Weekly Wrap-Up & Preview: October 4
October 4, 2013
Our monthly round-up of reviews of some of this year’s most notable design books of year was one of this week’s highlights—we reviewed 10 titles on designing with glass and Formica, a collection of interviews with architects, and hippie fashion. We also published an interview with architecture critic and author Witold Rybczynski on his 18th book, toured the bygone interiors of New York’s famed Hotel Chelsea in photographs, and listened to restored audiotapes from several of modernism’s design giants. Next week, we’ll take a look at a hidden library in Grand Central Station. And, we will introduce the Designers & Books Online Book Fair!
Weekly Wrap-Up
Our October reviews bring you books that cover Italian architect Carlo Scarpa’s Venetian glass designs, Le Corbusier’s religious buildings, 100 years of designing with Formica, 1960s–70s fashion, and more.
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The architectural historian and critic demystifies the ubiquitous but still largely esoteric subject of architecture for a broad audience.
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“Today a lot of information can be found on the Internet, but for me books have more authority,” says architect Christian Wassmann.
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Exhibited for the first time in New York, photographer Victoria Cohen’s images tell their own story about one of the city’s best-known cultural landmarks.
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Herman Miller has released newly restored audio recordings that shine light on the designers’ ideas about arts education.
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“Your library reveals more about you than your public persona,” says BMW’s Head of Cultural Engagement, Thomas Girst.
A small, undigitized collection, the Williamson Library gives insight into the earliest days of New York’s High Line.
Announcements
Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister
Now is Better
By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023
Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Milton Glaser: POP
By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023
This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.
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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022
Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)
By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023
This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.
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