ABSTRACT
In the first half of the 1960s, Soviet decorative art and design were predominantly characterized by techno-optimism. Industrial design, officially recognized as a profession in 1962 under the labels ‘technical aesthetics’ (theory and methodology) and ‘artistic engineering’ (practice) was to become an aid to science and technology in boosting Soviet economy and creating modern consumer culture, thus securing Soviet soft power in the Cold War competition. Design professionals considered nature primarily as a theme for décor of traditional commodities or as the background for spectacular modernist buildings and complexes. Even though from mid-1960s decorative artists became increasingly critical of modernist uniformity, and industrial designers paid greater attention to the diversity of consumer groups, environmental concerns remained beyond the discourse on material culture – at the same time as Soviet economic organs considered the nascent environmental movement an obstacle to economic progress (Coumel 2013).
