Designers & Books Blog

 

856 blog entries
Book List of the Week
By Steve Kroeter December 20, 2011

Product and interior designer Jonathan Adler: Jonathan Adler Enterprises (New York)
Book List

Designers & Books is always intrigued by designers’ manifestos. Not only do they offer a window onto a designer’s work, but they also often provide insights into the choices included on the designer’s book list. Those familiar with Jonathan Adler’s work—products and accessories for the home, interior design, and international retailing—will recognize right away the ideas stated in his manifesto. What does he believe about color? “We believe that colors can’t clash.” Is he more in the camp of “less is more” or “less is a bore”? “We believe minimalism is a bummer.” What does he believe is the feeling that residential interior design should conjure up? “We believe that your home should make you happy.” More...

Guest posts
By Daijiro Mizuno December 15, 2011

Guest blogger: Daijiro Mizuno (Kyoto, Japan)
Profile

We welcome guest blogger Daijiro Mizuno—design researcher, educator, and writer—who shares his selection of notable design titles published during 2011. — SK More...

Architecture
By Steve Kroeter December 13, 2011

Editor Susan S. Szenasy: Metropolis (New York)
Book List   Essay

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the magazine Metropolis, whose mission is to “examine contemporary life through design.” At the helm for the past 25 years has been editor in chief Susan S. Szenasy. Her role in the design world as it has evolved since 1981 prompted Designers & Books to ask Susan for her thoughts on the most notable design books published during the magazine’s three decades—as a sort of capsule summary of the important ideas dominating design from the late 20th century into the early 21st. Susan came back to us with a slightly different idea. More...

Guest posts
By Alissa Walker December 8, 2011

Guest blogger: Alissa Walker (Los Angeles)
Profile

We welcome guest blogger Alissa Walker—design and urbanism journalist, critic, and author—who shares her selection of notable design titles published during 2011. More...

Notable books and book reviews
By Steve Kroeter December 7, 2011

Architecture critic Justin Davidson: New York Magazine (New York)
Notable Books of 2011   Video

Design editor Wendy Goodman: New York Magazine (New York)
Notable Books of 2011    Video

New York Magazine’s architecture critic, Justin Davidson, and design editor, Wendy Goodman, got together recently at Rizzoli Bookstore on 57th Street in New York to talk about their favorite design books of 2011.
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Interviews
By Steve Kroeter December 6, 2011

What happens when a Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic meets up with a MacArthur Fellow architect and the topic of their conversation is books? Shortly before it was announced that Jeanne Gang had been named by the MacArthur Foundation as a recipient of one of its 2011 awards, she and Paul Goldberger had a conversation about the book list that Gang submitted to Designers & Books. More...

Guest posts
By Paul Makovsky December 1, 2011

Guest blogger: Paul Makovsky (Metropolis, New York)
Profile

We welcome guest blogger Paul Makovsky—editorial director of Metropolis magazine—who shares his selection of notable design titles published during 2011. More...

Notable Design Books: Reviews
By Steve Kroeter November 30, 2011

To help celebrate the year in design book publishing, Designers & Books invited a group of esteemed design community members to select titles published in 2011 that they think are particularly worth noting. Among those who have participated so far in selecting titles were Justin Davidson, Wendy Goodman, Julie Lasky, Paul Makovsky, Daijiro Mizuno, Phil Patton, Maria Popova, Rick Poynor, and Alissa Walker. Below you will find the results of their deliberations: our list (to date and growing) of Notable Design Books of 2011. More...

Architecture
By Steve Kroeter November 29, 2011

Architect James Biber: Biber Architects (New York)
Book List     Video

Graphic designer Michael Bierut: Pentagram (New York)
Profile

videoGraphic designer and Pentagram partner Michael Bierut and one-time aspiring biologist turned architect James Biber have been friends, business associates, or both for over 20 years. They also share a major interest in books. Between the two of them they cover just about all the important ways that books can intersect your life: reading them, writing them, designing them, collecting them, being inspired by them—and in one case, fighting over them with a parent. More...

Guest posts
By Julie Lasky November 23, 2011

Guest blogger: Julie Lasky (Design Observer/Change Observer, New York)
Profile

We welcome guest blogger Julie Lasky—design and visual culture journalist, critic, and author—who shares her selection of notable design titles published during 2011. More...