19th century designer pieces by Christopher Dresser

Christopher Dresser is one of the most notable designers of his time. He is widely regarded as the UK’s first independent industrial designer. Christopher Dresser was born in Glasgow in 1834. He began his career as a specialist researcher in the field of botany. He studied the relationship between ornament and natural forms. In 1857, the first article on this topic appeared in the Art magazine.

But at the same time, Dresser was interested in designing household items and in 1854 he graduated from the State School of Design. In 1860 he received his Ph.D., but chose design as his main area of ​​interest. In 1862, Dresser opened his own studio in Kesington, London. Even at the beginning of his creative activity, he was attracted by several large companies as a designer.

Metallic sheen, laconic but bold form…

Things created by designer Christopher Dresser seem to be “guests from the future”, accidentally caught in the Victorian era from the 20th century. Who was this mysterious man, whose name remained in oblivion for many years – a scientist, an artist, a prophet?

Dresser impressed his contemporaries with a very wide range of interests – a botanist, a traveler, an artist, a teacher … Now he is known primarily as one of the founders of industrial design in Great Britain, a design theorist and researcher of Meiji Japan.

Dresser wrote several books on botany and received a Ph.D. degree in absentia. He was elected a member of the Edinburgh Botanical and Linnean Societies. At the same time, he founded his own school-studio design and began to practice in this area.

In 1876, Dresser had a stormy romance with … Japan.

This year he travels two thousand miles across Japan as a representative of the South Kensington Museum, founded by Prince Albert Consort. Dresser’s task was to study the arts and crafts, culture and crafts of Japan, as well as to collect a collection of the most interesting objects. This journey changed Dresser’s views on design – he was convinced that experimenting with form was more promising than inventing ornaments.

Unlike William Morris, who at the same time turned to medieval crafts, Dresser realized that the industrial revolution could neither be canceled nor ignored. He considered it necessary to develop the design of objects for industrial production – rational and harmonious.

If the things created by the Arts and Crafts Movement and Morris and Company were fresh, beautiful, sophisticated and scary expensive, Dresser decided on a principle to design products “for working people” – affordable products for the middle class.

Dresser was not afraid to take on unusual projects.

He worked for a coal mining company, designed household items that were to be made of metal, designed carpets, glass, metal and ceramics. Dresser despised Victorian furniture and household items with an abundance of decorations, preferring to search for an interesting form over decoration.

The product had to serve the function for which it was made – later this approach was fully embodied by the functionalists. Beauty is, first of all, a strict logic of proportions and expressiveness of form, and not an insane abundance of decor that makes it difficult to interact with a thing and take care of it.

Customers noted that Dresser knew production technologies better than people who worked directly at this production – he believed that it was necessary to study materials and equipment in order to find the best option for creating household items.

design theory

Simultaneously with the creation of household items, Dresser continued to study design theory, publishing several books – The Art of Decorative Design, The Development of Decorative Art at an International Exhibition, and Principles of Design. He viewed design as a harmony of Beauty and Truth, and Truth must be found by science.

It is known that Dresser designed a huge number of objects for porcelain factories, was engaged in household and decorative pottery, including work for Wedgwood, but, apparently, a significant part of his heritage is not attributed.

After Dresser’s death in 1904, the studio was inherited by his two daughters, but it did not last long without its founder. The name of Christopher Dresser, the forerunner of functionalism, was forgotten for many years and remained in the shadow of his more successful colleague, William Morris, almost to the present.