Christopher Dresser

Christopher Dresser was the first modern designer as well as a botanist, theorist and traveller. Dresser knew that mass production called for a new approach to design. Increasing wealth brought with it insatiable demands for novelty and variety. Dresser was able to meet these without transgressing the conventions of good taste. His best work is timeless - and not merely within the confines of the machine age. Dresser ran a large design office for over 40 years and kept pace with changes in taste. He nevertheless maintained his artistic integrity. he wrote perceptively about design. His "Art of Decorative Design", 1862, is the earliest book which actually shows how design can be originated. His book on Japan is the first account, by a Westerner, of the true nature of Japanese crafts. The product of many years of research, this detailed study contains much new and revealing biographical material. Although many of Dresser's designs have become well known, his thinking on design has never been seen before in relation to the intellectual infrastructure and his complex era. The interaction between his botanical ideas and design is examined in considerable detail.
His training in design is similarly studied in depth. Detailed notes amplify the text.