obituary: david pye

David Pye, woodworking, designer and writer, born in November 18, 1914, professor of furniture design, Royal Academy of Arts, 1964-
74, 1985, books include what we see: Ship 1950, nature of design 1964, nature and art of craft 1968, nature and aesthetics of design 1978, marriage 1944 Pa meravor (died 1992;
A son, a daughter)
January 1, 1993 died
David Pyi, a manufacturer of wooden bowls and boxes, is a teacher of several generations of furniture designers, one of the most respected artisans in the UK, among the few to write crafts in a non-emotional manner.
Pye comes from a middle class
Class families with arts and crafts stripes.
His grandfather, John Brett, is a painter. he knows Ruskin and Morris, and the most famous work is the stone craftsman.
An aunt named Sybil Pyle is a bookbinding worker in corkrell\'s tradition, active in her 1930 s.
His father found that the family\'s wine business was not as good as amateur painting, jewelry and furniture design, and boats --building;
A great cavalry officer.
Uncle took a piece of wood.
On a long trip to Mumbai in 1862, use a lathe to entertain yourself. (
Until recently, in the Sussex workshop of David Pai, a flywheel on the trolley bed survived. )
Pye was trained by the Building Association during the heyday of modernism;
Due to his general passion for concrete, he spent a lot of time building boats and decided to specialize in wooden buildings.
But the war stepped in and served in the Navy, leaving, for example, a school for a mining community in Yorkshire (
Expressed like a crocodile to compensate for ground subsidence)unbuilt.
He told Craft magazine in 1976, \"there won\'t be any wood for construction for a long time after the war is over, so I think I\'ll stick to the wood and discard the building.
\"Sticking to wood means designing furniture for industrial production, making carvings, especially large carved bowls, plates and small boxes.
This also means forging.
Other forging tools that are not readily available
Invention: by 1950, Pye had built the \"groove engine\" and he used it to cut smooth, rhythmic grooves on the inner surface of the bowl.
In its 70 s, it was joined together by a smaller machine, carving patterns on the lid of the box. These machines
Basically guide the handtools -
To some extent embodies the concern of Pye\'s works and his craft works.
Their purpose is to bring diversity to the object, to change and to enliven the quality of the surface of the object, to provide something for the eye, to concentrate on the scale between the large shape of the object and the tiny texture of the wood itself.
Pye invented a term for different kinds of processes: \"risk process \"(
This involves the ongoing risk of failure)
The process of affirmation \'(
As with many industrial production, the process should guarantee the result)
\"Free Work \"(
Avoid accurate reproduction of design)
And \"highly regulated work \"(
Exact copy).
The process of the punch engine is quite free. although it is mechanically assisted, the punch port is still a risky process;
Pye described a bowl in his book craft, and one of the flutes cut too deep and jumped out of the eyes of the shallow neighbor, which could be a bit ironic. In the post-
Pye began to teach in the war era-
At the Society of architecture and then at the Royal Academy of Art (
Professor of furniture design from 1964 to 1974)-
Write design and craft.
His first book, what we see: ships, was published in 1950;
A slender volume in the teaching series produced by the Penguin and industrial design board (
Design Committee now)
It contains some ideas.
In particular, his destruction of feminism
He developed in his sixties.
In the nature of the design (1964)
Pye exposes the functional to fantasy.
\"Things don\'t fit their purpose at all \'.
There was once a flint stone suitable for surgery;
Stainless steel is not suitable for this use now.
Everything we design and make is improvisation.
A little incompetent and temporary.
We live like drifters.
But even at this point, we can be gentle and make the most of it.
If we have no way in performance, we will have a way out there.
The essence and art of craft (1968)
Similarly, through a \"Chinese word\" process, from-and by -
Ruskin and Morris
Pye cannot forgive the arts and crafts movement for insisting that \"its craft theory is the only truth \".
That early theory is not going to fire.
The movement neither formulated it precisely, nor criticized it, nor corrected it in its original form --Ruskin\'s.
Because of this, the movement left it with confusion about the craft;
Or process.
From this chapter
The title \"design proposal, process Processing\", Pye begins to eliminate confusion with another method based on the analysis of the object (
Surface quality in particular)
A creator\'s understanding of the reality of creating things. By the 1980s -
Perhaps because of the nature and aesthetics of design (1978)
Combine materials from early books with a firm statement of personal responsibility of the designer\'s rich environment
Pye works in a new (Still small)
A tribe of handicraft writers and craftsmen.
Now there are fewer reports on crafts than in the 1970 s, which must have been caused by the impact of Pye almost underground.
However, when considering these works, one should not forget that most of his wood products are very simple and beautiful.
There are some examples in the loan collection of V & A, arts and crafts research center, Bath and Arts and Crafts Committee.
Those who read the Pye work should check it out first. (
Slightly) photos