You Are What You Read: Barbara Barry
Interior and product designer Barbara Barry talks about the book that most inspires her.
By Barbara Barry and Steve Kroeter June 20, 2017
In our second installment of You Are What You Read, Los Angeles-based interior and product designer Barbara Barry talks about beauty, American design, and her favorite book. In this series, Designers & Books asks prominent designers to describe — in words and images — a book they have found to be particularly inspiring. Barbara selected A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century by Witold Rybczynski. — SK
Barbara writes:
“Over the years I’ve come back to this powerful book again and again, recalling the impact it made on me as a young designer. Few books have that lasting impression and power to help form one’s thoughts and that is why I chose A Clearing in the Distance.
The Book
Each time I put it down I would contemplate why it touched me so deeply. Perhaps it’s because it expanded any notion I had of beauty, and did so on the grandest possible scale. Perhaps it’s because of the way in which it presented the sweep of history of our country. How during the hardest times and against all odds this man’s singular vision rose up and he carried on.
The scope of Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision is like that of a great artist facing a blank canvas, because that is what our country was. Out of the chaos and cacophony of a burgeoning nation his vision brought beauty and order to everything he touched. He worked tirelessly on a vision that wouldn’t ripen in his lifetime but that continues to serve and feed the souls of so many of us today.
 |
| Barbara Barry. |
Whenever I lose my way, professionally or personally, I think of the overwhelming obstacles and setbacks Olmsted encountered. I think of his determination and his powerful will. I think of the majesty and breadth of his ideas and the years of preparation he put into them before they were realized. And he did so passionately, and forcefully, because he believed in himself and his ideas … and in the power of beauty.
Wherever I am in my life’s journey, when I come to this book, its
story always humbles me. It buoys me up and it puts the passion back in my guts and inspires me to carry on. In some profound way Frederick Law Olmsted frames my pursuit of, and passion to, create beauty. He makes me proud to be an American—an American designer.”
As part of You Are What You Read, we ask designers for a favorite quotation from the book they selected.
Barbara chose:
He [Olmsted] is trying to combine economics, aesthetics, landscaping, nature, moral and intellectual improvement, and salvation. It is a bewildering mix of ideas, but he is persevering. He is making his own way.
You Are What You Read: Design World Luminaries Recommend the Books That Most Inspire Them is an ongoing series. Read our first installment by architect Denise Scott Brown, and watch for he next installment from graphic designer Harry Pearce, partner in Pentagam's London office.
There are 39 independent bookstores that have committed to helping readers connect with the books selected by participating designers, as well as books written by the designers. You can find the list of bookstores here.
You Might Also Like
Announcements
Designers & Books Tours
Designers & Books Tours:
Customized tours providing the opportunity to explore the places, meet the people, and see the books of the design book world in New York City.
For information:
PH: 212-777-9080
or
info@designersandbooks.com
Understanding Understanding: New from Richard Saul Wurman
Understanding Understanding
by Richard Saul Wurman
Publisher: Richard Saul Wurman and Jack Dangermond
Published July 30, 2017
From the author of Information Architecture, who says about his newest book: “This is a book for people to dip into, as they would walk in and out of the room of a dinner party and embrace their interests. . . Before the rules on how to organize information, before you learn grammar, before you work hard at expanding your vocabulary and go through the exercises of parallel meanings of things as using a Thesaurus and as one writes papers in class, before any learning one must understand.”
The Hard Life by Jasper Morrison
The Hard Life
by Jasper Morrison
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published in US: May 22, 2017
Photographs taken by designer Jasper Morrison of objects in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon, Portugal. “The objects photographed and described may be appreciated both for their beauty and for the example they set of design at its purest. The Hard Life is a continuation of Morrison’s celebration of the ordinary and offers a new perspective on his design philosophy.”
Paula Scher: Works - Order from Unit Editions
Paula Scher: Works
Editors: Tony Brook & Adrian Shaughnessy
Design: Spin
Publisher: Unit Editions
Published April 2017
New book covering the career of of master designer Paula Scher, called “the most influential woman graphic designer on the planet.” (Ellen Lupton), This definitive, chronological visual record spans Paula’s early days in the music industry as an art director with CBS and Atlantic records; the launch of her first studio, Koppel & Scher; and her 25-year engagement with Pentagram.
.jpg)
Type Tells Tales: New from Steven Heller and Gail Anderson
Type Tells Tales
by Steven Heller and Gail Anderson
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published May 30, 2017
Reveals how type can become both content and illustration, as letters take the form of people, animals, cars, or planes. With numerous illustrations by F. T. Marinetti, Bruno Munari, and Francis Picabia, among others, as well as by contemporary designers such as Richard Eckersley, John Hendrix, Maira Kalman, and Corita Kent.
Recent Articles
