"Design is the appropriate combination of materials in order to solve a problem." (Charles Eames)
After World War II the large capacities of former military industries (esp. in the USA) as well as the desire to consume after the years of abstinence brought a wide range of new products. Plastics became increasignly important materials in the post-war period and their use has significantly changed the way things look. The former substitutes Polyethylene (eg: Tupperware), GFK (eg: Herman Miller furniture) and others like acrylic or PVC became symbols of a new era. Industrial design was now an established and recognised discipline. The "hfg ulm" design school in Germany opened in 1955 (initiated as a part of a reeducation program) leaving some years later step by step its bauhaus romantism towards a new academic and scientific design.
