Bauhaus

“Form follows function.”

Founded by Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky · Germany, 1919–33

Philosophy

Art and technology are one. The artist is not a special person — everyone is an artist when they make with purpose.

The Story

Bauhaus ran for only 14 years in Germany before the Nazis shut it down. In that time it created the visual vocabulary of the 20th century. Primary shapes — circle, triangle, square — became the alphabet of modern design. "Form follows function" was its battle cry. Art schools before Bauhaus were about beauty for beauty's sake. Bauhaus said: beauty emerges when an object does its job well. The school produced architects, typographers, weavers, painters — all working from the same geometric vocabulary.

Design Parameters

Color Palette

Background

#F5F0E8

Text

#1A1A1A

Accent

#E63946

Alt

#2B4C7E

Typography

Futura, sans-serif

Mood

Utopian, geometric, idealist

Best For

Architecture

Typography

Furniture

Industrial design

Notable Examples

Marcel Breuer Wassily Chair

Herbert Bayer Universal Typeface

Dessau Building

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