From the early 1890s, a close-knit circle of around 75 designers operated in Glasgow, amongst whom are counted Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald. These would later go on to be defined as a distinct group with a predominant style to their output, commonly known as the Glasgow Style.
While largely local to the city of Glasgow, they and their work had a far-reaching impact at the time and today continue to enjoy worldwide interest and appeal.
Despite this, surprisingly little written material or formal research exists on the subject.
The Glasgow Style website aims to provide a central hub of information on the subject and on the key designers working in the style and their output.
Guidance is provided on typical features and motifs, with the aim of providing greater clarity around what makes an antique or a designer Glasgow Style.
The design style known as the Glasgow Style ran from the early 1890s to around 1914. While largely local to the city of Glasgow, it had an extensive and far-reaching impact in its time and today continues to enjoy world-wide interest and appeal.
The Glasgow Style was not a formal movement as such. Its designers did not have a shared ideology. Their common ground was Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Art, with little known or documented on their beliefs or motivations. Influences and design characteristics were largely shared with other prominent design styles of the time - the Aesthetic and the Arts and Crafts Movements and European Art Nouveau. Mediums most common to the Glasgow Style are metal, wood, ceramics, glass, stained glass, illustration, textiles, and interiors.
Today Charles Rennie Mackintosh is the name most with the Glasgow Style - but in fact there were over 70 other designers operating in the Style.
Despite the commercial success of Glasgow Style designers and its continuing popularity today, surprisingly little written material or formal research exists on the subject
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