Medieval and Renaissance craft
Before the word design existed, objects were shaped in workshops by masters and journeymen who followed the rules of their guild and patterns handed down through generations.
In the Middle Ages nearly everything was made by hand, in small workshops in the towns or in homes in the countryside. The person who drew an object was usually the person who made it. Forms changed slowly: a chest, a bench or a jug could look almost the same for a hundred years, and what was new often came from church buildings, with pointed arches and tracery borrowed by joiners and goldsmiths.
The guilds – associations of craftsmen in the same trade – decided who was allowed to work, how long an apprenticeship should last and which materials could be used. To become a master you had to make a masterpiece. This kept quality even, but it also meant little change.
In the Renaissance the picture changed. Princes and rich merchants in Italy wanted objects that showed learning: maiolica with scenes from ancient stories, intarsia in the studiolo, silver after antique models. Printing made it possible to spread patterns and ornament across Europe, and for the first time people began to distinguish between the person who designed and the person who made.