The Grammar of Ornament

Owen Jones (1809–1874) was an architect, designer, and one of the most influential designers of the 19th century. His search for “modern” design in Spain and Islamic palaces like the Alhambra, helped him organize the School of Design and create his design manual, The Grammar of Ornament, as a conclusion of his design theories. Publishing his findings in 1856, the 19th century was at the height of historical revivals like Neoclassicism and the Gothic Revival of everything. Neoclassicism served as the direct tie to the Enlightenment period just prior, representing rationality, secularism, and liberalism. At its opposite, the Gothic revival became the ultimate pillar of spirituality, tradition, and social hierarchy. These movements carried immense religious and social baggage, clashing with societal identity during the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

The Grammar of Ornament was a direct rejection of this cultural division and the thoughtless "art of copying," particularly the elite, aristocratic nostalgia of the Gothic style. This elitism was evident in the Collegiate Gothic style of Oxford, where the wealthy tied their families to medieval lineages to claim "purity" and devotion to God through copied motifs and traditions. Rather than mimicking the past, Jones's book functioned as a universal, systematic design dictionary. By utilizing cutting-edge printing technology of the Industrial Revolution, the book served as a visual language instruction manual to be shared globally. The Grammar of Ornament celebrated global design traditions, specifically using his studies of Islamic architecture, to reform industrial Victorian design, attracting people with familiar vibrant visuals only to flip expectations and pave the way for modern abstraction.

To mention an opposing point of view, it can also be seen that Jones is the ultimate grandfather for the theft of cultural appropriation as he is blatantly stealing and misunderstanding the often sacred design work of other cultures and people, presenting them to the western world as exotic, “Othered,” and overall “his.” The alienation of the designs with their respective cultures is in itself a clashing issue of societal and ethnic identity being brought into question through the views of a western audience.