Most people have inherent good taste, but they can't be expected to use it if they can't find good things. Many persons are intimidated by what the stores and advertisements tell them is the proper thing. Many want what their neighbors have. But given an opportunity to have fine things, people will generally choose them. As a result, the American home and office have become standards of good taste throughout the world. To get back to our hypothetical European who loves opera and art and disapproves of our so-called gadget economy. there's probably more bad taste in the form of ugly furniture and hideous decoration in London and Rome than in Pittsburgh and Detroit. But this, too, is changing. As more products of American design find their way into shops and homes of Europe, or are imitated by European manufacturers, the same metamorphosis will occur there as has taken place here. At last we are repaying the debt of culture to the Old World with well-designed, mass-produced goods. Someday, the housewives of the world may join American women in keeping house with less physical effort — surrounded by objects that will sharpen their over-all taste.
Who can say that the lengthening of the life span of the average American is not owing in part to the contributions of the applied arts? Or that better health may not be attributed partly to lessen fatigue and freedom from concern and toil with old-fashioned methods of work in the home?
The same unshackling has taken place in factories and offices. The job of making a living is easier, safer, and more efficient, and pleasanter than it was a quarter century ago. The applied arts have made it possible for average people not only to surround themselves with orderliness and beauty, but to organize their lives so that they have more leisure to devote to other things.
It would be fatuous to assume that every man is constantly aware of the details of his surroundings. I do not believe this to be true. But I am convinced that a well-set dinner table will aid flow of gastric juices; that a well lighted planned classroom is conducive to study; that carefully selected colors choosen with an eye to psychological influence will develop better and more lucrative work habits for the man at the machine; that a quietly designed conference room at the United Nations headquarters might well help influence the representatives to make a calm and just decision.
I believe that man achieves his tallest measure of serenity when surrounded by beauty. We find most serene moments in great cathedrals, in the presence of fine pictures and sculpture, on a university campus, or listening to magnificent music. Industry, technology, and mass-production have made it possible for the average man to surround himself with serenity in his home and in his place of work. Perhaps it is this serenity which we need most in the world today.
- From the book Designing for People / Allworth Press
