Showing posts with label Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Design. Show all posts

The Design Book: New Edition by Phaidon Editors

, 6 Aug 2021

I purchased this book because I wanted a work to add to my interior design Taschen books, and this seemed to be comprehensive. It is indeed a nice coffee table book, both informative and entertaining, and nicely printed. It is not as tiny as some of the other reviewers made me think. It is on the small size, for sure.

I LIKE
> Portable and compact coffee-table sort of book.
> Elegant cover and inner cover design.
> Pleasurable paper stock.
> Informative without being a bore. Easy to read.
> Mix of design pieces (think Aalto, anything produced by Alessi or Jansen) and invented/patented pieces that are part of our daily lives (zip, Dixon pencil, safety pin, metal dustbin, cylinder lock, door handle, corkscrew, etc.).
> Very good photos overall. Many of them are vintage images of the designers or of the adds used to sell the products.
> Excellent binding. You can comfortably open the book and read both pages without fearing that they will come out.
> Index of products at the end. 


 
DOWNSIDES
> The paper is too thin and a bit transparent-ish.
> No fabric page marker included in the binding, something that is common in similar design books by Taschen.
> The lettering is very small and I need a magnifying glass to read the text.
> The body of the text is not justified, something that always annoys me.
> The book has no introduction with the criteria used for the selection of the pieces included in the book, period covered or any other relevant information on the matter.
> The selection lacks cultural diversity, as there is a constant rotation of specific designers and areas of the world. I would have liked a bit of more open-minded, to call it something, because it is difficult to understand why there isn't any South-East Asian, African, or South American designer in the book, and why France and Spain and so under-represented. Because, you aren't going to tell me that there designers from those parts of the world haven't designed anything we use or didn't contribute to the history of design at all. 



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1000 Lights by Charlotte & Peter Fiell (2013)

, 20 Jul 2015

Is there anything sexier than a chair? Of course, Lamps and lighting items are absolutely sexier. They have inspired great artists and designers to create marvellous creations that still leave me in awe. I bought this book in my local bookshop, way more expensive that in Amazon, but it is still a very good price for a good quality book.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT
> Perfect coffee table or beside table book.
> A good illustrated introduction on the history of electric lighting.
> Decent short explanatory texts accompany every image, right to the point but informative.
> Foot references to the period to which the lamps belong (right beside the page number).
> Good indexes.
> Great visual guide of lamps design with full-colour gorgeous photos.
> Good quality edition with glossy thick paper and hard cover at a great price.
> Great sizing and format, very easy to tuck away or put on your coffee or bedside table.
> Explanations in English, French and German. Great to improve your vocabulary in your non-native languages if you are interested or give it as a gift to an overseas friend.
> Fully orgasmic.


DOWNSIDES
= The books does limit itself to the 20th century so no designs from the 2000s. This being the case, many of the daring innovative contemporary lighting are not included.
= The book is unevenly organised. The 600+ pages covering the 20th century are heavily sided on the first half of the century, so much so that 456 pages are devoted to the period that goes to the 60s, while the rest is devoted to the 70s, 80s and 90s.
= Short in British and Spanish designers, while French and Italian ones are overwhelmingly present.
= If you are looking for a guide with plenty of explanations, a professional approach to lamp design and more details about the designers and the history of each item, or clear design periods go elsewhere.
 = The fact that the explanations are in three languages forces the comments to be shorter and less detailed.


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1000 Chairs by Charlotte & Peter Fiell (2013)

, 30 Jun 2015

Chairs are one of the most useful beautiful "sexiful" things in the world. Yes, they turn me on. I love this book. So many reasons, but I am going to be brief (please, applaud):

> Perfect book to have on your coffee-table.
> Decent short texts, right to the point but informative.
> Great visual guide of chair design.
> Good quality edition.
> Good quality full-colour photos.
> Taschen's guarantee of serious but fun books.
> Great format. Easy to put away or in different places, coffer table, besidr table, small corner out there. 
> Explanations in three languages: English, French and German. Great to improve your vocabulary in your non-native languages if you are interested or give as a gift to an overseas friend.
> Hardcopy book for less than 20 bucks. Are you serious?!
> Chairtastic fully orgasmic.
 

DOWNSIDES?
Yes, surrre.
= If you are looking for a guide with plenty of  explanations, a professional approach to chair design and more details about the designers and the history of each item, or clear design periods  go elsewhere.
= The book starts from the 19th century, so if you love, say, Roman Empire chairs, this is not for you.
= The books is does limit itself to the 20th century so no designs from year 2000. Pity. I miss the awesome chairs of contemporary designers British Grazier-Jones and Spaniard Maximo Riera among others.
= The book devotes little space to the 1980s and 1890s compared to other periods.
= Short in Asian and non Western designers in general.

IN A NUTSHELL
If you are looking for a book to have on your coffee table to entertain guests or yourself while having a coffee or tea, this is it.

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