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EDITOR'S WORD

Inspired by rapidly developing technologies during the last century, people from all walks of life got caught up in the excitement of inventing something new, useful and better. For designers, who have always been inventors, the period was heady with possibility.

For many, design was a hands-on process: they devised new materials and fabrication methods when existing ones fell short, and they sometimes built their designs themselves. Celebrated Florida architect Alfred Browning Parker not only worked out strategies for the hot and humid Florida climate, he constructed his houses, including much of the furniture, with his own hands, his gaggle of children pitching in according to age. Han Pieck, Dutch designer of one of the first chairs crafted from a single piece of plywood, fabricated his own plywood and figured out how to mold the chair in one step using variable electrical currents. French furniture designer Pierre Paulin brought a new way of fabricating and upholstering furniture to the Dutch company Artifort where he, and subsequent designers there, were granted free rein to fulfill their sometimes quirky visions. Many of the products that resulted are classics today. American artist Mary Nohl, who tried her hand at a multitude of techniques, left a wonderfully varied body of work, including the jewelry she fashioned from her parents’ silver service and pebbles from the beaches of Lake Michigan.

Some inventions were simply good ideas. The Leisurama project proposed a new way of providing affordable seaside vacation homes to the middle class: the house, land, furniture, drapes, even the toothbrushes were sold as a package at Macy’s department store. Belgian architect Robert Mallet-Stevens imagined the built environment as a “total work of art.” He nurtured relationships with the most creative artists of his day who contributed doors, hardware, stained glass, furniture and other elements to his architectural projects, like the 1927 Villa Martel, the only intact house of an entire street he designed in Paris.

And, while we didn’t invent the software, our new online edition, which debuted with our anniversary issue last spring, makes us feel a bit like pioneers. We have had extremely positive feedback, especially from readers who like the easy access to our advertisers’ websites and from foreign subscribers, who no longer have to wait weeks for a look at the magazine. The online edition’s flexibility allows us to include late-breaking news as well as bonus material, like this issue’s interview with Alfred Browning Parker and our new Preservation Corner, which features endangered architecture alerts. We are also introducing
a special advertising section, Modern Marketplace. Visit www.modernismmagazine.com to register for instant access to the online edition. Many thanks to Apartment Therapy, a fabulous online forum for home design, for sponsoring the summer online edition. Visit them at www.apartmenttherapy.com

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