Material Matters: New Materials in Design

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Phillip Howes

Zoe Laughlin

Black Dog Publishing, London, UK, 2012, English

Nonfiction, Product/Industrial Design

7 x 9.5 inches, paperback, 240 pages, 270 illustrations

ISBN: 9781907317736

Suggested Retail Price: $29.95

From the Publisher. Material Matters: New Materials in Design explores the fascinating world of materials, surveying characteristics, properties and new applications of materials in diverse fields, from sustainable resources to medicine, architectural design to aeronautical engineering and interior design to ‘haute-culture’ and fashion. Material Matters profiles the most fascinating materials developed in recent years with full page profiles and colorful illustrations, examples include Aerogel or ‘frozen smoke’—used by NASA it is the lightest solid on earth at 95% air; CO2-Absorbing Materials such as Nano Gold being championed at MIT in mediating against the side effects of cancer medication and magnetorheoological fluids allowing military vests to change properties from flexible to bullet-proof hard. Amongst these detailed profiles are texts that discuss the fusion between science, art and design in the creation of these substances and their importance within contemporary living, sustainability and expanding technologies. The book also includes the work of cutting edge designers Marc Newson, Ross Lovegrove, Apple, NASA, Intel, Ron Arad and household names.

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