Pattern and Ornament: Readings - Ivins, William M. ""Ornament" and the Sources of Design in the Decorative Arts."

Readings: Ivins, William M. ""Ornament" and the Sources of Design in the Decorative Arts." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13, no. 2 (1918): 35-41

   This article talks about how there is a difference between the design and the craftsmanship of something, and he goes on to compare it to music and how the executant and the composer are completely different although very similar. Ivins also talks about how a designer can design something but any craftsman can then recreate it countless times, which kind of makes it lose its charm. He also talks about how designers were primarily ornamentists and the craft part of actually making the designs come to life came secondarily.

   I think what Ivins is trying to say in this article is that in todays institutions we are only taught about designs that already exist and have been recreated an endless amount of times and then we are focused more on the idea of learning the actual craft of making these things rather than creating new designs. But also everything has already been done before, we only recreate those same designs in a different light. Ornament has been used since the beginning of time to just make everything look more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. So we just keep recycling those ornaments and adapting them to the current day.