Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Mingei: Favor forms that line up together and avoid one piece standing out
- Type
- Set in Mingei's manner (Minimal marking, wording that states the use rather than the maker), and let Scandinavian Modern's lettering (Quiet sans at modest size that never competes with the object) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Mingei's material (Local materials and standing glazes, the same form made many times); bring in exactly one thing from Scandinavian Modern (Pale wood, teak, bent plywood, wool, and milky opal glass).
- Colour
- Build on #dfcc9d, #a66b3b, #3e271d and admit one accent from #ece6d8, #9a8b73, #3c514d.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Mingei The moment individual authorship is asserted the premise of anonymity collapses, and what remains is expensive craft merely performing plainness.
- Scandinavian Modern Copying only the warmth of materials leaves a Nordic surface, so resolve comfort and manufacturing, and check the climate, the welfare state, the craft and industry link, and differences between countries.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Mingei (style, 1926–) and their accent from Scandinavian Modern (style, late 1940s–1960s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Mingei exists for: setting the form and the reachable price of everyday wares meant for daily use, or retail and presentation that make the maker and the region the subject. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Mingei - Anonymous craftsmanship - Form following use - The steadiness born of repetition - Local materials and hand habits Composition: Favor forms that line up together and avoid one piece standing out. Type and lettering: Minimal marking, wording that states the use rather than the maker. ## Accent comes from Scandinavian Modern, used sparingly - Lucid function - Natural materials - Body-following curves - Restrained color Let one material quality come from it: Pale wood, teak, bent plywood, wool, and milky opal glass. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #dfcc9d, carry the structure in #a66b3b and #3e271d, and let a single accent come from #9a8b73. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: calm, intimacy, trust. ## What goes wrong - Mingei: The moment individual authorship is asserted the premise of anonymity collapses, and what remains is expensive craft merely performing plainness. - Scandinavian Modern: Copying only the warmth of materials leaves a Nordic surface, so resolve comfort and manufacturing, and check the climate, the welfare state, the craft and industry link, and differences between countries. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Mingei 1926– / Style / Craft Movements
Yanagi Sōetsu and his circle found 'the beauty of use' in the everyday wares of unnamed craftsmen. By making anonymity, repetition and utility the measure of healthy form, the movement became the bedrock of Japanese design thought.
- Scandinavian Modern late 1940s–1960s / Style / Scandinavian Design
Joins function and mass production to the warmth of natural materials, curves that follow the body, and clear usable form.
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