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The sharp edges of geometric surfaces create crystalline spatial structures, which intertwine on the facades of many houses and on specific series of stoneware porcelain. This is a remarkable design expression used by a number of architects and artists in the Prague environment in the short period after 1900. Because of its formal similarity to the French paintings of Picasso or Braque in particular, I call it Czech Cubism. 

Art Deco is the collective name for the universal decorative style that spread in the first half of the 1920s, first in Europe and then worldwide. As an eclectic style, it blends influences from Art Nouveau, historical styles and Cubism. Although best represented by products designed primarily for the wealthy, these gradually became increasingly accessible to the wider society, and Art Deco is now synonymous with the decorative, luxurious-looking but affordable design of the interwar period.

Form follows function. Ornament is a crime. Less is more. The simple yet iconic phrases of genius architects Henry Sullivan, Adolf Loos and Mies van der Rohe have made history and fundamentally changed architecture and the way cities look today. The list would not be complete, however, without Le Corbusier, whose name can be seen as almost synonymous with functionalism, and whose Five Points of Modern Architecture are a major milestone in the development of architecture in general. This is Le Corbusier's functionalism in a nutshell. He designed houses as machines for living - efficient, rational and functional, with a free plan, plenty of natural light and fresh air. Since the 1920s, architects and urban planners have based the design of houses and cities on scientific investigations of human needs. The form of houses was defined by their operational, economic, social and hygienic functions and was intended to meet the needs of their inhabitants.

A school that has significantly exceeded the function of a mere educational institution and has fundamentally influenced the shape of contemporary design and the very system of education at art schools. From the beginning, the Bauhaus was a significant centre of avant-garde art, architecture and design. It was synonymous with innovation, experimentation, home to important artists, theorists and architects, and the dream of a unified collective work. It was also the world's first university of modern architecture, alongside the Soviet Constructivist institutes, and the first school dedicated to industrial design. The modernist Bauhaus school was created by merging the Weimar Academy of Arts with the School of Arts and Crafts, thanks to the idea of the architect Walter Gropius. Gropius was its director, but he was also the author of the project for the construction of the legendary school in Dessau, where the school moved in 1925. This Bauhaus building is still one of the famous icons of modern architecture today.

Joy, optimism, scientific and technical progress. After a decade of the dictates of a cumbersome and grey soiree, there comes a much welcomed refreshment in the form of̌ light and colourful Brussels - Brussels style. At the first post-war world exhibition, Czechoslovakia succeeded with its pavilion to such an extent that it is still spoken of as a legendary phenomenon that had a defining influence on domestic development, lifestyle and, above all, housing culture. Thanks to the joint work of our architects, set designers and visual artists, the Gesamtkunstwerk pavilion, which won the highest award at Expo 58, was a perfect combination of architecture and exhibition display.

The golden '60s. A fresh, young and exciting era. Years of change, prosperity, space conquest and technological progress. Design reigns supreme with bright geometric forms, vibrant colours and the number one material is undoubtedly plastic, which displaces other traditional materials. The gap that once stood between high and low art is suddenly a source of inspiration, and one influences the other. Designers, like artists, are beginning to speak the language of pop art and to use its means of communication - the colourfulness, the bluntness, the inspiration of big city culture and everyday life. Alongside Pop Art, which celebrates consumer society, there is a current in 1960s industrial design called the Space Age, fascinated by the conquest of space and new technical possibilities. It is characterised by the use of white and silver tones, rounded shapes, reflective surfaces and futuristic forms. Some designers have experimented with 'smart furniture' designs or furniture assemblies reminiscent of the interior of spaceships.