Henna Candles

Henna comes from a natural leaf that is made into a paste. It’s applied to hands, arms, and feet of the bride. This application has its own separate ceremony during traditional Indian weddings. Over the years, henna design and uses are more modernized. The paste is now applied to everyday household items, such as candles, vases, lamp shades, furniture… etc. Now instead of piping the cone with the natural paste, acrylic paint is piped in, and can be used on these items as well as paintings. Design wise, instead of creating patterns and various shadings using one color, multiple colors and hues are using. These are also used to replace a solid shades of color in modern day designs. The need for this technique and design has become a large business and is spreading to other cultures. Traditional uses for items are now used for more decorative purposes.

The objects of this image sit on a flat surface, which is brown and sleek with textured streaks that run across it while the subjects  reflect across the top. The design is primarily based off of square shaped structures that are placed in the foreground and background. The object is white and slightly transparent and becomes richer and darker in color as you look towards the middle. There is a string that extends out from the center of the structure. Floral designs are randomly placed on the cubic form and the patterns are outlined in black and shaded in with gold lines. Yellow and red dots are placed in circles towards the center of the flower surrounding a diamond gem is in the very center.

These are amongst the common designs and objects found at weddings and parties used for decoration purposes. They are often made with paint however, because the paste with chip off the sleek surface of the candle. Various candle types are typically placed around an idol, or on a large round plate, that is also decorated with these designs. This enhances the natural elegance that candles bring to an environment. Not only can they attract our sense of smell if scented, but also are visually appealing.

Lucian Bernhard

Lucian Bernhard was a German designer who earned his place in the art world with his poster design. He began working in poster and advertising because this was the work that he had been doing before he became a name in the art world. Emerging as an artist following the Art Nouveau period, his designs were simple, clean, and minimal in color. Bernhard, as an emerging design, was paving the way for a new style of art and he didn’t even realize that it was happening. Bernhard also did not have a lot of confidence in his work, he did not think that he was good at his craft and had almost given up on design before being discovered. As his artistic career developed, he expanded his horizons and began designing typography, packaging, and textiles as well.

One of his early works was an advertisement done for Manoli cigarettes. This advertisement features a heavy, dark background with a teal type treatment of the company name at the top of the image that spans the width of the image. The next aspect of this design is the flat image of the cigarette box and cigarettes, which is located in the left third of the picture plane. The purpose of this advertisement was to picture only the brand name and the product that they produced. This advertisement, and the others like it that he created, are significant because they were the early development as what eventually would be known as an object poster.

Many companies used this poster style at this time in order to advertise their product. Over time, this flat style that Bernhard had developed expanded into a more colorful, realistic style. The way that Bernhard treated his typography remained mostly the same. He used bold, capital letters that then had another border around them as well to allow for more thickness and more attention. In the advertisement design that he did for Bosch, a car parts company, we can see a much more developed style with more dynamic colors and textures throughout the piece.

While Bernhard’s style was simple, his principle was a legacy in its own. His style was simple and to the point with the display of the company name and then an image of a product that they sold or manufactured. We see this style applied in our own time now because many companies basically use this same principle. For example, in a perfume ad for Moschino and their fragrance Couture, you can see that the product and the brand name are the main focal points of the advertisement. This advertisement does have modern trends of influence but at a basic level of understanding it uses the same principle the Bernhard did. This method of advertisement that he developed clearly works which is why it is still influential to us in modern day.

 

For more reading: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/lucian-bernhard/

Information was also taken for class lectures and the class textbook.