Despite its radical reputation, the origins of the Bauhaus movement lay in the growing belief among many, including the German government and educationalists, that reform in art education was vital for economic reasons. Germany was less rich in raw materials than USA or Britain and therefore relied on its ability to export sophisticated and high-quality goods. Designers were needed, therefore, and only a new kind of art education could meet this need. […] Its major ideological basis was that artists should be trained to work with industry ‘for the artist possessed the ability to breathe soul into the lifeless product of the machine,’ claimed [Walter] Gropius — artists should be the craftsmen of industry. This principle came directly from those who had worked at Deutsche Werkbund and who opposed Hermann Mathusius, with his emphasis on the role of the artist as custodian of the avant-garde.
Guy Julier, Design Since 1900, Bauhaus (1919-33), p.30 (via waskommenmag)
Design is fine. History is mine. 