Newest Posts and Book Lists
30 blog entries
Steve Kroeter
May 1, 2012 0 comments

Jewelry designer Lisa Jenks: Lisa Jenks (New York)
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The work of jewelry designer Lisa Jenks is prized for its originality, drama, and tactility. She is known especially for being finely attuned to the materials she works with, particularly sterling silver, in a way that allows physical characteristics to communicate cultural allusions. Her aesthetic influences range from angular forms in urban architecture to glyphs on the Mayan pyramids in Uxmal.

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Steve Kroeter
Sep 25, 2012 0 comments

Product designer Ronan Bouroullec: Atelier Bouroullec, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
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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.

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Steve Kroeter
Aug 23, 2011 1 comment

Architecture and design curator Zoë Ryan: Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago)
book list
When Zoë Ryan—as of this July, the John H. Bryan Curator of Architecture and Design and Chair of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago—gave us her list of books for product designers, she emphasized that she found it hard to be limited by disciplines or categories and that her view of design was an expansive one.

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Steve Kroeter
Aug 9, 2012 1 comment

Design executive Michael Maharam: Maharam (New York)
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Michael Maharam, CEO of one of the the leading suppliers of textiles to architects and interior designers in the U.S., talks about his book, Maharam Agenda, published in November 2011 by Lars Müller.

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Steve Kroeter
May 22, 2012 1 comment

Product designer Jasper Morrison: Jasper Morrison Ltd. (London)
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For British product designer Jasper Morrison design is a tool that should be used to improve the quality of “atmosphere.” He ruminates on this idea of atmosphere in his book Super Normal: Sensations of the Ordinary (co-authored with Naoto Fukasawa)—“a manifesto calling for an appreciation of the well-designed objects we use every day that often go overlooked or get taken for granted”

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Steve Kroeter
Apr 9, 2013 0 comments

Product/industrial designer Jens Martin Skibsted: KiBiSi and Biomega (Copenhagen)
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Jens Martin Skibsted designs ahead-of-the curve bicycles for Biomega, a company he founded, and electronics, household products, and furnishings for the top Scandinavian industrial design studio KiBiSi, another firm he founded—along with Bjarke Ingels (BIG) and Lars Larsen (Kilo Design). He has been named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for his design thinking and runs Skibsted Ideation, a design and branding agency.

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Steve Kroeter
Apr 30, 2013 0 comments

Jewelry and watch design editor Marion Fasel: InStyle (New York)
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“To be a jewelry designer is a calling,” says Marion Fasel, InStyle’s jewelry editor since 1996, the year she launched the magazine’s award-winning coverage of the field. “You have to actively seek an education,” Fasel continues, “and books are one of the best resources.”

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Steve Kroeter
Dec 13, 2012 0 comments

Product/industrial designer Stefano Giovanni: Giovannoni Design (Milan)
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On industrial designer Stefano Giovannoni’s book list for Designers & Books are five titles by the French philosopher and sociologist Jean Baudrillard. Why? Giovannoni thinks it’s very important for a designer “to open one’s vision to the philosophical and sociological aspects related to the evolution of our society.” “I’ve never found a design book deep enough for a broad vision of our profession,” he says in the introduction to his book list.

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Steve Kroeter
Jan 8, 2013 0 comments

Product/industrial designer Jeffrey Bernett: CDS/Consultants for Design Strategy (New York)
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“School only teaches you so much,” says Jeffrey Bernett in his book list introduction for Designers & Books. The designer of acclaimed residential and office furniture, household products, lighting, packaging, and interior architecture for companies such as B&B Italia, Design Within Reach, and Herman Miller recommends reading broadly as not only “a quest to gain knowledge” but also “a thought-provoking journey in its own right.”

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Steve Kroeter
Jul 12, 2011 0 comments

Product design executive Alberto Alessi: Alessi S.p.A. (Crusinallo, Italy)
book list
Alberto Alessi belongs to the third generation of one of the world’s great family dynasties in design. For over 40 years he has been at the center of managing the business and strategic affairs of Alessi S.p.A.—known for bringing innovative design to housewares—as well as coordinating the company’s product development relationships with notable architects and designers from around the world.  He answered some questions from Designers & Books about his book list and about his life, which has had design at its center. 

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