History of Design in Russia: 1917–2021

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the main phases of design development in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Russian Federation (Russia) from 1917 to 2021, setting them against the political and economic context of the time. The first post-Revolution design professionals had to create a new material world from scratch. All the innovative know-how was immediately passed on to students but implementation in nationalized factories remained problematic. The dramatic political changes of the 1930s introduced a new style: the Communist leadership wanted to go back to the classics. The huge industrialization effort cost millions of human lives but the achievements were impressive. World War II put design evolution on hold, and the post-war regime renounced the ‘excesses’ of the past. The ‘Khrushchev Thaw’, mass housing construction, new technologies, space flight and efforts to improve international relations changed the lifestyle and the mindset of the Soviet people. Design officially became an integral part of any production process, and the Soviet design system took shape. The All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics (VNIITE) acted as a central coordinating body while every ministry got a specialized research institute or design office. The system collapsed with the rest of the Soviet Union and a new generation of Russian designers once again had to start from scratch. This time, they relied both on the reinvented Soviet legacy and the inventions of the avant-garde to find a distinctive national identity.