Lighting

With this assignment I focused on how an object reflects the changes in the culture and technical innovation of the times. With the chandelier as my case study I found how the aesthetic, purpose and meaning of a chandelier changed over time. In the beginning the chandelier evolved as a better way to disperse light throughout a room. It then evolved as a symbol of status and great wealth with the addition of crystals, which in addition to being visually amazing disperses light through out a room better than normal candle chandeliers. With the onset of the industrial revolution and the electrification of the West the chandelier started to come in many different styles and became accessible to a greater number of people. Finally with the chandelier becoming an ordinary object accessible to the masses it became the subject of artists and designers and you start to see visually and conceptually beautiful and strange creations emerge. Most every object with a history follows a similar story. It is created out of necessity, it is then refined and improved with technical innovations, it becomes mass produced in many different styles for the masses, then it becomes the subject of art and design. This timeline of objects closely follows and reflects what was going on in the world at that time. It is important to look at objects with their historical context in mind because you can gain a greater understanding of how that object came to be.