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Soviet-Era Industrial Design

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Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#51

Post by Viller239 »

_nalply wrote: post #50
euos wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Communists considered Soviet Union just a bridgehead for the World Revolution. It primary goal was to serve as a resource base for spreading the fire all over the world. I just checked and it looks like English version of “the Internationale” is mild, the Russian lyrics explicitly state “this world of oppression we’ll reduce to rubble and will use that rubble to build our new world” - and I can guarantee you, USSR wa…

Who knows perhaps they will succeed after all? But not a tiniest bit in the way the communists envisioned! Inequality will be stopped from growing indefinitively because somewhere must be a limit. What if the one percent owning ninety nine percent of global wealth is not enough for them? When will the rest of the world stop being sheeple and how will they change this? I hope in a peaceful way. Communism is dead. It's…

>However the problems Communism tried to solve are real and as of today even more pressing than ever.

How are they more pressing than ever? Are communities in more dire situation than let's say after or during first world war?

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#52

Post by hueving »

zeth___ wrote: post #48
nickik wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you have dumb rules then rational decision lead to bad effects. That's why you should have good systems of rules. Instiutional economics 101.

Any system of rules will have a utility monster. Be it the Politburo, or Wall Street.

False equivalences FTW.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#53

Post by markvdb »

rdtsc wrote: post #37

Moscow Design Museum has some more examples too http://moscowdesignmuseum.ru/en/exhibitions/1/ . Those that grew up in Soviet Union will recognize familiar objects. I recognized the phones, the "basketball" game, and the portable checkers game. Well and of course the Moskvitch 408 car. I don't remember really thinking about design back then. Maybe because we didn't have many choices. You wanted a tape player you pick…

One thing always strikes me in terms of design when I'm in Latvia (USSR republic in 1940 and 1945-1990). It is how modular, repairable, and in that way "simple" things that have survived from the Soviet era look. Ingeniously built wooden ironing boards for example, the older generations of trams of Riga, the "Minsk" folding bicycles that you still see around very often, the trains (no new ones since 1991!), even many of the "Chrushchovkas" appartment blocks...

Contrary to my previous western bias, some things were clearly being built very sturdily. In comparison, a lot of things built in the '90s and 2000's seem to be crumbling already. It all smells of inferior materials, quick and dirty fixes... I don't know if that is survivor bias kicking in though...

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#54

Post by paganel »

markvdb wrote: post #53
rdtsc wrote: post #37

Moscow Design Museum has some more examples too http://moscowdesignmuseum.ru/en/exhibitions/1/ . Those that grew up in Soviet Union will recognize familiar objects. I recognized the phones, the "basketball" game, and the portable checkers game. Well and of course the Moskvitch 408 car. I don't remember really thinking about design back then. Maybe because we didn't have many choices. You wanted a tape player you pick…

One thing always strikes me in terms of design when I'm in Latvia (USSR republic in 1940 and 1945-1990). It is how modular, repairable, and in that way "simple" things that have survived from the Soviet era look. Ingeniously built wooden ironing boards for example, the older generations of trams of Riga, the "Minsk" folding bicycles that you still see around very often, the trains (no new ones since 1991!), even many…

> older generations of trams of Riga

A quick google search confirmed what I had already suspected, that is that those trams are Tatra trams, built in former Czechoslovakia. I’m a big fan of them, I think they are the main reason why I immediately became a tram-lover as a student almost 20 years ago when I moved to Bucharest in order to study. Of course, the newer trams look and are often times a lot more comfortable, but those Tatra trams have something of a “timeless design” about them that is hard to pin down but which you can still feel. Ever since I’ve become a tram lover I starting seeing cities without electric public transport (trams or trolleys) as belonging to an “inferior” stage of civilization.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#55

Post by projektir »

onemanstartup wrote: post #20
Jhsto wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm grinning. That does make much more sense.

No, it doesn't. It is not ladas, it's lada and it's from a type of ship - https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%8C%D1%8F... You can see logo of lada and there is a ship there

They're talking about Ladas, i.e., razor blades, not Lada, i.e., the car manufacturer. Two different things, not in any way related.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#56

Post by projektir »

c-smile wrote: post #21
pandaman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Ladas (a Greek athlete). Surprisingly Wikipedia has no entry for him but only for a village named after him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladas,_Messenia

"Lada" has nothing with Greek. It is a transliteration of Russian "Лада" - short form of "Ладная" - beautiful/harmonious.

They're talking about Ladas, i.e., razor blades, not Lada, i.e., the car manufacturer. Two different things, not in any way related.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#57

Post by promeus »

Villa camera (Iskra) is a folding type rangefinder medium format that is the best mechanical camera done in USSR, it has automatic counter and leaf shutter. Optically is copy of Zeiss Tessar and is my favorite medium format camera for street photography. It gives me a felling close to M3 Leica rangefinder. Some say that Iskra is a copy of AGFA Isolette but i think that Russian version is superior. Grab one of Ebay if you are into film shooting. They are cheap and do beautiful work.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#58

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

euos wrote: post #49
pnathan wrote: post #45

I always will wonder if, suppose we hadn't bothered with a "cold war" and the mutual antipathy & fear, the Soviet system would be ticking along well. So, I always find the bits of Soviet thought fascinating. In large part, I think it is because it is both modern and alien . A different road was taken and a different perspective was built in so many things. Even when I work with people who grew up in that world, they…

Communists considered Soviet Union just a bridgehead for the World Revolution. It primary goal was to serve as a resource base for spreading the fire all over the world. I just checked and it looks like English version of “the Internationale” is mild, the Russian lyrics explicitly state “this world of oppression we’ll reduce to rubble and will use that rubble to build our new world” - and I can guarantee you, USSR wa…

When the Soviet Union was formed Russia was a pre-industrial feudal monarchy. It recapitulated roughly two hundred years of Western industrial development in less than fifty, mostly under the leadership of a murderous quasi-feudal dictator who purged all the brightest and most interesting people.

And it still survived WWII to become a competitive space-faring superpower.

I don’t particularly like Russia, but I think it’s wise not to underestimate what the country is capable of.

Also applies to China, even more so.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#59

Post by mantas »

pnathan wrote: post #45

I always will wonder if, suppose we hadn't bothered with a "cold war" and the mutual antipathy & fear, the Soviet system would be ticking along well. So, I always find the bits of Soviet thought fascinating. In large part, I think it is because it is both modern and alien . A different road was taken and a different perspective was built in so many things. Even when I work with people who grew up in that world, they…

And if Soviets hadn't occupied a bunch of countries and oppressed their citizens. If there was no fear internally and massive surveillance. I'm super happy USSR went down and we have our own tiny state where we can choose whatever system we want.

Re: Soviet-Era Industrial Design

#60

Post by mantas »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #58
euos wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Communists considered Soviet Union just a bridgehead for the World Revolution. It primary goal was to serve as a resource base for spreading the fire all over the world. I just checked and it looks like English version of “the Internationale” is mild, the Russian lyrics explicitly state “this world of oppression we’ll reduce to rubble and will use that rubble to build our new world” - and I can guarantee you, USSR wa…

When the Soviet Union was formed Russia was a pre-industrial feudal monarchy. It recapitulated roughly two hundred years of Western industrial development in less than fifty, mostly under the leadership of a murderous quasi-feudal dictator who purged all the brightest and most interesting people. And it still survived WWII to become a competitive space-faring superpower. I don’t particularly like Russia, but I think…

Catching up is kinda easy when you can just copy. USSR failed badly once it was time to go forward. Especially on electronics and computers.

We shouldn't underestimate what focused dictatorships are capable of. They're bloody effective.

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