Design & Decorative Arts

The design and decorative arts are a traditional term for a number of arts and crafts for the making of ornamental and functional works in a great range of materials including ceramic, wood, glass, metal, textiles and many others. The field includes ceramics, glassware, furniture, furnishings, interior design, but not usually architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture, which generally have no function other than to be looked at. Some distinguish between decorative and fine art based on functionality, intended purpose, importance, status as a unique creation, or single-artist production. Decorative arts, or furnishings, may be fixed (for example, wallpaper), or moveable (for example, lamps). Applied art includes the decorative arts but also graphic design and other categories, such as industrial design, which may overlap with decorative art. In general the term "decorative arts" is not much used of contemporary work, which tends to be called design instead. In art history the term minor arts is often used for the decorative arts. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decorative_arts