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Connections to Other Influential De-
sign Movements

When you study the roots of minimalism,
you begin to notice overlaps and associations with
other noteworthy design movements in human
history. This is natural because trends usually
borrow from and are inspired by one another.
In the case of minimalism, its European ori-
gins are found in the geometric-abstraction cre-
ations of painters who were associated with the
Bauhaus movement. One of the mottos of Bauhaus
was the famous line, form follows function, which
stresses that any design should put a priority on
usability and any aesthetic considerations should
come in second. Painters such as Piet Mondrian
and Kazimir Malevich are standout examples, as
well as artists who were associated with the De
Stijl movement (which translates to ‘The Style’),
a design trend whose roots date back to 1917
Leiden, in the Netherlands.

Interestingly, this geometric
abstraction was already present in
the heyday of Islamic art, many
centuries before geometric
abstraction and the ensuing
minimalist design trend ever hit
European or American shores.

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