There are few objects as pervasive as the iPhone. What started as an ambitious dream in the mind of Steve Jobs and his colleagues has become a technical standard-bearer. But beyond enabling people to access apps, send text messages and make calls, the iPhone is the kind of ubiquitous, status-quo shifting design object that can define a generation. Despite the fact that it continues to be emblematic of the future, its aesthetic origins are nearly a century old.

The genesis of the iPhone we know today can be traced to a lifelong interest of Steve Jobs. His fascination with Bauhaus–a German school that operated from 1913 to 1933 and inventively combined fine arts with crafts–is well documented, and many of its central tenets made their way into the iPhone's initial designs. From its spare lines to its lack of decorative detailing, the iPhone has embraced simplicity, a Bauhaus calling card. And the softly beveled and rounded nature of its edges also mirrors many of the designs that emerged from the original Bauhaus school, like Marianne Brandt’s tea infuser or the MT8 lamp by Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Carl Jakob Jucker.

Bauhaus was largely formed as a rejection of what founder Walter Gropius saw as rapid industrialization sans any artistic quality. To combat this, the school embraced the marriage of industrial technology with high-minded design, thus making objects with artistic quality available to the masses. The large-scale launch and subsequent releases of new iPhone editions embody that mentality of bringing sleek design to as many people as possible. And the design ultimately served as a major impetus in forcing Apple's competitors to make significant investments in the design of their comparatively clunky models.

FROM BAUHAUS TO MINIMALISM: THE EVOLUTION OF THE IPHONE

FROM BAUHAUS TO MINIMALISM: THE EVOLUTION OF THE IPHONE