Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

title a–z

Nonfiction, Interior Design

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76 books

Alexander Girard Todd Oldham et al. On Jonathan Adler’s Book List On Wendy Goodman’s Notable Books of 2011 list On list of Books by Todd Oldham Add to My Reading List	Anatomy for Interior Designers Francis de N. Schroeder On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Apartments for the Affluent Alpern Andrew On Alexa Hampton’s Book List On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Authentic Décor: The Domestic Interior 1620–1920 Peter Thornton On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List On Susan Weber’s Book List On Jeffrey Bilhuber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Axel Vervoordt Meredith Etherington-Smith On Dominique Browning’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Axel Vervoordt: Timeless Interiors Armelle Baron On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Behind the Picture Window Bernard Rudofsky On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Big Book of Chic Miles Redd On Matteo Thun’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Billy Baldwin Decorates Billy Baldwin On Dominique Browning’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Billy Baldwin Remembers Billy Baldwin On Ralph Rucci’s Book List On Dominique Browning’s Book List On Ernest de la Torre’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Bloomingdale’s Book of Home Decorating Barbara D’Arcy On Penny Drue Baird’s Book List Add to My Reading List	By Design Ralph Caplan On Nancye Green’s Book List On Jennifer Morla’s Book List On Jeffrey Bernett’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Classic Style Judith Miller On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	David Adler: The Architect and His Work Richard Pratt On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	David Hicks on Decoration—with Fabrics David Hicks On Dominique Browning’s Book List Add to My Reading List	David Hicks: A Life of Design Ashley Hicks On Jonathan Adler’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Decoration of Houses Edith Wharton et al. On William Georgis’s Book List On Dominique Browning’s Book List On David Easton’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designing the Modern Interior: From the Victorians to Today Penny Sparke et al. On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Donald Judd Furniture: Retrospective Museum Boymans-van Beuningen On Vincent Van Duysen’s Book List On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Dunbar: Fine Furniture of the 1950s Leslie Piña On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eileen Gray Peter Adam On Jeanne Gang’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration Penny Sparke On Susan Weber’s Book List On Dominique Browning’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The English House Hermann Muthesius On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes Fernand David et al. On Ernest de la Torre’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Finest Rooms Katherine Tweed On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Finest Rooms in America Thomas Jayne On Susan Weber’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Finest Rooms in France French House & Garden On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Form & Decoration: Innovation in the Decorative Arts, 1470–1870 Peter Thornton On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Furniture from British India and Ceylon Amin Jaffer On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Furniture of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Daniele Baroni On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Great Houses of England and Wales Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd et al. On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Hans J. Wegner Jens Bernsen On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List
High-tech Joan Kron et al. On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The House in My Head Dorothy Rodgers On Dominique Browning’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The House of Life Mario Praz On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	An Illustrated History of Interior Decoration: From Pompeii to Art Nouveau Mario Praz On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In House Derry Moore et al. On Jeffrey Bilhuber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Italian Splendor Jack Basehart On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Italy: The New Domestic Landscape Emilio Ambasz, ed. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List On list of Books by Emilio Ambasz On Marco Romanelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jansen James Archer Abbott On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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.

Order the book.

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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Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

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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.”

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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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