# Mechano-Faktura & Polish Constructivist Advertising

> Henryk Berlewi's system of two-dimensional pictures built mechanically from rhythmic parallel lines, circles and squares in black, white and red. It rejected the illusion of space and was promptly applied to commercial advertising, brochures and packaging by the agency Reklama-Mechano. Unlike Russian Constructivism, it was a theory of mechanical surface texture sold to business, with no photomontage, diagonals or agitprop. Berlewi quit the research in 1926 and returned to figurative art.

- Period: 1923–1926
- Where: Eastern Europe, Central Europe
- Origin: Berlin and Warsaw: Henryk Berlewi showed his first Mechano-Faktura compositions in the Novembergruppe section of the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1923, published the tract in March 1924 and, with Aleksander Wat and Stanislaw Brucz, founded the agency Reklama-Mechano later in 1924.
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Mechanofaktura, Berlewi's Mechano-Faktura
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/mechano-faktura/

## How it works

- Reject spatial illusion and keep every picture strictly two-dimensional.
- Build images from repeated parallel lines, circles and squares laid down with mechanical regularity.
- Limit colour to black, white and red.
- Treat the line field as a surface texture whose rhythm carries the message.
- Put the system to work for commerce, in brochures, packaging and advertisements.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (characteristic)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (defining)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Optical pattern](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/) (defining)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (defining)

### Ornament
- [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (characteristic)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (defining)
- [Diagram & data](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagram-and-data/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (defining)
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (characteristic)

Avoids: Naturalistic depiction, Illusion of depth, Gradients, Abundant decoration, Floral & vegetal, Skeuomorphic material, Photomontage, Collage & layering

Palette: #ffffff, #111111, #d62718, #f1ede2

Typefaces: Lettering not verified; no typeface attribution confirmed, Geometric sans-serif display lettering is an unconfirmed assumption

Known for: Henryk Berlewi, Mechano-Faktura tract (March 1924); Berlewi, first Mechano-Faktura exhibition, Austro-Daimler Automobile Salon (1924); Berlewi, German edition of the Mechano-Faktura manifesto (Berlin, 1924, after Herwarth Walden's invitation); Reklama-Mechano brochure for Plutos chocolate (1924)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Russian Constructivism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism.md) (1917–1934)
- Alike in its design choices: [Brazilian Concrete Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/brazilian-concrete.md) (1951–1975), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Generative & Dynamic Identities](https://stylogeny.com/styles/generative-identity.md) (2007–present), 59% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Total Design & Dutch Functionalism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dutch-total-design.md) (1963–1990), 59% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [HfG Ulm Systematic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ulm-school.md) (1953–1968), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Isotype Pictorial Statistics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/isotype.md) (1925–1971), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Early Computer Art & Plotter Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/early-computer-plotter-graphics.md) (1963–1980), 54% alike

## Sources

- Wikipedia, Henryk Berlewi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Berlewi), read; the Der Sturm manifesto edition is tagged citation-needed there. Parent, affinities and the red palette hex are editorial judgement, not sourced; influences left empty because no source states them. The paper-tone #f1ede2, type.geometric-sans 0.3 and medium.lithography 0.3 are unsourced placeholders required by the schema's facet minimums.

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Mechano-Faktura & Polish Constructivist Advertising”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/mechano-faktura/