Trading Spaces: When Art Meets Design

What happens when the boundaries of art and design are blurred? When we fuse the two concepts together to create something so exquisite that at times its beauty can overshadow its function? Is the designer truly an artist? Or is the artist really a designer? What truly defines each role in today’s market?

Traditionally an artist will create something whose sole purpose is to inspire and evoke emotions from the people who view it. They create one piece. This is their artwork. A traditional designer will create a piece that is meant to usually serve a duel purpose, such as a lighting designer, and can easily be replicated and sold many times over. A designer creates a model that is mass produced for consumers. However, the marketplace has virtually erased the boundaries that used to separate these industries.

Artists like Thomas Kincaid now mass produce their artwork. They rely solely on the brand name of the artist to sell the art. The unique qualities of the artwork are lost so the masses can enjoy the art at discounted prices. Usually, the artwork that is sold like this will be limited to a certain amount produced to maintain the value of the artwork, but it is still much more than what is usually accepted as art. Also, the artist takes a step back from the production of these pieces, often having other artists simply follow the pattern of the original piece. The only thing the artist may have touched on that particular piece is the name in the corner.

Designers have also crossed the boundaries of their trade by offering only one of a particular piece or a limited number of designs that are hand crafted. For instance, all of the lighting designs that we offer at Iris Design Studio are individually hand crafted, not mass produced and stored in a warehouse. This makes our lighting designs more like pieces of artwork than true designs. It also gives these pieces more value because there are a limited number that have been created. Also, the actual lighting designer still maintains control over the production of all the products and doesn’t hand the work over to other designers.

The fine line that once divided art and design has been virtually eliminated and it is for the consumer to truly judge for themselves whether a piece is art or design. The amount of pieces in production is usually a good indicator, as well as who is actually involved in the piece’s production. Ultimately beauty is in the eye of the beholder however, and so art is defined not in the artist’s eye but in the eye of the person who will appreciate it for its beauty or the powerful emotions it can evoke from all who look upon it.