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
Architecture
By Steve Kroeter August 28, 2012

Dean and architect Kent Kleinman: Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (Ithaca, New York)
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In time for a new academic year for design and architecture schools, our newest “dean’s list” of books comes from Kent Kleinman, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. More...

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
By Steve Kroeter January 6, 2014

A former student of Italian literature and art history and an inveterate traveler, Temple St. Clair discovered jewelry design by collaborating with master artisans in Italy to create unique pieces featuring precious metals and gemstones. These strands weave among the books St. Clair—a 2011 recipient of the Hall of Fame award from the Accessories Council for Excellence, recognized for her rock-crystal amulets and use of colored gems —chose for her Designers & Books list. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter February 3, 2014

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister answers a few questions about the updated edition of Things I have learned in my life so far (2013, Abrams), its online offshoot, and a little bit about what he’s learned (so far). We also reprise his popular book list for Designers & Books—now updated with some new commentary. More...

Book List of the Week
June 5, 2019

As a tribute to architect Stanley Tigerman (1930–June 3, 2019), a giant of postmodernism, we are honored to share the list of books that inspired him, which he sent to Designers & Books in 2012. The list, he wrote, was “the tip of an iceberg that helps to define who I am in the autumn of my life.” More...

Book List of the Week
June 9, 2014

Inspired by the recently opened 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, today’s Book List of the Week features the books chosen by seven designers working in Italy. 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
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
By Steve Kroeter July 11, 2019

This week we honor the life and work of Philip Freelon (1953–2019), chief architect of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., by re-publishing the list of books that inspired him. More...