Chapter 75 / A History of Jewelry Design

The double-winged farohar motif surrounded by six Amesha Spentas (archangels). Achaemenid era Persian earring. Gold with cloisonné style inlays of turquoise, carnelian, and lapis lazuli. Diameter: 5.1 cm . Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Chapter 75

A History of Jewelry Design

Jewelry has been a form of visual communication from the start of human history, and from the beginning it has always assumed a form of personal adornment while  it projected a type of status symbol up to the position of kings and emperors. It is likely that from an early date Jewelry was also worn as a protection from the dangers of life, and as a conduit for dealing with mystical aspects of culture. Jewelry made from shells, stone and bones has survived from prehistoric times. In the ancient world the discovery of how to work metals was an important stage in the development of the art of jewelry. Over time, metalworking techniques became more sophisticated and decoration more intricate. In many cultures, as we shall see, jewelry was frequently included in burials and at times was offered to various temples by believers. The contextual information uncovered through excavations provides important clues about beliefs, customs, cultures, relationships, and the use of jewelry as talismans. Of course, one has to be extremely careful in these types of analysis, as Megan Cifarelli(2009) has argued at times various exhibitions provide misleading information. For example, in the absence of detailed contextual information for the following Mesopotamian necklace an exhibition text was focusing on"the use of materials such as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian, shell, and agate" Cifarelli argues:

Chapter 77 / The designer as 'author’

Chapter 77

The designer as 'author’

Rose petals let us scatter
And fill the cup with red wine
The firmaments let us shatter
And come with a new design

Hafez of Shiraz (1326–1390)

But now that the Socratic culture can only hold the scepter of its infallibility with trembling hands; now that it has been shaken from two directions—once by the fear of its own consequences which it at length begins to surmise, and again because it no longer has its former naïve confidence in the eternal validity of its foundation—it is a sad spectacle to see how the dance of its thought rushes longingly toward ever-new forms, to embrace them, and then, shuddering, lets them go suddenly as Mephistopheles does the seductive Lamiae.

Chapter 79 / A History of Color, Color Wheel, and Psychological Impact of Color

 

Chapter 79

A History of Color, Color Wheel, and Psychological Impact of Color

One of the most important communication tools easily picked out by the human eye is color. The Optical Society of America classifies a range of between 7.5 and 10 million hues, which the normal human eye can theoretically distinguish (Eco, 1985). At the same time, the Dictionary of Color (Maerz & Paul, 1953) lists just over 3000 English color names. Gage (1995) suggested that as a result of our inability to call so many colors by name, the modern color systems have resorted to numbers in order to distinguish perceptible differences of hues and values. For many color is a way to express feelings, for others it affects how they feel, and yet for some others the notion of color is so intertwined with culture and religion that color itself takes on profound meaning.  According to Nassau (1998):

Chapter 78 / Navajo Indians sand painting

 

Chapter 78

Navajo Indians sand painting

"See, I fill this sacred pipe with the bark of the red willow; but before we smoke it, you must see how it is made and what it means. These four ribbons hanging here on the stem are the four quarters of the universe. The black one is for the west where the thunder beings live to send us rain; the white one for the north, whence comes the great white cleansing wind; the red one for the east, whence springs the light and where the morning star lives to give men wisdom; the yellow for the south, whence come the summer and the power to grow. But these four spirits are only one Spirit after all, and this eagle feather here is for that One, which is like a father, and also it is for the thoughts of men that should rise high as eagles do." 

 

Black Elk (1863-1950) Oglala Sioux holy man

Chapter 80 A / The History of Pakistani Visual Communication Design on Trucks

Chapter 80 A

The History of Pakistani Visual Communication Design on Trucks

In the realm of vernacular design, few phenomena capture the imagination quite like the kaleidoscopic world of Pakistani truck art. This distinctive form of mobile expression, which transforms utilitarian vehicles into traveling galleries, represents one of South Asia's most compelling examples of democratic art—where the mundane metamorphoses into the magnificent through an alchemical blend of folk tradition, religious devotion, and contemporary visual culture.

Chapter 81 / Living in a graphic universe: the earth houses of Gurunsi people

Chapter 81

Living in a graphic universe: the earth houses of Gurunsi people

Tiébélé the main village of the Kassena tribe situated in the southern region of Burkina Faso bordering northern Ghana is characterized by its sophisticated Gurunsi decorated architecture. The majority of the Kassena tribe and its neighboring Frafra tribe  still live in these elegantly designed homes made of mud walls, usually a mixture of clay, straw and cow dung, either round or more rectilinear in form; though modern techniques have helped in the building process, utilizing mud bricks and stone foundations. The geometric forms of the home is very significant, the square home is only for married couple and the rectangular home is for bachelors, who are too old to live with parents but not yet married.

Chapter 84 / The San Francisco School - Psychedelic Revolution

 

Chapter 84

The San Francisco School - Psychedelic Revolution

The word “psychedelic” is a combination of the Greek words psyche and delos, and means “mind manifesting” or “soul manifesting.” Contrary to a prevalent myth about the role of mind-altering drugs in creation of this art, most revolutionary artists of this school including Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Bonnie MacLean, Lee Conklin, Stanley Mouse and others had artistic talent, some formal art training and adhered to strict aesthetic discipline. Almost all the experiments that relied solely on the hallucinating impact of psychedelic drugs ended-up in total failure.

Art and design The ongoing fight to replace racist monuments in the US: ‘requires a lot of perseverance’

Art and design

The ongoing fight to replace racist monuments in the US: ‘requires a lot of perseverance’

Since a reckoning brought awareness to problematic statues across the country, the road to replacing them has been slow and arduous

Briana Ellis-Gibbs

Sun 29 Jun 2025 10.18 BST

 

Manolo Blahnik

Life’s Work: Manolo Blahnik

by Alison Beard 

The Magazin, December 2010

Manolo Blahnik is one of the world’s most successful shoe designers. Raised by his Spanish mother and Czech father on a banana plantation in the Canary Islands, he studied law, languages, and art in Geneva and Paris before opening his London boutique in 1973. His eponymous company now has shops or department store concessions in 20 countries, yet Blahnik has retained full control of the business and still designs every shoe—even hand-carving the wooden form around which it’s crafted—himself.