Made in the USSR: who designed Soviet furniture and how (12 photos)

When the country made the leap from communal apartments to “Khrushchevka”, so that already in 1980 every Soviet family could meet communism in a separate apartment, the need arose to arrange private life. And in the 1960s, a period of qualitative rethinking of the role of household design in the life of Soviet society began.

At a time when cinema was the most important of all arts for us, and there was no sex at all, it was believed that the strength of domestic design thought was its focus on the sphere of production as the most widespread and socially significant. This ideological commitment of Soviet design fundamentally distinguished it from capitalist design, which was interested in the ordinary person and his personal comfort: furniture, refrigerators, mixers, vacuum cleaners and other “bourgeois nonsense.”

When it became obvious that the personal life of Soviet people also needed attention and development, a state, strictly centralized structure was created to regulate a person’s relationship with his objective environment. In 1962, by Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 349 “On improving the quality of mechanical engineering products and cultural and household goods through the introduction of artistic design methods,” the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics (VNIITE) was established with branches in the capitals of the union republics and in large industrial areas.

In this cradle of breakthrough methodologies, such branches of design science as rhythmics and modern color science, ergodesign, beauty economics, design programming, futuro design and many others were created. Which in no way affected the quality and appearance of standard Soviet furniture that filled standard homes. Simple, without unnecessary decoration, economically and structurally rational products of mass mass production determined the style of a typical Soviet interior: a collapsible wardrobe, a shelving unit, an armchair-bed, a sofa-book, and three-piece kitchen sets.

The All-Union Furniture Design and Technology Institute (VPKTIM), created in 1962, was also involved in designing furniture, where the masters of furniture design of the 1960s and early 1970s worked: Yu. V. Sluchevsky and K. K. Blomerius, E. S. Bocharova , E. Velbri et al. The furniture of this time is based on the search for constructivism of the 20s and 30s and reflects the struggle against decoration and stylization, which hinder mass production.

Unified elements and parts, varnished fibreboard, chipboard and plastic instead of wood - this is the price of progress in the furniture industry. Generations of Soviet people lived surrounded by its absolutely tasteless fruits, not even suspecting that in the world there are things created with love according to the laws of beauty, functionality and comfort.

Today, many people remember Soviet furniture and even still use sideboards, cabinets and shelves made in the USSR. Against the background of the current abundance, these polished monsters seem even uglier and antediluvian, but not everyone will dare to take them to the landfill.
Maybe because they have already ceased to be just an unsuccessful fruit of the design genius of the last century, but have moved into the category of some kind of intangible nostalgic values? Despite the severity of the chipboard from which they are assembled.
Therefore, furniture from the bright past continues to live in dachas and apartments, having undergone some upgrades at the hands of loving owners.