Side Board c. 1937

Editor: We're looking at George Fairbanks' "Side Board," a drawing in pencil on paper, dating back to around 1937. I'm struck by its clean lines and simplicity. It's a technical drawing, almost like a blueprint. What stands out to you? Curator: Immediately, I see a convergence of artistic expression and industrial design. Fairbanks' choice of pencil and paper – simple, readily available materials – speaks to the democratisation of design processes. Was this for mass production, a prototype? Editor: That’s a great question! It makes me think about how design informs industry. Was furniture design a respected job then? Curator: Design had, by this point, been tied explicitly to the production of the workaday object. Think about the labour and material needed to make the actual sideboard and the contrast with the easy labor of drawing this potentiality. It highlights the divide between planning and manufacturing. Notice how Fairbanks renders the wood grain? Editor: I do, and there's a level of detail and care in rendering the materials, and consideration of process, even within a technical drawing! This makes me think, who was Fairbanks drawing this for? Was this to guide construction, or for himself? Curator: Precisely. The means of production here becomes as much the subject as the sideboard itself. The drawing becomes a proposal, a claim on materiality before its transformation. I think it could also be a document about furniture more generally at this time, and the relationship of industry, drawing, and design itself. Editor: I’ve never thought about a technical drawing in this way, in the relation between the representation and the actual piece and industrial networks. I appreciate that different perspective. Curator: Understanding how art intersects with materials, industry, and labour changes how we see everything around us. It's a whole system.