Essentially, going against the establishment and its traditional taste was paramount. Imaginative forms, bright colours and new materials in interior design were in demand, as were alternative lifestyles, hallucinogenic substances and pop music. This optimism was driven by technological progress, economic recovery and a young, well-paid generation that longed not only for emotional, but also visual sensuality.

Instead of 'no experimenting', the motto in the design world was now 'everything is possible'. While the solid, unemotional, functional design of the fifties was defined by the war years, the 60s looked forward to the future. To put it another way, the 1960s was the decade in which design definitively established itself as a force that moved all strata of society, influenced their buying decisions and found a natural, identity-determining place in everyday society. They left their tracks in the world of design, too - creating fresh ways of thinking and releasing unbelievable creativity. Political, social, cultural and aesthetic upheavals left no-one unaffected. The wall and the moon landing, Beatlemania and miniskirts, student protests and Woodstock - the 1960s was a decade of unprecedented change.

1970s space age furniture