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12 Technologies That Touch Us

THE RECENT HISTORY OF DESIGN offers an interesting account of society’s relationship to technology, alternately embracing it and becoming nostalgic for simpler days. At the beginning of the 1900s, the Arts and Crafts school was a reaction against the move toward machine-made products. Designers were concerned that quality was being discarded in favor of quantity and low cost. Art Deco became influential in the 1920s and streamlining was a frequent design element. Not only cars but consumer products, such as refrigerators, bicycles, toasters, and even pencil sharpeners, began to look like airplanes. This school embraced new materials, such as stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic, and moved from a plain to a ...

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