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Many American and European Arts & Crafts designers used repetitive patterns of squares to provide decorative elements without creating an excessively ornamental effect. In Vienna, Josef Hoffman made Quadrat-Motif a familiar element of Wiener Werkstätte designs. Frank Lloyd Wright frequently used repetitive squares as a design element. Karl Kipp and Dard Hunter often employed the decorative square motif in designs for the Tookay and Roycroft shops. Arts & Crafts scholars have not untangled the interrelated origins and influences behind the broad popularity of Quadrat-Motif designs. Scottish Arts & Crafts designers Mackintosh, MacNair and the Macdonalds are often credited with influencing their American counterparts to adopt the square as a decorative motif. Although it has strong associations with the Vienna Secessionists and the Wiener Werkstätte, Viennese design critics and craftsmen saw British influence in the use of decorative squares. |
