Design Objects and the Museum brings together leading design historians, curators, educators and archivists to consider the place of contemporary design objects within museums. Contributors draw on a wide range of 20th century and contemporary examples from international museums to consider how design objects have been curated and displayed within and beyond the museum. The book continues contemporary global debates on the ways in which museums of design engage and educate their public. Chapters are grouped into three thematic sections addressing The Canon and Design in the Museum; Positioning Design within and Beyond the Museum; and Interpretation and the Challenge of Design, with chapters exploring museological practice and issues, the roles people play in creating meaning, and the challenges contemporary design presents to interpretation and learning within the museum.

Hailed as the British counterparts to Charles and Ray Eames, Robin and Lucienne Day electrified the British design scene in the 1950s with their startling furniture and textile designs. Indeed, their influence over the next five decades has been so profound that their early products were recently reintroduced by Conran's Habitat. Lucienne Day pioneered the introduction of modern abstract pattern design in the textile industry. Her fabrics, which oscillate between bold geometric figures and more subtle abstract patterns, were produced by companies as diverse as Heal's and Liberty of London. Robin Day's influential furniture designs pioneered the use of materials such as plywood, steel, and plastic. His stacking polypropylene chair (right) is one of the best-selling chairs in the world. Robin and Lucienne Day, the first-ever full-length monograph on their designs, features never-before-seen archival material along with over 250 color images of the full range of their work, including furniture, ceramics, textiles, wallpaper, interiors, appliances, exhibit designs, and graphics. Spanning a half-century's creative output, no designer will fail to be awed by the genius seen in this book.

Plastics have now been our most used materials for over fifty years. This book adopts a new approach, exploring plastics’ contribution from two perspectives: as a medium for making and their value in societal use. The first approach examines the multivalent nature of plastics materiality and their impact on creativity through the work of artists, designers and manufacturers. The second perspective explores attitudes to plastics and the different value systems applied to them through current research undertaken by design, materials and socio-cultural historians. The book addresses the environmental impact of plastics and elucidates the ways in which they can and must be part of the solution. The individual viewpoints are provocative and controversial but together they present a balanced and scholarly un-picking of the debate that surrounds this ubiquitous group of materials. The book is essential reading for a wide academic readership interested in the Arts and Humanities, especially Design and Design History; Anthropology; and Cultural, Material and Social Histories.

In 1957 the UK Design Museum launched the first annual Designs of the Year Awards to identify and promote the very best of British design. For the next 30 years, the awards celebrated designed objects in all forms, from the domestic (cutlery, glassware, textiles, and furniture) to the communal (streetlights, signage, and public seating) and everything in between, including fitted kitchens, schooners, bicycles, and electronics. This beautifully designed book introduces and illustrates the quirky breadth of the awards. Iconic objects by Robin and Lucienne Day, Kenneth Grange, and David Mellor sit alongside retro classics.

Over 5,500 detailed biographies of the most eminent, talented and distinguished women in the world today.

This book offers the first in-depth analysis of the relationship between art and design, which led to the creation of 'pop'. Challenging accepted boundaries and definitions, the authors seek out various commonalities and points of connection between these two exciting areas. Confronting the all-pervasive 'high art / low culture' divide, Pop Art and Design brings a fresh understanding of visual culture during the vibrant 1950s and 60s. This was an era when commercial art became graphic design, illustration was superseded by photography and high fashion became street fashion, all against the backdrop of a rapidly-evolving economic and political landscape, a glamorous youth scene and an effervescent popular culture. The book's central argument is that pop art relied on and drew inspiration from pop design, and vice versa. Massey and Seago assert that this relationship was articulated through the artwork, design, publications and exhibitions of a network of key practitioners. Pop Art and Design provides a case study in the broader inter-relationship between art and design, and constitutes the first interdisciplinary publication on the subject.

Designer und Architekten müssen täglich über Farben entscheiden. Aber wie findet man die wegweisende Inspiration? Die passende Farbe? Wie gehen andere Gestalter oder Künstler mit dem Thema um? Unter dem Titel Chroma, dem griechischen Wort für Farbe, gibt der vorliegende Bildband Antwort auf diese Fragen und macht deutlich, dass Farbe eben nicht nur Dekoration ist, sondern eine der zentralen Problemstellungen kreativer Arbeit. Dabei setzt Chroma auf die sinnliche Erfahrung von Farbe, inspiriert und verführt mit außergewöhnlichen Projekten von Industrieprodukten bis Farbfeldmalerei. Das Buch präsentiert sowohl die Arbeiten jüngerer Designer wie Stefan Diez und Arik Levy als auch die berühmter Künstler wie Ellsworth Kelly. Sämtliche Arbeiten sind großformatig dargestellt und in einer Art Farbverlauf den Kapiteln „monochromatic", "multichromatic" und "achromatic" zugeordnet. Das Spektrum umfasst alle erdenklichen Töne und Kombinationen, von leuchtenden, bunten über dezente Farbkompositionen, bis hin zu Schwarz-Weiß-Kontrasten. Ein weiteres Kapitel analysiert die Arbeit herausragender Künstler, Architekten und Designer wie Gerhard Richter, Konstantin Grcic oder Sauerbruch Hutton, die sich in besonderem Maße mit Farbe auseinandersetzen und zu einer charakteristischen Farbwelt gefunden haben. Ein alphabetischer Index liefert Hintergrundinformationen zu den ausgewählten Personen und Studios.