A Marvelous Repertoire: Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List
By Steve Kroeter September 25, 2012
 |
| Ronan Bouroullec |
Product designer Ronan Bouroullec: Atelier Bouroullec, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Partners for over a decade, Ronan Bouroullec together with his brother, Erwan, have created innovative designs for products ranging from furniture, lamps, tableware, and textiles to architectural projects, exhibition catalogues and, recently, an iPad application.
Ronan Bouroullec’s book list for Designers & Books reveals some of the varied ideas and sources of inspiration (art, architecture, Japanese crafts) that inform the Bouroullec brothers’ work. On Ronan’s list is artist Donald Judd’s Raume Spaces, which documents Judd’s transformation of the interiors of his famed workplaces in New York and Marfa, Texas, through his architectural forms and furniture designs. Bouroullec comments, “It was the first art book I ever bought. It has remained the most important one for me especially because of the relationship of Judd’s highly refined pieces to the rustic interiors.” Also on the list is Takeji Iwamiya’s Katachi: A Picture Book of Traditional Japanese Workmanship, which presents a photographic catalogue of objects, including door handles, canoes, musical instruments, and shoes. A further source of visual inspiration is Alexander Girard’s The Magic of a People: Folk Art and Toys from the Collection of the Girard Foundation, a book Ronan Bouroullec regards as “a marvelous repertoire.”
 |
| Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Works, 2012 (Phaidon Press) |
Earlier this year, Phaidon Press published its second monograph of the Bouroullec brothers’ designs. Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Works by Anniina Koivu and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. The book is a comprehensive guide to the Bouroullecs’ portfolio of objects, which find a unique balance between experimentation, handcrafted qualities, and practicality. The brothers’ designs have been produced for major companies such as Kartell, Vitra, Ligne Roset, Kvadrat, Cappellini, Flos, Alessi, Magis, and Hans Grohe, as well as in limited-edition pieces, such as those created for Galerie Kreo in Paris.
This balancing act also surfaces in another title on Ronan Bouroullec’s book list—Sori Yanagi Design, which documents the work of one of the major Japanese designers of the postwar era, who combined Western industrial designs with organic forms and Japan’s artisanal traditions. Bouroullec recalls in his book list comment about the Yanagi monograph, designed by Yanagi himself: “Over the past 15 years, I have looked at this book almost once a month, but it was not until recently that discovered that there were some translations from Japanese into English. The book is so clear and precise that I never required any further explanation beyond the images to understand the meaning of his work.”
 |
| Clouds, textile wall system designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat, 2009. From Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Works, 2012. Courtesy of Phaidon Press |
 |
| Erwan (left) and Ronan Bouroullec, 2009. Photo © Ola Rindal |
Note: An exhibition of the Bouroullec brothers’ work, “Ronan and Erwan Bouroullac: Bivouac,” opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA), October 20, 2012. Initiated by the Centre Pompidou-Metz (France) earlier this year, the MCA exhibition will be on view through January 20, 2013. The catalogue of the exhibition was designed by the Bouroullecs.
View Ronan Bouroullec’s Profile View Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List
See more product designers’ book lists
Announcements
Total Armageddon: A Slanted Reader on Design edited by Ian Lynam
Total Armageddon: A Slanted Reader on Design
Edited by Ian Lynam
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Published: March 2019
Total Armageddon is about design. And culture. And complexity, notably how we, as a global civilization, deal with science fiction, taste, social media, the cities we live in, aesthetics, PowerPoint, burkas, Big Tech, full-contact sports, and other thorny topics. The book celebrates 15 years of independent publishing and brings together a who’s who of authors and essays from 32 issues of Slanted Magazine.
A Field Guide to Color by Lisa Solomon
A Field Guide to Color: A Watercolor Workbook
By Lisa Solomon
Publisher: Roost Books
Published: August 2019
In this creative workbook you’ll discover fresh ways to connect with color in your art and life. Using watercolors, gouache, or any other water-based medium, explore color theory while playing with paint through a balanced blend of color experiments and loose color meditations. This inspiring workbook will change the way you relate to color
Five Oceans in a Teaspoon by Dennis Bernstein and Warren Lehrer
Five Oceans in a Teaspoon
Poems by Dennis Bernstein
Visualizations by Warren Lehrer
Introduction by Steven Heller
Publisher: Paper Crown Press
Published: September 19, 2019
“From a kidnap note for a world held hostage by an A-bomb, to a Holocaust survivor’s tattooed arms where the numbers just don’t add up, Five Oceans in a Teaspoon re-envisions a poetry memoir via a textual kaleidoscope... Bernstein and Lehrer are the Rodgers and Hart of Visual Poetry.” — Bob Holman, poet, poetry activist and chronicler, and founder of the Bowery Poetry Club
Ballpark: Baseball in the American City by Paul Goldberger
Ballpark: Baseball in the American City
By Paul Goldberger
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Published: May 2019
An illustrated, entirely new look at the history of baseball: told through the stories of the vibrant and ever-changing ballparks where the game was and is staged, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic.
Charleston Fancy by Witold Rybczynski
Charleston Fancy: Little Houses and Big Dreams in the Holy City
By Witold Rybczynski
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: May 2019
Charleston, South Carolina, which boasts America’s first historic district, is known for its palmetto-lined streets and picturesque houses. The Holy City, named for its profusion of churches, exudes an irresistible charm. Award-winning author and cultural critic Witold Rybczynski unfolds a series of stories about a group of youthful architects, builders, and developers based in Charleston: a self-taught home builder, an Air Force pilot, a fledgling architect, and a bluegrass mandolin player.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
Recent Articles
