So how do you choose? Shop around, bring samples home, read our guide-and you’re on your way. And more good news: As demand and improvements in manufacturing have made the style options soar, they’ve also brought prices down. In terms of performance, livability, and hygiene, it offers an impervious surface that inhibits mold, mildew, and bacteria. “Glass mosaic tiles offer so much variety today, you can really put your own stamp on a room,” says Bellavita Tile’s Ryan Fasan, an 18-year veteran of the industry.īut glass mosaic tile is more than just a pretty face. They show off plenty of special effects, too, from “hammered” metallics to matte sea glass to textural treatments that mimic variegated stone or woven fabric. He also can never resist a bit of whimsical wit, and at the end of Circle throws in a monowheel - a circular bicycle.Įven if you’re not a designer, the trilogy on shapes encourages a closer look at the repeating structures around us and their deep human and natural histories, in which the simple square can simultaneously be an ancient symbol with “the power to drive out the plague,” and the boundaries for a game of chess.From a design perspective, glass mosaic tiles provide wonderful opportunities to play with color, whether subdued neutrals or bold brights. Still there are symbolic patterns that emerge, such as the circle that often “deals with the divine.” Munari includes the sun disk of the Egyptian god Ra, the ouroboros biting its tale symbolizing eternity, a Raphael painting of the Madonna, magic circles, a Gothic rose window, and the crown of thorns. Much of the information can feel random, with just two pages in Square including the Chinese character for mouth, the Sumerian word for house, the square Tokyo home of architect Makoto Masuzawa, the proportions of a French cathedral, and a photograph of the early computer “electric brain.” The subjects are all arranged alphabetically (according to their Italian names), adding a level of objectivity Square, for instance, begins with the Hellenistic plan of the Agora of Ephesus and a 1951 Josef Albers painting, and concludes with a sculptural model by Mary Vieira and blocky Chinese calligraphy by Wang Hsi-Chih. Pages from ‘Bruno Munari: Square Circle Triangle’ Enigmatic in its simplicity, in the monotonous repetition of its four sides, its four identical corners, it can generate a whole series of interesting figures. In Square, he writes:Īs tall and as broad as a man with his arms outstretched, the square has always been used, from the oldest writings and rock engravings made by early man, to signify the idea of an enclosure, a house, a village. He never nails down what any of the shapes are, yet looks at every aspect of what they mean, where they appear, and even their significance in language. However, there’s a broad appreciation possible for this eccentric exploration of the three shapes through Munari’s omnivorous approach. Munari created over 60 books for various audiences during his lifetime (they were chronicled in last year’s Munari’s Books by art historian Giorgio Maffei), and he mainly intended the shape books for fellow designers. “Knowing everything about this simple, basic shape, in all its aspects and formal and structural possibilities, is a great help to designers,” he writes in Triangle. The books are fascinating to explore together in this new reissue, which guards Munari’s original black-and-white design in a square-shaped book. Munari had published La Scoperta del Quadrato ( The Discovery of the Square) a few years earlier in 1960, and then La Scoperta del Triangolo ( The Discovery of the Triangle) - specifically the equilateral triangle - in 1976.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |