Interviews

 

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50 blog entries
Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter March 27, 2012

Architecture school dean and architect Mohsen Mostafavi: Harvard Graduate School of Design (Cambridge, MA)  Profile   Book List
Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff (New York)
(New York)   Profile
The venerable Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) celebrates its 75th anniversary during the 2011–2012 academic year. Earlier in the year, critic and author Nicolai Ouroussoff had the opportunity to meet GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi in his office to talk about books. The specific books in question were those on a list that Dean Mostafavi compiled for Designers & Books—books that have particular resonance for him not only because of their intellectual content but also through their very personal connection to him. More...

Interviews
By Steve Kroeter March 22, 2012

Graphic designer Paula Scher talks about Maps (Princeton Architectural Press, October 2011), her recent book of map paintings, which was named a Designers & Books Notable Book of 2011 by Alissa Walker, who said, “As art, it’s gorgeous; as a process, it’s a lesson in obsession; and as a narrative, it’s storytelling at its best.” More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter January 17, 2012

Interior Designer Ernest de le Torre: de la Torre Design Studio (New York)
Profile  Book List
It’s been said that one of the most valuable traits of a gifted interior designer is perfection of the power of absorption. If there is truth to this, then Ernest de le Torre is certainly exemplary. He grew up in the Midwest, but from his Cuban parents retained a Latin sensibility. His design influences from his Chicago area upbringing include both the formal traditionalism of David Adler and the spare, modern geometry of Mies van der Rohe. More...

Interviews
By Steve Kroeter December 6, 2011

What happens when a Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic meets up with a MacArthur Fellow architect and the topic of their conversation is books? Shortly before it was announced that Jeanne Gang had been named by the MacArthur Foundation as a recipient of one of its 2011 awards, she and Paul Goldberger had a conversation about the book list that Gang submitted to Designers & Books. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter October 25, 2011

Graphic design curator, educator, and practitioner Ellen Lupton: Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (New York) and Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore)
Book List
Being at the intersection, as she is, of the worlds of design, publishing, academia, and museums, Ellen Lupton has a unique perspective on the importance and power of language. In the introduction to her list of “Books Every Graphic Designer Should Read” she makes the (not intuitively obvious) claim that “reading and writing are fundamental skills for any graphic designer.” She describes writing as the process of “converting fleeting notions into concrete things”—which seems to be not a bad working definition of design itself—and asserts that those who are truly influential in graphic design are all “confident and creative writers.” More...

Book List of the Week
By Stephanie Salomon October 11, 2011

Graphic designer Maira Kalman: M&Co (New York)
book list
Maira Kalman—graphic designer, illustrator, author of more than a dozen books for adults and children, and dedicated reader—sent us a book list that she introduces with, “Walk to a garden. Take a book with you, maybe a cup of coffee or tea. Just sit under a tree and read. That is the only answer to everything.” So Designers & Books decided to ask her not about “everything” but about a few things: books (on her book list and off), reading, and writing. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter August 16, 2011

Graphic designer Wim Crouwel (Amsterdam)
book list
When Wim Crouwel was interviewed a few years ago by AIGA/NY using the Proust Questionnaire, his reply to the question “What is your most treasured possession?” was “My library.” That answer caught our attention. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter May 10, 2011

Graphic design critic Rick Poynor: Design Observer (London)
book list
Rick Poynor is a writer and critic specializing in design, media, and visual culture—and also founding editor of Eye and a co-founder of Design Observer. He answered some questions from Designers & Books about his book list and also about books and graphic design in general. More...

Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter May 10, 2011

Graphic designer Angus Hyland: Pentagram (London)
book list
Angus Hyland is a partner in Pentagram’s London office and also consultant creative director to Laurence King Publishing. He agreed to answer some questions from us about books—those on his list (which he describes as “divided in half by the needs of work and pleasure”), those he’s written, and those he’s about to read. More...

Interviews
By Steve Kroeter April 5, 2011

Graphic designer, educator, and writer Jessica Helfand agreed to share with Designers & Books how she selected the titles for her book list and speaks about books as constant companions in her life. An avid reader (“three or four things at once”), she gravitates toward the “unusual” and the “unorthodox,” admits to a level of absurdity “that is absolutely at the core of my personality,” and readily acknowledges the theatricality in the way she approaches books (“I started out as an actress!”). 

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