What did other people do in the past to make our world beautiful but which we do not notice now?
I am rural and I want to plant some trees and copses on my land, in particular places, with beauty in mind. It just occurred to me that others, who are long gone, may have done the same thing here in the past; planting a particular tree in its place only for its beauty. It may have outlived both themselves and their vision of what beauty is and I have not noticed it. Perhaps there are things around us which we thought were utilitarian, or even mistakes, but which were a choice made by someone with a subtler purpose than we give them credit for.
Have you ever noticed something in your surroundings and thought that it was done deliberately to be beautiful, and maybe you are the only person around now to have noticed it as such?
Since the start of industrialization.
Before that, all craftsmen were also artists. It was no conflict, it was the same. Things were built to be beautiful and useful, all in one.
I say since the eighties because thats when the pseudo minimalist home design and plastic siding started, and all furniture became laminated particle board, and fucking everything starting turning beige and grey for “resale value”. Everything became so commercial it had no substance, and we quit making things that would become antiques because they became garbage.
Make everything utilitarian, but make it so poorly it fails at it’s own utility.
There’s a reason “craftsmen” used to be called “artisans”. No idea if it actually relates to art but I imagine it does