Designers & Books Blog

 

856 blog entries
Book List of the Week
August 11, 2014

From sculptor and designer Wendell Castle’s stack-laminated wood tables to the ceramics that are household names created by the late Eva Zeisel, the evidence of the designer’s signature style in creating is showcased in the work of five product/industrial designers and builders. Along with Wendell Castle and Eva Zeisel, here are British product designer Jasper Morrison (Basel chair, Glo-ball lamp), custom bicycle builder Richard Sachs, and Jeffrey Bernett (Flight Recliner, Tulip armchair) and the books that inspire them. More...

By Peter Mendelsund August 4, 2014

The book that, of all the books I’ve read, comes the closest to accurately reflecting this slippery world of ours. It is the book that feels, when one is reading it, the most like what it feels to be alive. Lesson(s) learned: Hold a mirror up to life.

Book List of the Week
August 4, 2014

To mark the publication of two new books about books and their covers, written by Knopf art director Peter Mendelsund, we’re featuring the book lists of five graphic designers admired for their book cover work. The designers, along with Peter Mendelsund, associate art director at Alfred A. Knopf and the author of What We See When We Read and Cover, both debuting this week, are Seymour Chwast (Push Pin Studios), Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics), Chip Kidd (Alfred A. Knopf and author of Go!), and Carin Goldberg. More...

Themed Book Lists
July 30, 2014

Good design can make you healthier. From titles focusing on the design of health-care facilities, gyms, playgrounds, and spas to products for increased well-being, to classics on creating walkable. livable communities, to visions for our future as human beings, here are 15 books on health and design. More...

Design Books to Win
July 29, 2014

Even if you can’t make it to the exhibition currently on view at the Met’s Costume Institute through August 10, you can still experience the glamorous designs and fascinating career of Charles James (1906–78), often considered to be America’s first couturier, through the the acclaimed catalogue of the show. More...

Book List of the Week
July 28, 2014

This week we celebrate the books that inspire seven American interior designers: Ernest de La Torre, Alexa Hampton, David Easton, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Sheila Bridges, Penny Drue Baird, and William Georgis.

By Alexa Hampton July 28, 2014

The essential book on design by two huge figures.

Daily Features
July 25, 2014

For a collaboration we are participating in with The Art Directors Club, Designers & Books invites you to share the story of how you navigated your creative career path—including the books that have inspired you. Your story and quotes will be posted on ADC’s blog and promoted on its social channels. The Art Directors Club (ADC) has a social community of more than 220,000 creative professionals in every stage of career development, and from all over the world. More...

Daily Features
July 25, 2014

Our Online Book Fair is growing—fast. To our over 500 titles, we’re continually adding new books on architecture, design, art, and photography for adults and children—many at specially discounted prices—and new publishers, too. We also welcome our first in a lineup of rare and out of print book dealers, offering you a showcase of vintage titles as well current and forthcoming books. More...

Weekly Wrap-Up & Preview
July 25, 2014

With summer in full swing, this month we featured a talk with Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute curator Harold Koda about the Met’s current exhibition and accompanying catalogue on fashion designer Charles James. We’ll be giving away copies of the catalogue in our next installment of “Design Books to Win,” starting July 29. We also published Witold Rybczynski’s review of Being: An Architect by Ian Ritchie and brought you special summer-themed lists of books on landscape design, bicycle design, and more. More...