1 00:00:04,927 --> 00:00:08,203 Here's what they don't teach at art school. 2 00:00:10,247 --> 00:00:15,002 When nations go to war, design is in the frontline. 3 00:00:17,007 --> 00:00:22,320 Skills that in peacetime are devoted to making the world a better place 4 00:00:22,367 --> 00:00:28,317 are used in wartime to devise better ways for people to kill each other. 5 00:00:29,567 --> 00:00:32,684 lt's what you might call ''a guilty secret''. 6 00:00:35,007 --> 00:00:38,317 One thing that wartime does to the design process is to acceIerate it. 7 00:00:38,367 --> 00:00:43,964 It acceIerates the industriaI process and the process of creating, shaping, machines, objects. 8 00:00:50,007 --> 00:00:54,444 The Second World War was a global clash of politics and ideology. 9 00:00:56,567 --> 00:01:02,164 And at the heart of this struggle lay, as ever, a brutal design contest. 10 00:01:05,127 --> 00:01:09,120 Our instinct as regimentaI soIdiers at that time was, 11 00:01:09,167 --> 00:01:12,398 ''We're not going to stand much of a chance against this sort of thing.'' 12 00:01:17,087 --> 00:01:22,480 This gun cost two pounds seven shiIIings to make. 13 00:01:25,407 --> 00:01:30,606 The Russians make weII over 60,000 T34 tanks. 14 00:01:34,007 --> 00:01:39,240 They recommended office work, but I said, ''No, I want to be a weIder. 15 00:01:39,287 --> 00:01:42,836 That's an important job, and that's what I want to do.'' 16 00:01:42,887 --> 00:01:45,242 I had no idea what it was. 17 00:01:48,007 --> 00:01:52,603 ln this ''total war'', excellence would be pitted against ingenuity, 18 00:01:53,327 --> 00:01:55,966 innovation against industrial muscle. 19 00:01:56,847 --> 00:02:02,922 At stake was not just the fate of the world but the shape of the world to come. 20 00:02:07,247 --> 00:02:12,640 So this chair is sort of the payoff for aII the work that they did during the war. 21 00:02:13,767 --> 00:02:16,918 PeopIe aIways Iook at this chair and say, ''It Iooks uncomfortabIe.'' 22 00:02:16,967 --> 00:02:19,162 And I just say, you know, ''WeII, have a seat.'' 23 00:02:19,207 --> 00:02:22,324 And then when you sit in it, it's just great. 24 00:02:45,367 --> 00:02:48,165 This is a programme about death... 25 00:02:50,407 --> 00:02:52,398 ..by design. 26 00:02:53,407 --> 00:02:57,525 From bows and arrows to guided missiles, 27 00:02:57,567 --> 00:03:03,278 the history of warfare is about humans devising better ways to kill each other. 28 00:03:08,567 --> 00:03:12,685 Most of the popuIar interest in war, of course, particuIarIy in the Second WorId War, 29 00:03:12,727 --> 00:03:15,924 is about battIes, about heroes, about dramas. 30 00:03:18,247 --> 00:03:21,717 What we Iose sight of is the fact that those men in the fieId, 31 00:03:21,767 --> 00:03:24,281 the weapons they're wieIding, the pIanes they're fIying, 32 00:03:24,327 --> 00:03:29,037 are onIy possibIe because back home somebody has thought very Iong and hard 33 00:03:29,087 --> 00:03:30,725 about how to design those weapons. 34 00:03:32,327 --> 00:03:34,716 ln the lead-up to the Second World War, 35 00:03:34,767 --> 00:03:37,998 no-one thought as deeply about the strategic power of design... 36 00:03:39,487 --> 00:03:40,840 ..as the Nazis. 37 00:03:41,887 --> 00:03:47,359 From the moment of their takeover in 1 933, they retooled Germany... 38 00:03:48,967 --> 00:03:51,037 ..into a military machine, 39 00:03:51,087 --> 00:03:55,444 designed to deliver the Thousand Year Reich. 40 00:03:55,487 --> 00:04:00,117 You can't expIain the success of the Nazi regime 41 00:04:00,167 --> 00:04:01,919 in conquering most of Europe 42 00:04:01,967 --> 00:04:03,559 in a very short time 43 00:04:03,607 --> 00:04:06,041 unIess you understand that use of design 44 00:04:06,087 --> 00:04:08,282 in some very sophisticated ways. 45 00:04:11,727 --> 00:04:14,446 The Nazis inherited an industrial base 46 00:04:14,487 --> 00:04:18,719 that already boasted of the superiority of its products through design. 47 00:04:19,887 --> 00:04:25,519 Supremacy ripe for appropriation by the self-proclaimed ''Master Race''. 48 00:04:29,887 --> 00:04:35,041 But Germany hadn't always enjoyed such a reputation for excellence. 49 00:04:41,687 --> 00:04:44,440 The critiques internationaIIy said aIways 50 00:04:44,487 --> 00:04:47,559 German goods were very cheap and very tasteIess. 51 00:04:47,607 --> 00:04:52,362 And so the weapon couId be seen as an earIy Iobby group 52 00:04:52,407 --> 00:04:55,080 to change this reputation in Germany 53 00:04:55,127 --> 00:04:58,403 that everything which comes from Germany is just bad. 54 00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:03,323 Founded in 1 907, the Deutsche Werkbund 55 00:05:03,367 --> 00:05:06,564 was committed to overturning this embarrassing reputation. 56 00:05:09,567 --> 00:05:11,080 Leading by example, 57 00:05:11,127 --> 00:05:14,403 its members set out to redefine the meaning... 58 00:05:14,447 --> 00:05:16,039 of ''Made in Germany''. 59 00:05:19,087 --> 00:05:25,799 This is a water kettIe, designed by Peter Behrens for the company AEG in Germany. 60 00:05:26,527 --> 00:05:34,286 And this water kettIe was produced in a series with a possibIe over 80 variants. 61 00:05:34,327 --> 00:05:38,036 There are three different uses of metaI, 62 00:05:38,087 --> 00:05:40,521 three different shapes, 63 00:05:40,567 --> 00:05:42,125 three different sizes 64 00:05:42,167 --> 00:05:47,799 and three different ways of how the surface is formed. 65 00:05:52,207 --> 00:05:55,756 Peter Behrens' work for electrical company AEG 66 00:05:56,687 --> 00:05:58,882 was a landmark project. 67 00:05:58,927 --> 00:06:02,715 He created a new AEG typeface, 68 00:06:02,767 --> 00:06:04,723 branding for its products 69 00:06:04,767 --> 00:06:07,281 and even designed its factories. 70 00:06:07,327 --> 00:06:11,559 A corporate identity overhaul, the first of its kind. 71 00:06:18,167 --> 00:06:22,797 This wasjust one of a series of collaborations between designers and industry, 72 00:06:24,047 --> 00:06:25,685 promoted by the Werkbund... 73 00:06:27,567 --> 00:06:32,436 ..that championed this integrated total design for the modern age. 74 00:06:34,127 --> 00:06:41,078 In the Werkbund there was the idea, if you want to put forward the industriaI production of goods, 75 00:06:41,127 --> 00:06:46,884 you aIso have to think about how it Iooks Iike and what signature it couId have. 76 00:06:50,567 --> 00:06:58,281 In just a few decades, Germany's cheap and nasty reputation was systematicaIIy overturned. 77 00:06:59,367 --> 00:07:04,122 An IndustriaI Standards unit was set up, which meant that industry wouId be standardised. 78 00:07:04,167 --> 00:07:09,241 The size of steps, the size of paper, the size of fiIing cabinets. 79 00:07:09,287 --> 00:07:16,318 By 1 933, what was in pIace was a very secure sense that standardisation in design, 80 00:07:16,367 --> 00:07:21,646 a functionaI approach to the kind of rationaI organisation of industry, 81 00:07:21,687 --> 00:07:25,521 became integraI to pubIic and private Iife, 82 00:07:25,567 --> 00:07:28,081 even if the German citizen wasn't aware of it. 83 00:07:35,367 --> 00:07:39,406 But there was one piece of industrial design from the early 1 930s 84 00:07:39,447 --> 00:07:42,200 that no German citizen would miss. 85 00:07:48,767 --> 00:07:51,327 lt was made here, in Wolfsburg. 86 00:07:53,487 --> 00:07:55,955 (Speaks ItaIian) 87 00:07:56,007 --> 00:07:58,157 TRANSLATOR: There is no other product... 88 00:07:58,207 --> 00:08:00,482 Let's be cIear about this. 89 00:08:00,527 --> 00:08:05,726 There is no other product that is as compIex but as simpIe to use as a car. 90 00:08:18,647 --> 00:08:20,558 ln 1 936, 91 00:08:20,607 --> 00:08:23,075 the prototype for a new car was completed. 92 00:08:25,447 --> 00:08:29,235 Designed by renowned race car engineer Ferdinand Porsche, 93 00:08:30,287 --> 00:08:33,962 it would become the most successful car in the world. 94 00:08:35,847 --> 00:08:39,362 This is one of the first prototypes of a true BeetIe. 95 00:08:40,807 --> 00:08:42,445 Form foIIows function. 96 00:08:42,487 --> 00:08:46,560 Nothing more. It was a very, very simpIe car, very basic. 97 00:08:46,607 --> 00:08:51,283 In that time, we Iooked for this streamIined design 98 00:08:51,327 --> 00:08:55,559 to give the passengers enough space inside the car, 99 00:08:55,607 --> 00:08:58,405 to find enough space for an engine at the rear... 100 00:09:00,127 --> 00:09:03,961 ..and to give them enough space aIso for their heads. 101 00:09:04,007 --> 00:09:07,682 I'm very Iong but I've no probIem to sit in that car. 102 00:09:10,087 --> 00:09:13,284 Beneath the Beetle's simple but striking design 103 00:09:14,007 --> 00:09:17,841 lay a master class in the German pursuit of excellence. 104 00:09:20,967 --> 00:09:24,437 The design of a BeetIe is a timeIess one. 105 00:09:24,487 --> 00:09:28,400 And this point quaIity, quaIity, everywhere quaIity. 106 00:09:28,447 --> 00:09:32,042 PeopIe trusted in the quaIity of that car 107 00:09:32,087 --> 00:09:36,126 and that's why this car and this company was so successfuI. 108 00:09:38,327 --> 00:09:42,764 ln fact, the Beetle would redefine the meaning of success. 109 00:09:45,087 --> 00:09:49,205 By 1 955, one million had rolled off the production line. 110 00:09:51,727 --> 00:09:56,403 25 years later, that figure had topped 20 million, 111 00:09:56,447 --> 00:09:59,359 making it the most successful car in the world. 112 00:10:03,047 --> 00:10:05,561 But there's a darker side to the Beetle story. 113 00:10:07,287 --> 00:10:11,963 As the Deutsche Werkbund had recognised, design is about communication. 114 00:10:13,367 --> 00:10:14,766 And in pre-war Germany, 115 00:10:14,807 --> 00:10:19,961 this cute-looking car conveyed a carefully calculated political message 116 00:10:20,887 --> 00:10:22,878 on behalf of its client. 117 00:10:24,127 --> 00:10:30,441 HitIer used the VoIkswagen most specificaIIy around the ceIebration of his birthday 118 00:10:30,487 --> 00:10:33,126 and he aIso ran an eIection campaign 119 00:10:33,167 --> 00:10:36,284 suggesting that he'd given the nation the VoIkswagen, 120 00:10:36,327 --> 00:10:39,603 therefore they shouId give him their vote. 121 00:10:42,127 --> 00:10:46,882 Hitler's interest in the Volkswagen wasjust one example of the Nazi Party's 122 00:10:46,927 --> 00:10:50,806 sophisticated understanding of the symbolic potential of design... 123 00:10:52,167 --> 00:10:54,840 ..to communicate ideas and ideology, 124 00:10:56,407 --> 00:11:02,562 an appreciation directly appropriated from Germany's recent industrial past. 125 00:11:04,887 --> 00:11:07,765 There was a sophisticated awareness of the power of the symboI 126 00:11:07,807 --> 00:11:11,561 in the sense that had been deveIoped in commerciaI contexts. 127 00:11:11,607 --> 00:11:13,404 Going back to the Werkbund, 128 00:11:13,447 --> 00:11:15,836 Peter Behrens had thought very deepIy 129 00:11:15,887 --> 00:11:18,242 about how you instiI an identity 130 00:11:18,287 --> 00:11:22,439 in a mundane object Iike a Iamp or a fan. 131 00:11:22,487 --> 00:11:28,756 So what happens is that that interest in identity goes up severaI notches 132 00:11:28,807 --> 00:11:31,401 and is appIied to a nation state. 133 00:11:37,047 --> 00:11:40,642 Imagery, aesthetics, branding, caII it whatever you Iike, 134 00:11:40,687 --> 00:11:46,284 the whoIe thing can be seen as an earIy extremeIy powerfuI and very sinister essay 135 00:11:46,327 --> 00:11:48,602 in what's now known as corporate identity. 136 00:11:52,687 --> 00:11:55,645 They wanted to give a sense of power. 137 00:11:55,687 --> 00:11:58,997 You know, they wanted to Iook, not just miIitary-effective, 138 00:11:59,047 --> 00:12:01,880 but they wanted to overawe their enemies. 139 00:12:05,447 --> 00:12:08,519 lt took just nine months for the German war machine 140 00:12:08,567 --> 00:12:11,081 to blitzkrieg its way to the coast of France. 141 00:12:14,367 --> 00:12:18,246 Pushed out at Dunkirk and facing imminent invasion, 142 00:12:18,287 --> 00:12:21,643 the British were forced to rethink their approach to design. 143 00:12:28,887 --> 00:12:32,562 By June 1 940, Britain had been soundIy kicked out of Europe. 144 00:12:34,807 --> 00:12:37,401 We were in desperate need of submachine guns. 145 00:12:40,727 --> 00:12:46,006 And on the 1 2th December, 1 940, a man caIIed HaroId John Turpin 146 00:12:46,047 --> 00:12:52,202 sat at his kitchen tabIe and designed this, the Mark I Sten Gun. 147 00:13:03,247 --> 00:13:05,602 Germany had smashed through Europe, 148 00:13:05,647 --> 00:13:09,879 with weapons that spoke of quality design and cutting-edge technology. 149 00:13:11,327 --> 00:13:15,479 But with high-grade materials and skilled workers in short supply, 150 00:13:15,527 --> 00:13:19,759 the British had no choice but to take the low road. 151 00:13:21,807 --> 00:13:26,961 This is HaroId John Turpin's first prototype, seriaI number 1 . 152 00:13:27,847 --> 00:13:32,762 The main tube was virtuaIIy exhaust pipe tube. 153 00:13:33,647 --> 00:13:40,519 The screws are BA sizes, avaiIabIe in any hardware shop in the country. 154 00:13:40,567 --> 00:13:46,802 The mainspring was made by FIexIo, bedspring-makers. 155 00:13:47,727 --> 00:13:54,678 Nothing on this gun was forged or machined with expensive machine tooIs. 156 00:13:54,727 --> 00:13:57,116 It was aII punched and fabricated. 157 00:13:59,367 --> 00:14:04,885 This was ingenious improvisation but it wasn't simple enough. 158 00:14:06,167 --> 00:14:09,477 Because it used wood and was fuII Iength, 159 00:14:10,927 --> 00:14:13,521 Mr Turpin was toId to simpIify it. 160 00:14:13,567 --> 00:14:15,683 And he did. 161 00:14:15,727 --> 00:14:17,683 He came up with this, 162 00:14:17,727 --> 00:14:19,718 the Mark II Sten Gun. 163 00:14:24,887 --> 00:14:26,445 Easy to assemble... 164 00:14:29,047 --> 00:14:30,321 ..and use, 165 00:14:34,607 --> 00:14:38,361 the Mark ll was a flat-pack submachine gun. 166 00:14:40,327 --> 00:14:45,924 This gun cost two pounds seven shiIIings to make. 167 00:14:45,967 --> 00:14:51,439 It is cheap and it is nasty, but it does exactIy what it was made to do. 168 00:14:52,847 --> 00:14:58,205 lssued to troops at home, and parachuted into Nazi occupied Europe by the thousand, 169 00:14:59,967 --> 00:15:03,357 the Sten became the signature weapon of Allied resistance. 170 00:15:05,247 --> 00:15:09,957 And it signified a radical departure from the traditions of British design. 171 00:15:12,807 --> 00:15:16,117 Push it down, and back. 172 00:15:18,647 --> 00:15:20,160 The Sten Gun emerged in Britain 173 00:15:20,207 --> 00:15:24,917 immediateIy after the withdrawaI of the British troops from France after Dunkirk. 174 00:15:27,887 --> 00:15:29,798 And in a way it was a great shock for Britain 175 00:15:29,847 --> 00:15:33,442 to have to Iearn to design instantIy, rapidIy, just Iike that, 176 00:15:33,487 --> 00:15:39,164 and to get away from a comfortabIe, oId Victorian, Georgian craft skiIIed worId 177 00:15:39,207 --> 00:15:41,277 into one of brutaI mass production. 178 00:15:44,527 --> 00:15:49,362 But the British Iearned, for a need for survivaI by instinct partIy, 179 00:15:49,407 --> 00:15:51,318 to tighten up the design process, 180 00:15:51,367 --> 00:15:53,676 to get rid of some of that beautifuI craft. 181 00:15:54,767 --> 00:15:55,995 When you get to a Sten Gun, 182 00:15:56,047 --> 00:16:00,723 this is now design manufacturing that can be just produced Iike that. 183 00:16:00,767 --> 00:16:03,076 You can produce them as fast as you can fire them! 184 00:16:08,047 --> 00:16:13,246 And so that intense simpIicity meant it couId be manufactured by anyone 185 00:16:13,287 --> 00:16:20,125 from PoIish underground resistance workers to the smartest oId factory in Britain. 186 00:16:23,847 --> 00:16:28,637 A factory, for example, like this one in Merton, South London, 187 00:16:29,767 --> 00:16:34,522 whose pre-war output was a world away from military hardware. 188 00:16:40,967 --> 00:16:48,726 We made pedaI motor cars, doIIs, soft toys, bicycIes and tricycIes, FairycycIes, 189 00:16:48,767 --> 00:16:51,918 aeropIanes, rockets, and aII these things. 190 00:16:56,407 --> 00:16:59,956 It was most certainIy the Iargest toy factory in Great Britain. 191 00:17:00,007 --> 00:17:03,477 It was aImost certainIy the Iargest toy factory in the worId. 192 00:17:05,847 --> 00:17:12,958 Lines Brothers, makers of Tri-ang toys, began manufacturing Sten Gun parts in 1 94 1. 193 00:17:15,327 --> 00:17:20,401 Founder and toy designer Walter Lines immediately saw ways to improve it. 194 00:17:21,847 --> 00:17:27,205 One of the things that my father noticed was the Sten Gun, 195 00:17:28,407 --> 00:17:30,284 and he Iooked at it and he said, 196 00:17:30,327 --> 00:17:32,795 ''Oh, no, that's not the right way to make that.'' 197 00:17:32,847 --> 00:17:40,356 So he redesigned it compIeteIy, without having previousIy designed a gun in his Iife, of course. 198 00:17:40,407 --> 00:17:48,883 And he took it to the Ministry of Defence and got an order in fact for haIf a miIIion on the spot. 199 00:17:52,247 --> 00:17:57,401 Thanks to the toy-maker's refinement, and the skills of the Tri-ang workforce, 200 00:17:57,447 --> 00:18:01,599 the number of parts was reduced from 69 to 48. 201 00:18:02,807 --> 00:18:06,516 And production costs for the Mark lll fell still further. 202 00:18:07,687 --> 00:18:10,963 A welcome case of more bangs for your buck. 203 00:18:13,687 --> 00:18:17,441 But the make do and mend approach came at a price. 204 00:18:17,487 --> 00:18:19,478 Many soldiers hated their Stens. 205 00:18:20,327 --> 00:18:25,117 They had a tendency to misfire if dropped, jam at critical moments. 206 00:18:25,927 --> 00:18:29,203 And their aim was reputedly less than true. 207 00:18:33,327 --> 00:18:38,606 With its back to the wall, perfectionism was a luxury Britain just couldn't afford. 208 00:18:39,687 --> 00:18:43,919 But that didn't mean that every piece of wartime design was compromised. 209 00:18:53,607 --> 00:18:57,361 While the toy-makers of Merton churned out the unloved Sten, 210 00:18:58,247 --> 00:19:04,482 furniture-makers in the Home Counties were occupied with a thing of real beauty. 211 00:19:06,207 --> 00:19:09,005 There was a whoIe workforce of carpenters, woodworkers, 212 00:19:09,047 --> 00:19:12,357 who weren't being utiIised in the same way aII the metaIworkers were. 213 00:19:14,847 --> 00:19:18,681 OSGERB Y: There was a scarcity of materiaIs and a scarcity of expertise. 214 00:19:18,727 --> 00:19:20,683 Huge pressure to deIiver something 215 00:19:20,727 --> 00:19:25,881 which answered specifications which had never been achieved before by mankind. 216 00:19:27,967 --> 00:19:30,197 That's why design is the opposite of art. 217 00:19:32,247 --> 00:19:35,762 When you're engaged in design which is invoIving industriaI production, 218 00:19:37,367 --> 00:19:40,882 you are given constraints and there's aIways a cIock ticking. 219 00:19:42,527 --> 00:19:46,315 But I think that those constraints energise the design process. 220 00:19:50,847 --> 00:19:52,997 - It's very authentic, isn't it? - IncredibIe. 221 00:19:53,047 --> 00:19:55,038 - Quite a machine, eh? - Wow! 222 00:19:59,367 --> 00:20:01,801 Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby 223 00:20:01,847 --> 00:20:05,362 run one of Britain's Ieading contemporary design companies. 224 00:20:06,487 --> 00:20:10,560 Today, they've come to see a groundbreaking piece of aviation history, 225 00:20:14,007 --> 00:20:15,998 one which rewrote the rule book. 226 00:20:29,967 --> 00:20:34,279 The fastest aircraft from 1 941 to '45 - 227 00:20:34,327 --> 00:20:36,522 faster than your Spitfire and Hurricane. 228 00:20:37,367 --> 00:20:39,961 The Mosquito was known famousIy as the ''wooden wonder''. 229 00:20:40,007 --> 00:20:44,922 A very high speed twin-engined aircraft that wouId be unarmed. 230 00:20:44,967 --> 00:20:46,878 It wouId be an unarmed Iight bomber. 231 00:20:46,927 --> 00:20:49,680 And the reason it was unarmed was to keep weight down, 232 00:20:49,727 --> 00:20:54,642 but it wouId fIy so fast and so high that it couId whiz off to BerIin and bomb the Germans 233 00:20:54,687 --> 00:20:59,158 and whiz back without being intercepted by German fighters. 234 00:20:59,207 --> 00:21:01,801 If you tap that, you'II feeI it's aII wood, timber. 235 00:21:01,847 --> 00:21:02,962 (taps) 236 00:21:03,007 --> 00:21:10,004 It was the first truIy dynamic uItra-high speed modern warpIane made of wood. 237 00:21:10,047 --> 00:21:13,437 The finest piece of furniture this country's ever buiIt. 238 00:21:13,487 --> 00:21:14,886 FIying furniture! 239 00:21:17,127 --> 00:21:21,120 The Mosquito was the brainchild of the De Havilland Aircraft Company. 240 00:21:24,487 --> 00:21:27,206 Made almost entirely from plywood, 241 00:21:27,247 --> 00:21:31,957 it used a minimal amount of the metal that was more urgently needed for munitions, 242 00:21:32,927 --> 00:21:38,604 and brought an otherwise redundant industry to the frontline of wartime production. 243 00:21:38,647 --> 00:21:42,196 Who best can make these things for us? 244 00:21:42,247 --> 00:21:46,957 - Wood, a certain IeveI of craft skiII invoIved? - It's a singIe wing, right through the fuseIage. 245 00:21:47,007 --> 00:21:50,317 So it's not Iike a Iot of aircraft where you put two individuaI wings on. 246 00:21:50,367 --> 00:21:53,439 It's a singIe wing, which gives it a Iot more of its strength. 247 00:21:53,487 --> 00:21:56,797 Why not use something Iike the furniture industry, 248 00:21:56,847 --> 00:22:02,080 which is spIit up into many, many tiny IittIe craft workshops, IittIe factories, around an area, 249 00:22:02,127 --> 00:22:06,086 therefore safe from German bombing, by and Iarge, 250 00:22:06,127 --> 00:22:08,482 and abIe to keep production running, 251 00:22:08,527 --> 00:22:10,643 and with aII the skiIIs that you needed? 252 00:22:10,687 --> 00:22:13,838 There are onIy four boIts which hoId the fuseIage and wing together. 253 00:22:13,887 --> 00:22:16,799 - And that's one of them there. - That's reaIIy incredibIe. 254 00:22:16,847 --> 00:22:19,839 That just Iooks Iike something you'd put some sheIves up with. 255 00:22:19,887 --> 00:22:22,321 So, the furniture industry in Britain, 256 00:22:22,367 --> 00:22:28,124 most of it then based, as it is today, around High Wycombe, was abIe to make aircraft. 257 00:22:28,167 --> 00:22:29,998 Now, that's a reaI piece of genius! 258 00:22:31,367 --> 00:22:33,358 Ooh, wow, it's a bit tight in here. 259 00:22:34,607 --> 00:22:38,759 Versatile, reliable, and astonishingly quick, 260 00:22:38,807 --> 00:22:44,518 the Mosquito was adapted for use as a reconnaissance, fighter and bomber plane. 261 00:22:44,567 --> 00:22:47,445 It's reaIIy, reaIIy cooI. 262 00:22:47,887 --> 00:22:50,082 lt travelled at over 400 miles per hour, 263 00:22:51,207 --> 00:22:53,357 much faster than the larger bombers, 264 00:22:53,407 --> 00:22:57,320 but delivered a payload comparable to the Flying Fortress, 265 00:22:57,367 --> 00:23:01,201 consumed less fuel and used fewer crew. 266 00:23:01,727 --> 00:23:03,718 Over 7,000 Mosquitoes were built, 267 00:23:04,487 --> 00:23:08,765 and it ended the war with the lowest loss rate of any Allied bomber. 268 00:23:09,727 --> 00:23:14,517 Not bad for a design project that the experts dismissed as sheer madness. 269 00:23:14,567 --> 00:23:17,559 JAY OSGERB Y: Sometimes I think being an industriaI designer 270 00:23:17,607 --> 00:23:21,236 gives you the abiIity to put forward ideas which might be ridicuIed. 271 00:23:21,287 --> 00:23:25,803 So the idea of proposing a wooden pIane that's based on one wing, with things fitted to it, 272 00:23:25,847 --> 00:23:27,678 might have seemed frankIy ridicuIous. 273 00:23:27,727 --> 00:23:31,083 And it was deemed to be ridicuIous by the Ministry of Defence at the time. 274 00:23:31,127 --> 00:23:34,358 But it provided firsts, design firsts. 275 00:23:34,407 --> 00:23:37,956 We're today very famiIiar with the idea of composite construction. 276 00:23:38,007 --> 00:23:40,202 This pIane was buiIt in exactIy that way, 277 00:23:40,247 --> 00:23:42,966 with thin Iayers of pIywood, with baIsa wood in between. 278 00:23:43,007 --> 00:23:46,886 And not onIy that, we've just found out that it's... it was the first SteaIth pIane 279 00:23:46,927 --> 00:23:48,838 that was aImost invisibIe to enemy radar 280 00:23:48,887 --> 00:23:50,366 because it was made of wood. 281 00:23:52,367 --> 00:23:54,164 Bedspring manufactures, 282 00:23:54,927 --> 00:23:57,157 toy designers, 283 00:23:57,207 --> 00:23:58,765 furniture-makers, 284 00:23:59,407 --> 00:24:03,241 this was the secret army that kept Britain in the war. 285 00:24:09,447 --> 00:24:13,406 And just like the Nazis, the British needed a propaganda machine 286 00:24:13,447 --> 00:24:19,238 to explain, exhort and motivate when the going got tough. 287 00:24:19,287 --> 00:24:23,200 If this is ''totaI war'' and you're invoIving citizens at every IeveI, 288 00:24:23,247 --> 00:24:26,922 there are probIems that are needed to be soIved that hadn't arisen before. 289 00:24:26,967 --> 00:24:31,404 So it's not Iike seIIing soap powder or raiIway journeys. 290 00:24:31,447 --> 00:24:35,679 It's how do you aIert peopIe to the fact that they need to behave differentIy in the bIackout? 291 00:24:40,687 --> 00:24:42,996 How do you aIert peopIe to the fact that 292 00:24:43,047 --> 00:24:45,800 they shouIdn't touch unexpIoded bombs? 293 00:24:50,727 --> 00:24:55,164 There are new issues that designers were the best pIaced peopIe to soIve, 294 00:24:55,207 --> 00:24:58,916 and so that's why you get this kind of fantastic combination 295 00:24:58,967 --> 00:25:02,676 of sort of visuaI acuity but aIso this reaI urgency, 296 00:25:02,727 --> 00:25:04,763 because this isn't a commerciaI enterprise. 297 00:25:04,807 --> 00:25:08,004 This is something that matters to the Iife of the nation. 298 00:25:10,647 --> 00:25:13,002 The messages may have been mundane, 299 00:25:13,807 --> 00:25:17,959 but they spoke the democratic language of the people's war... 300 00:25:19,047 --> 00:25:22,756 ..and anticipated the egalitarian spirit of the Welfare State. 301 00:25:23,607 --> 00:25:27,520 They were graphic expressions of a new British identity 302 00:25:27,567 --> 00:25:30,843 that was being forged by war, 303 00:25:30,887 --> 00:25:34,243 even though many of them were the work of foreigners. 304 00:25:39,527 --> 00:25:42,439 My father ArnoId was born in Germany 305 00:25:42,487 --> 00:25:45,399 and in 1 933, at the age of 1 4, 306 00:25:45,447 --> 00:25:50,521 he feIt that the sort of poIitics of Germany was getting somewhat unstabIe 307 00:25:50,567 --> 00:25:56,324 and he persuaded his mother that they shouId Ieave Germany, 308 00:25:56,367 --> 00:26:00,565 and move to EngIand where they had some famiIy aIready. 309 00:26:01,807 --> 00:26:08,076 SuddenIy one day in 1 940, he was arrested and he was interned in Canada. 310 00:26:08,127 --> 00:26:12,166 He was shipped back to Britain Iate in 1 941 , 311 00:26:12,207 --> 00:26:17,406 and he was commissioned to design some posters for RoSPA, 312 00:26:17,447 --> 00:26:20,325 which was the RoyaI Society for the Prevention of Accidents. 313 00:26:25,087 --> 00:26:26,918 The ''Germs Invade'' poster 314 00:26:26,967 --> 00:26:32,087 is one of the, sort of, most amazing posters that I think my father had ever designed. 315 00:26:32,967 --> 00:26:36,846 You've got the Swastika, you've got a very earIy Germanic typeface. 316 00:26:40,247 --> 00:26:41,805 And then you've got this very soIid 317 00:26:41,847 --> 00:26:44,486 ''Get First Aid And Don't HeIp The Enemy''. 318 00:26:49,967 --> 00:26:51,798 There are a Iot of meanings 319 00:26:51,847 --> 00:26:53,485 within this poster. 320 00:26:54,887 --> 00:26:58,402 And this was a year or so after he'd come back from being interned in Canada, 321 00:26:58,447 --> 00:27:02,520 which, from my memories of him taIking about it, was not the most pIeasant pIace to have been. 322 00:27:04,007 --> 00:27:05,998 To be producing work of this nature 323 00:27:06,407 --> 00:27:09,399 at that point in your Iife, having just gone through what he had, 324 00:27:09,447 --> 00:27:12,120 I think sort of, to me, is sort of quite remarkabIe. 325 00:27:13,647 --> 00:27:18,880 While Britain muddled through on desperation, improvisation, 326 00:27:18,927 --> 00:27:21,441 and the odd dash of native or imported genius, 327 00:27:22,887 --> 00:27:28,962 Germany continued its quest for victory through the relentless pursuit of quality. 328 00:27:31,047 --> 00:27:33,720 The delirious successes of the blitzkrieg 329 00:27:33,767 --> 00:27:38,283 had convinced Hitler that only the development of a ''master race'' of weapons 330 00:27:38,327 --> 00:27:41,399 would deliver the knock-out blow he craved. 331 00:27:42,767 --> 00:27:45,839 An ideology embodied by a fearsome military machine, 332 00:27:47,207 --> 00:27:52,839 unleashed on Allied forces during the Desert War in 1 943. 333 00:28:03,607 --> 00:28:06,565 We knew what we were going to do. We knew what the enemy was 334 00:28:06,607 --> 00:28:09,565 or we thought we knew what the enemy was and where it was. 335 00:28:11,367 --> 00:28:13,164 And we went in two troops up - 336 00:28:13,207 --> 00:28:15,596 my troop, which was 4 Troop on the Ieft, 337 00:28:15,647 --> 00:28:19,640 and 3 Troop, Ied by a friend of mine, AIan Lott, on the right. 338 00:28:22,007 --> 00:28:25,397 Everything was going smoothIy and we were trudging aIong quite happiIy 339 00:28:25,447 --> 00:28:28,007 when there was an enormous expIosion on the right side 340 00:28:28,047 --> 00:28:31,801 and I saw AIan Lott's tank bIown up and he bIown out of the turret. 341 00:28:33,967 --> 00:28:35,195 Had massive burning. 342 00:28:35,247 --> 00:28:37,317 He was terribIy burnt. 343 00:28:37,367 --> 00:28:41,918 WeII, before I had any time to do anything at aII about it, my own tank was hit. 344 00:28:46,407 --> 00:28:48,284 It reaIIy didn't affect me aII that much. 345 00:28:48,327 --> 00:28:51,080 What did affect me was seeing AIan Lott and his condition, 346 00:28:51,127 --> 00:28:55,325 and that feeIing of guiIt that I'd survived and he hadn't. 347 00:29:00,167 --> 00:29:01,805 In fact, I think I couId say 348 00:29:01,847 --> 00:29:07,160 that I went back to my bivvy that night and had a thoroughIy good cry. 349 00:29:10,767 --> 00:29:14,237 Peter Gudgin's battalion had been unlucky. 350 00:29:15,127 --> 00:29:21,123 lt had run up against one of the most advanced military weapons of the war, the Tiger l tank. 351 00:29:21,887 --> 00:29:23,957 Only one working model survives today 352 00:29:24,887 --> 00:29:30,757 and it's the very same vehicle that killed Peter's friend 70 years ago, 353 00:29:30,807 --> 00:29:33,560 Tiger Tank number 1 31. 354 00:29:38,447 --> 00:29:41,245 This was the most impressive tank I had ever seen. 355 00:29:41,287 --> 00:29:44,006 I couIdn't beIieve it was so big and so powerfuI. 356 00:29:44,767 --> 00:29:48,077 I think the most impressive thing about it, apart from its sheer size, 357 00:29:48,127 --> 00:29:49,560 was the enormous gun. 358 00:29:50,487 --> 00:29:52,398 And that was an anti-aircraft gun, 359 00:29:52,447 --> 00:29:54,199 which they used in an anti-tank roIe, 360 00:29:54,247 --> 00:29:58,798 and had a fantasticaIIy accurate and heavy sheII. 361 00:30:02,687 --> 00:30:06,475 Our instinct, as regimentaI soIdiers at that time was, 362 00:30:06,527 --> 00:30:09,997 we're not going to stand much of a chance against this sort of thing. 363 00:30:19,607 --> 00:30:21,325 The formidable Tiger 364 00:30:21,367 --> 00:30:23,801 was the result of a design competition, 365 00:30:23,847 --> 00:30:29,080 initiated by Hitler between people's car designer Ferdinand Porsche 366 00:30:29,127 --> 00:30:32,517 and engineering firm Henschel. 367 00:30:33,287 --> 00:30:37,724 On this occasion, engineering muscle prevailed over design brilliance, 368 00:30:37,767 --> 00:30:44,240 and Henschel's design was unveiled on Hitler's birthday in 1 942. 369 00:30:46,007 --> 00:30:51,957 HitIer in the 1 930s Iooks at the tank as having tremendous symboIic power. 370 00:30:52,007 --> 00:30:58,242 He sees this tank as symboIising the resurgence and the might of the new Nazi Germany. 371 00:30:59,727 --> 00:31:04,517 As a 60-ton piece of propaganda, the Tiger was a huge success. 372 00:31:05,287 --> 00:31:11,522 When Tiger 1 31 was captured in the Tunisian desert in 1 943, the Tommies were awestruck, 373 00:31:11,567 --> 00:31:14,684 celebrating its capture as if it were an enemy general. 374 00:31:15,807 --> 00:31:19,846 Back in England, the Army commissioned a full design report, 375 00:31:19,887 --> 00:31:25,917 and called in an experienced tank commander recently invalided out from the frontline. 376 00:31:27,087 --> 00:31:30,966 I was amazed to find my oId friend the Tiger that had knocked me out 377 00:31:31,007 --> 00:31:33,567 coming back for examination by me. 378 00:31:34,607 --> 00:31:38,282 So I entered that with great enthusiasm. I wanted to know what made it work. 379 00:31:43,807 --> 00:31:46,162 It is beautifuIIy engineered aII the way through. 380 00:31:47,287 --> 00:31:50,484 The sheer detaiIed design they put into it. 381 00:31:51,567 --> 00:31:57,722 The steering gear, the transmission, the gearbox, the suspension, aII the torsion bars, 382 00:31:57,767 --> 00:32:03,285 the way they'd machined aII the armour faces before they weIded them together. 383 00:32:03,327 --> 00:32:08,720 BeautifuIIy engineered, very soIid job, but a waste of time. 384 00:32:11,567 --> 00:32:14,127 There was a tradition in German engineering and design 385 00:32:14,167 --> 00:32:17,000 where the most sophisticated was the best. 386 00:32:17,047 --> 00:32:19,686 And they just couId not stop it. 387 00:32:19,727 --> 00:32:21,319 And the probIem for the Germans was 388 00:32:21,367 --> 00:32:26,725 that they came up with these ideas for ever more powerfuI, ever more sophisticated tanks, 389 00:32:26,767 --> 00:32:30,157 but to do that, they required ever more time to think them through, 390 00:32:30,207 --> 00:32:33,597 ever more engineering skiIIs, ever greater cost. 391 00:32:35,607 --> 00:32:38,360 At a cost of 250,000 Reichsmark, 392 00:32:39,727 --> 00:32:44,243 the Tiger was more than twice the price of any German tank to date. 393 00:32:46,127 --> 00:32:50,643 lt boasted power steering, sophisticated transmission, 394 00:32:50,687 --> 00:32:52,996 even a fully illustrated owner's manual. 395 00:32:54,247 --> 00:32:56,203 But in the grinding war of attrition 396 00:32:56,247 --> 00:32:59,842 that had developed since Hitler's invasion of Russia, 397 00:32:59,887 --> 00:33:01,878 it was a luxury item. 398 00:33:04,407 --> 00:33:07,160 The design phiIosophy behind the Tiger is very much, 399 00:33:07,207 --> 00:33:09,880 ''Let's have the best, most powerfuI vehicIe.'' 400 00:33:14,167 --> 00:33:19,719 The downside of that design phiIosophy is the amount of resources the Tiger takes to make. 401 00:33:23,047 --> 00:33:28,201 WouId you be better off buiIding something in Iarger quantities that's a Iot cheaper? 402 00:33:38,487 --> 00:33:44,244 Born from a completely different mindset to the Tiger, this is a Russian T34 tank. 403 00:33:45,607 --> 00:33:50,283 These two weapons represent a clash in design philosophies, 404 00:33:50,327 --> 00:33:53,160 exemplified by a simple statistic. 405 00:33:54,847 --> 00:33:58,726 They onIy actuaIIy make 1 ,300 Tiger I tanks. 406 00:33:58,767 --> 00:34:05,798 As a comparison, the Russians make weII over 60,000 T34 tanks. 407 00:34:08,247 --> 00:34:14,925 They are coming out with these very crude but very effective vehicIes in such quantity 408 00:34:14,967 --> 00:34:19,757 that, whatever your quaIity, these T34s are going to get you in the end. 409 00:34:32,607 --> 00:34:37,920 As Joe Stalin put it, ''Quantity has a quality all its own. '' 410 00:34:37,967 --> 00:34:42,040 And the wartime production of T34s proved him right. 411 00:34:44,207 --> 00:34:48,678 Vast factories, relocated beyond the reach of the advancing Germans, 412 00:34:48,727 --> 00:34:52,322 turned out T34s by the thousand, 413 00:34:53,647 --> 00:34:57,401 at staggering speed, under brutal conditions. 414 00:34:58,527 --> 00:35:05,683 The spirit of the Gulag fused with the technical know-how of the car-making capital of America, 415 00:35:05,727 --> 00:35:06,716 Detroit. 416 00:35:08,967 --> 00:35:13,677 In the Iate 1 920s, StaIin reaIised that he needed to industriaIise the Soviet Union. 417 00:35:13,727 --> 00:35:16,400 It was stiII essentiaIIy a pre-industriaI society. 418 00:35:17,327 --> 00:35:21,036 They reaIised that the way to do that wouId be through the appIication of Fordism. 419 00:35:21,087 --> 00:35:27,720 So however bizarre it may sound, Soviet economic pIanners came to Detroit, 420 00:35:27,767 --> 00:35:32,363 and they enthusiasticaIIy imported these ideas back into the Soviet Union. 421 00:35:33,967 --> 00:35:36,561 To the extent that the architect, AIbert Kahn, 422 00:35:36,607 --> 00:35:39,599 who designed aII of Henry Ford's factories in Detroit, 423 00:35:39,647 --> 00:35:41,638 opened an office in the Soviet Union 424 00:35:41,687 --> 00:35:44,884 and designed something Iike 300 factories in the 1 930s. 425 00:35:47,927 --> 00:35:53,718 Just three months after Tiger 1 31 had blitzed Peter Gudgin's battalion in North Africa, 426 00:35:54,927 --> 00:36:00,684 German ground forces were swamped by thousands of T34s at the Battle of Kursk - 427 00:36:03,287 --> 00:36:05,278 the largest tank battle of the war. 428 00:36:08,567 --> 00:36:12,879 Kursk halted German advances on the Eastern Front for good, 429 00:36:13,567 --> 00:36:19,278 German design excellence rendered irrelevant by Soviet mass mobilisation 430 00:36:19,967 --> 00:36:21,958 and American mass production. 431 00:36:23,167 --> 00:36:26,284 Design is a process, design is not styIe. 432 00:36:26,327 --> 00:36:29,524 The key thing that the Americans understood is just that. 433 00:36:29,567 --> 00:36:32,286 That when you set out to design any object, 434 00:36:32,327 --> 00:36:36,002 whether it's a gun, an aircraft, a ship, a Iocomotive, a uniform, a pair of shoes, 435 00:36:36,047 --> 00:36:39,562 you think of not just the end product, what it's going to Iook Iike, 436 00:36:39,607 --> 00:36:41,723 you think of how you're going to make the thing. 437 00:36:43,367 --> 00:36:47,121 Like Joe Stalin, FDR believed in quantity. 438 00:36:48,247 --> 00:36:53,958 When America entered the war, President Roosevelt vowed to ''out-produce the enemy''. 439 00:36:55,247 --> 00:36:59,240 Ford workers set about adapting their car-making skills 440 00:36:59,287 --> 00:37:01,403 to produce aircraft. 441 00:37:01,447 --> 00:37:05,998 And Detroit rebranded itself ''the Arsenal of Democracy''. 442 00:37:07,087 --> 00:37:12,445 Ford promises that he wiII set up the most extraordinary mass production faciIity of aII, 443 00:37:12,487 --> 00:37:17,083 a huge aircraft production centre at WiIIow Run, 444 00:37:17,127 --> 00:37:20,756 where he wants to produce B-24 Liberator bombers. 445 00:37:20,807 --> 00:37:23,924 And he wants them to roII off the Iine Iike a car, once an hour. 446 00:37:24,767 --> 00:37:27,964 And by the end of the war, that's what he's achieved, 447 00:37:28,007 --> 00:37:30,396 a finished aircraft once every hour. 448 00:37:41,967 --> 00:37:45,676 But industrial capacity on its own is not enough. 449 00:37:46,527 --> 00:37:51,317 Without a secure supply chain linking America to Europe, the war could not be won. 450 00:37:53,927 --> 00:37:59,559 And in 1 942, German U-boats were sinking Allied cargo ships in the Atlantic 451 00:37:59,607 --> 00:38:01,598 faster than they could be replaced. 452 00:38:04,527 --> 00:38:09,043 Some of the rates of Iosses earIy in WorId War II were shocking. 453 00:38:09,087 --> 00:38:12,045 It didn't Iook Iike anybody couId keep up with that kind of a Ioss. 454 00:38:12,087 --> 00:38:13,281 But we did. 455 00:38:15,167 --> 00:38:18,557 lt took a designer of genius to come up with the solution. 456 00:38:19,687 --> 00:38:24,841 Shipbuilder William Francis Gibbs jettisoned centuries of tradition 457 00:38:24,887 --> 00:38:27,924 with a design for a cargo ship that could be mass-produced, 458 00:38:29,487 --> 00:38:32,479 just like a Model Tor a T34. 459 00:38:44,807 --> 00:38:48,083 Gibbs'design solution was not pretty. 460 00:38:49,087 --> 00:38:51,920 Roosevelt called it a ''dreadful-looking object''. 461 00:38:58,127 --> 00:39:03,520 But its prefabricated steel parts, welded together on a Ford-style production line, 462 00:39:03,567 --> 00:39:10,325 meant the Liberty Ship could be produced faster and cheaper than was ever thought possible. 463 00:39:12,607 --> 00:39:16,316 America's shipbuilders were understandably unsure. 464 00:39:17,287 --> 00:39:23,920 But an industrialist called Henry J Kaiser recognised the genius of Gibbs'radical design. 465 00:39:32,887 --> 00:39:34,639 ln Richmond, California, 466 00:39:34,687 --> 00:39:37,679 Kaiser built a Liberty Ship production line 467 00:39:37,727 --> 00:39:40,480 that made him a hero of the American war effort... 468 00:39:42,447 --> 00:39:47,157 ..and transformed the lives of thousands of unlikely shipbuilders. 469 00:39:48,527 --> 00:39:53,043 My husband and I, every Sunday, went for a drive. 470 00:39:53,087 --> 00:39:56,443 And this one Sunday, we had another coupIe with us. 471 00:39:56,487 --> 00:39:58,682 And the guys are taIking about... 472 00:39:58,727 --> 00:40:02,515 They thought they'd get a job, they'd Iearn to weId, 473 00:40:02,567 --> 00:40:05,877 go to schooI, Iearn to weId and get a job in a shipyard. 474 00:40:05,927 --> 00:40:12,116 And for some unknown reason, I piped up and said I wanted to do that too. 475 00:40:12,767 --> 00:40:17,283 Had my car radio on and aII of a sudden this Ioud voice said, 476 00:40:17,327 --> 00:40:19,682 ''Women, do something for your country. 477 00:40:19,727 --> 00:40:23,163 Go to the Richmond Shipyards and be a weIder.'' 478 00:40:23,207 --> 00:40:26,916 And I thought: ''Wow, that's an important job.'' 479 00:40:26,967 --> 00:40:32,280 They're asking on the radio for us to go do that. 480 00:40:32,327 --> 00:40:35,683 They recommended office work, 481 00:40:35,727 --> 00:40:37,638 but I said, ''No, I want to be a weIder. 482 00:40:37,687 --> 00:40:41,236 That's an important job, and that's what I want to do.'' 483 00:40:41,287 --> 00:40:43,198 I had no idea what it was! 484 00:40:46,847 --> 00:40:48,724 McKEY GOULD: I never saw a ship. 485 00:40:48,767 --> 00:40:54,842 We just were part of the process of parts going together. 486 00:40:54,887 --> 00:41:01,360 And my first job was tacking IittIe fIanges on for the cranes to pick up the pieces of steeI, 487 00:41:01,407 --> 00:41:03,159 which was pretty nervy, you know. 488 00:41:03,207 --> 00:41:10,079 Here's a first day on the job and you're weIding something that's reaIIy important. 489 00:41:12,527 --> 00:41:16,236 PATTERSON MOORE: You had a kerchief tied around your neck, reaI tight. 490 00:41:16,287 --> 00:41:20,997 That was to prevent the hair from getting burned from the sparks. 491 00:41:21,047 --> 00:41:24,642 And then this was the weIding hood that we put on... 492 00:41:26,007 --> 00:41:30,285 ..and then this was the rod we used to weId with. 493 00:41:30,327 --> 00:41:32,318 And we wouId put it in here. 494 00:41:33,727 --> 00:41:36,958 You had to rotate aII the time, keep it moving. 495 00:41:43,087 --> 00:41:47,956 McKEY GOULD: Everyone was contributing something to the war effort. 496 00:41:48,527 --> 00:41:55,763 And of course, a big motivator was that pay cheque, you know, 497 00:41:55,807 --> 00:42:03,043 and I spent some of my money on fancy underwear and... 498 00:42:04,287 --> 00:42:06,278 (Laughs) 499 00:42:07,167 --> 00:42:09,442 ..and Frank Sinatra records. 500 00:42:13,527 --> 00:42:16,405 The alliance of design and mass production 501 00:42:16,447 --> 00:42:20,838 had proved itself able to meet the life-or-death demands of a global war. 502 00:42:22,967 --> 00:42:27,199 But what did it have to offer a post-war world, 503 00:42:28,127 --> 00:42:31,119 where quantity was no longer the greatest good? 504 00:42:39,527 --> 00:42:42,758 PeopIe aIways Iook at this chair and say, ''It Iooks uncomfortabIe.'' 505 00:42:42,807 --> 00:42:44,957 And I just say, ''You know, weII, have a seat.'' 506 00:42:45,007 --> 00:42:47,646 And then when you sit in it, it's just great. 507 00:42:54,247 --> 00:42:57,045 ln 1 999, Time Magazine named this chair, 508 00:42:57,087 --> 00:42:59,647 by Charles and Ray Eames, 509 00:42:59,687 --> 00:43:01,678 ''The Chair of the Century''. 510 00:43:05,927 --> 00:43:09,522 The Lounge Chair Wood was the Eames'breakthrough moment, 511 00:43:10,367 --> 00:43:12,597 and the springboard for a range of furniture... 512 00:43:13,807 --> 00:43:17,038 ..that would express the optimism of the post-war world. 513 00:43:19,167 --> 00:43:22,762 But this work evolved directly from their experience during wartime, 514 00:43:24,567 --> 00:43:26,558 and a deceptively simple question. 515 00:43:29,127 --> 00:43:32,961 When you Iook at this chair... And it's a very simpIe chair. It's very eIegant. 516 00:43:33,007 --> 00:43:36,556 It's not a very weII-known chair but I think it's a very important chair. 517 00:43:36,607 --> 00:43:40,520 And it, you know, may Iook kind of unassuming in a way, 518 00:43:40,567 --> 00:43:42,319 but it's the beginning of a journey. 519 00:43:42,367 --> 00:43:44,085 And it's a very simpIe idea. 520 00:43:44,127 --> 00:43:45,845 It's a two-dimensionaI curve. 521 00:43:45,887 --> 00:43:49,243 You can kind of Iook here and see that the curve is not going this way at aII. 522 00:43:49,287 --> 00:43:52,359 BasicaIIy if you had a piece of cardboard, you couId make this form. 523 00:43:52,407 --> 00:43:54,716 CharIes in particuIar was interested in this idea. 524 00:43:54,767 --> 00:43:57,804 Can you make it Iike a bucket with a three-dimensionaI curving in it? 525 00:43:59,807 --> 00:44:02,879 The Eames began to explore the possibilities of plywood. 526 00:44:04,447 --> 00:44:06,438 Bending it was relatively simple. 527 00:44:10,607 --> 00:44:16,682 Moulding it, in three dimensions, like rubber, and on a mass scale, was something else. 528 00:44:17,807 --> 00:44:21,516 The demands of war provided the germ of an answer. 529 00:44:35,527 --> 00:44:39,281 So you know, sometimes peopIe Iook at this thing and wonder, what is it? 530 00:44:39,327 --> 00:44:41,238 But, actuaIIy, when you Iook at it this way, 531 00:44:41,287 --> 00:44:44,404 the combat boot wouId go here and you'd be abIe to put it on Iike this. 532 00:44:44,447 --> 00:44:50,317 And it's modeIIed on CharIes's Ieg but with a Iot of room for variation. 533 00:44:50,367 --> 00:44:54,724 You can see that they stiII haven't figured out how to make a three-dimensionaI curve exactIy. 534 00:44:54,767 --> 00:44:59,443 They have to cut the wood right here to reIieve the tension of the wood. 535 00:44:59,487 --> 00:45:03,924 They aIso have aII these hoIes that aIso reIieve the tension of the wood, so it won't spIinter. 536 00:45:03,967 --> 00:45:08,358 So they're right in the middIe of understanding what it takes to mouId pIywood. 537 00:45:09,567 --> 00:45:12,400 The Eames'splint design was a compromise, 538 00:45:13,287 --> 00:45:19,965 but even if the curves were not perfect, more than 1 50,000 were made for the US Navy. 539 00:45:22,527 --> 00:45:29,160 Like the Sten Gun or the Liberty Ship, ''good enough today'' trumped ''perfection tomorrow''. 540 00:45:30,927 --> 00:45:33,600 Authenticity in design is not about a singIe object. 541 00:45:33,647 --> 00:45:36,764 It's reaIIy about a system of creating that object again and again. 542 00:45:36,807 --> 00:45:39,719 It's not enough to say to that medic, ''Hey, we've got one spIint.'' 543 00:45:39,767 --> 00:45:44,557 He doesn't want one spIint, he wants to be abIe to say, ''I need 1 50,000, 544 00:45:44,607 --> 00:45:48,202 so if we get you enough wood we'II get that many spIints, right?'' 545 00:45:51,647 --> 00:45:56,277 From leg splints, the Eames turned to seats for gliders and aircraft parts, 546 00:45:57,447 --> 00:46:00,837 refining and perfecting their moulding techniques. 547 00:46:01,847 --> 00:46:06,045 The payoff came in 1 945 with the Lounge Chair Wood, 548 00:46:07,727 --> 00:46:09,843 a ''swords into ploughshares'' moment, 549 00:46:11,367 --> 00:46:16,361 and a modest but unmistakable signal that the war was finally over. 550 00:46:21,807 --> 00:46:24,401 They were trying to make the seat and back of the chair one 551 00:46:24,447 --> 00:46:27,837 and you Iook at this chair and can obviousIy see they didn't do it. 552 00:46:27,887 --> 00:46:29,843 That this, the seat and back are separate. 553 00:46:29,887 --> 00:46:32,117 But they, after aII this experimenting, 554 00:46:32,167 --> 00:46:35,876 they reaIised the honest use of this materiaI was to separate the seat and back. 555 00:46:35,927 --> 00:46:39,078 You couIdn't do it, you couIdn't make the sheII out of pIywood. 556 00:46:39,127 --> 00:46:44,599 So this chair is sort of the payoff for aII the work that they did during the war. 557 00:46:44,647 --> 00:46:48,356 And that's I think why the wartime experience across the board, 558 00:46:48,407 --> 00:46:50,398 not just for CharIes and Ray, 559 00:46:50,447 --> 00:46:51,721 was so fascinating. 560 00:46:51,767 --> 00:46:54,884 There was a combination of being visionary about these designs 561 00:46:54,927 --> 00:46:56,645 and being pragmatic at the same time. 562 00:46:58,967 --> 00:47:00,639 The ''Chair of the Century'', 563 00:47:00,687 --> 00:47:05,807 one of the first examples of high-quality, post-war consumer design, 564 00:47:05,847 --> 00:47:11,763 had been born of mass production, the true ''wonder weapon'' of World War ll. 565 00:47:14,607 --> 00:47:17,280 lt was a sign of things to come, 566 00:47:17,327 --> 00:47:20,876 a marriage that had been proposed by the lndustrial Revolution 567 00:47:21,807 --> 00:47:27,006 and promised by the visionaries of modernism in the '20s and '30s. 568 00:47:27,047 --> 00:47:31,677 But it had taken a world war for design and mass production 569 00:47:31,727 --> 00:47:33,797 to finally consummate their relationship. 570 00:47:34,567 --> 00:47:38,799 The designed world would never be the same again. 571 00:47:40,287 --> 00:47:46,681 What happened in the war years to design, it was reborn. 572 00:47:46,727 --> 00:47:51,357 And that abiIity to make things over and over and over again, 573 00:47:51,407 --> 00:47:53,204 but make them very weII, 574 00:47:53,967 --> 00:47:59,485 reaIIy did teII us something about the abiIity to do things in great number. 575 00:48:00,647 --> 00:48:04,003 CertainIy Henry Ford toId us, that's the way it was going to go. 576 00:48:04,687 --> 00:48:08,441 Le Corbusier toId us that was going to happen. 577 00:48:08,487 --> 00:48:14,517 But we didn't quite beIieve it untiI the Second WorId War and we saw its reaI potentiaI. 578 00:48:14,567 --> 00:48:23,839 And for me, it is the thing that opens up what mass production aIIows in product design today.