This thesis argues that a unique design ideology manifested in Soviet Estonia during the
Late Socialist period. It was a combination of broader Soviet design ideologies
concerned with material practices and the control of production, and Western design
influences that were more apparent in Estonia than elsewhere in the Soviet Union and
provided aesthetic guidance in a vacuum of Soviet style. This research allows for the
first time a determination of the characterising qualities of Estonia’s Late Socialist
industrial design, as well as provision of a new contextual framework for considering
Soviet design ideas more broadly.
To date, studies of Soviet design have focused on object aesthetics, leaving authors who
are then faced with the absence of a consistent Soviet style to assume an equally absent
Soviet design ideology. However, while it is not necessarily visible in the appearance of
products, a tangible Soviet design ideology existed in bureaucratic apparatuses, material
practices and accompanying textual materials. This thesis uses oral history and archival
research to provide a detailed analysis of the Soviet ideology operating within one
cultural monad of the wider USSR. In doing so it breaks away from the emphasis on
Russia as the totality of 20th century Soviet socialism to make a first important step
toward a more substantial history of Soviet production. Estonia can be understood as a
meeting point between two major world design cultures, and from its example we can
better understand the characteristics, functioning, and impact of different design
ideologies.
Date of Award | Jul 2015 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | |
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Industrial designers within the Soviet Estonian design ideology of the Late Socialist period, 1965-1988
Jerlei, T. (Author). Jul 2015
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis