Page "Charles Rennie Mackintosh" Paragraph 11

At the same time a new philosophy concerned with creating functional and practical design was emerging throughout Europe: the so-called " modernist ideas ".

The main concept of the Modernist movement was to develop innovative ideas and new technology: design concerned with the present and the future, rather than with history and tradition.

Heavy ornamentation and inherited styles were discarded.

Even though Mackintosh became known as the ‘ pioneer ’ of the movement, his designs were far removed from the bleak utilitarianism of Modernism.

His concern was to build around the needs of people: people seen, not as masses, but as individuals who needed not a machine for living in but a work of art.

Mackintosh took his inspiration from his Scottish upbringing and blended them with the flourish of Art Nouveau and the simplicity of Japanese forms.