on the design process and the part we all play in the direction it takes us. It will trace the trajectory of object design and making through pre-history, classical periods, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, Arts & Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, the Werkbund, The Bauhaus, Modernism, Post-Modernism, Globalism and what might come next. Participants will be invited to consider the power they wield as consumers making conscious choices.

Michael Smythe spent 30-something years as an industrial design practitioner before completing a Master of Design Management. Having equipped himself to strategize the future, he was invited to teach design history to Bachelor of Product Design students – “because, Michael, you were there for quite a bit of it”. This led to writing NEW ZEALAND BY DESIGN: a history of New Zealand product design (Best First Book of Non-Fiction at the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards). This was followed by GIFFORD JACKSON New Zealand Industrial Design Pathfinder (2013), and DESIGN GENERATION: how Peter Haythornthwaite shaped New Zealand’s design-led enterprise (2018). He is now working on a book that has a more global perspective.