Arts and Crafts movement

Formed in England in the mid-19th century, this movement emulated a goal of Berlin's World Heritage housing estates: to focus on high-quality design in handmade products, rather than produce soulless, mass-market wares of industrialisation. Members took particular care to ensure that the workmanship suited the material and traditional crafts. Forms were to be simple but interesting. Some Arts and Crafts ideals were adopted by the craftsmen's association Deutscher Werkbund, by proponents of reformed housing and from 1907, by the Bauhaus design school. However, they increasingly came into conflict with Functionalism, another design ideal that was oriented more towards high utility value and mass production. For Berlin’s World Heritage housing estates, a compromise was sought between low-cost type construction and individual design with intriguing details and materials.

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