The EAO was a public institution founded in the mid-nineteenth century, when Chile began its life as an independent nation. Under the French model of arts et metiers, the School began its activities having as fundamental principles: the education of the popular classes on the one hand, and contributing to the country's industrial development on the other. During the twentieth century, it served as a means for social progress for young people from the middle class and at the same time, its graduates had an active role in the national industry on different levels, as workers, technicians and engineers. However, in this progress towards the professional world and academia, under a scientific-technological denominator, the artistic dimension of this educational project was left behind, but this could also have meant an important move from the artistic towards areas such as design, if considering that the 'great conflict' for design education in Chilean society has been the link to the industry, a challenge that the EAO faced successfully.