ABSTRACT
Furniture is an integral part of architecture and interior design. Defining furniture styles can be arduous because furniture styles evolve in a historical continuum, each reflecting the one preceding it and incubating the one to follow, running concurrently and interweaving or overlapping in both time and place. An awareness of how fundamentally furniture is integrated into the built environment is crucial to understanding its design and development—remembering at certain points in history, furniture was often designed apart from its need to function. Placing furniture in a historical context is crucial for understanding furniture design and its history—time period, social and political factors, wars, marriages, etc. Regarding furniture physiognomics in a historical continuum, the book uses a “pictorial timeline” for reference. This chapter introduces the “pictorial timeline”—a small selection of furniture pieces indicative of the period and that capture the aesthetic spirit of the times chosen. The timeline isn’t extensive, but selective for what the author deems paramount examples. The timeline is crucial to what could be considered analogous to a survey course, Chapters 6–13. It is here the student will survey the “pictorial timeline” applying The Analysis of Form: Nine-Step Methodology, Steps 1–9.
