Book List of the Week

The Book List of the Week highlights the list of books provided by invited designers (including architects, fashion designers, graphic designers, interior designers, landscape architects, product designers, urban designers, and other design professionals) who have chosen books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.
189 blog entries
Book List of the Week
September 1, 2014

Back to school this week? Here are three “dean’s lists” of books selected by Mohsen Mostafavi, who heads Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design; Kent Kleinman, dean of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning; and Alan Balfour, former dean of the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. More...

Book List of the Week
August 18, 2014

Kicking off an automobile-themed week, here are the books that inspire three distinguished names in car design—Chris Bangle (former Chief of Design for BMW), Thomas Girst (BMW’s Head of Cultural Engagement), and Phil Patton, New York Times “Wheels” blog writer and author of several books on car design. More...

Book List of the Week
August 11, 2014

From sculptor and designer Wendell Castle’s stack-laminated wood tables to the ceramics that are household names created by the late Eva Zeisel, the evidence of the designer’s signature style in creating is showcased in the work of five product/industrial designers and builders. Along with Wendell Castle and Eva Zeisel, here are British product designer Jasper Morrison (Basel chair, Glo-ball lamp), custom bicycle builder Richard Sachs, and Jeffrey Bernett (Flight Recliner, Tulip armchair) and the books that inspire them. More...

Book List of the Week
August 4, 2014

To mark the publication of two new books about books and their covers, written by Knopf art director Peter Mendelsund, we’re featuring the book lists of five graphic designers admired for their book cover work. The designers, along with Peter Mendelsund, associate art director at Alfred A. Knopf and the author of What We See When We Read and Cover, both debuting this week, are Seymour Chwast (Push Pin Studios), Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics), Chip Kidd (Alfred A. Knopf and author of Go!), and Carin Goldberg. More...

Book List of the Week
July 28, 2014

This week we celebrate the books that inspire seven American interior designers: Ernest de La Torre, Alexa Hampton, David Easton, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Sheila Bridges, Penny Drue Baird, and William Georgis.

Book List of the Week
July 21, 2014

The books that have left their mark on four notable names in jewelry design are spotlighted this week. Featured are designers Lisa Jenks, Temple St. Clair, and Gijs Bakker, and critic and author In Style’s Marion Fasel, who sent us a list of “Books Every Jewelry Designer Should Read.” More...

Book List of the Week
July 14, 2014

France celebrates its national holiday today. In honor of Bastille Day, here are six French designers and the books that have inspired them. The designers include graphic designer Pierre Bernard, fashion designer Christian Lacroix, and product designers Ronan Bouroullec, Matali Crasset, Jean-Marie Massaud, and Inga Sempé. More...

Book List of the Week
July 7, 2014

America’s birthday celebration has just passed and this week we celebrate six major names in American fashion design—Stephen Burrows, Reed Krakoff, Isaac Mizrahi, Cynthia Rowley, Ralph Rucci, and Anna Sui—and the books that inspire them. More...

Book List of the Week
June 30, 2014

Traveling to hotels and restaurants are among summer’s (or any season’s) pleasures. Here are five major designers of notable hotel and restaurant spaces worldwide who list the books that have been influential for them. The designers include Jeffrey Beers, Ed Ng, Adam Tihany, and George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg. More...

Book List of the Week
June 23, 2014

From our archive, we’ve brought together 10 prominent American women working in graphic design—as practitioners and authors—and the books that inspire them. Design classics and hidden gems, books on nonfiction subjects from art to food, and novels all make the lists. More...