10 Book Lists from Design Within Reach Designers
November 16, 2013
Design Within Reach (DWR), the renowned furnishings company that since 1999 has aimed to make authentic modern design accessible features the work of these 10 designers (among many others) who have also contributed to Designers & Books. They range from the late Eva Zeisel to one of DWR’s newest designers, Jeffrey Bernett.
School only teaches you so much, so the two other things I’ve held to are: surround yourself and work with the brightest people you can, and read broadly. Reading, isn’t only a quest to gain knowledge, but it’s actually a very thought-provoking journey in its own right, and it’s surprising, when provoked provocatively, where the mind goes off to along the way.
I like philosophy books that satisfy my curiosity. I’ve read very little fiction lately because there is so much I want to know. When I read fiction I am truly on holiday. I thought I would become a poet when I was young. (I did publish some poetry, but it’s all in Danish.)
This list was in my head, and I was thinking that getting the details and writing a few lines for each title would take a leisurely Sunday afternoon. It turned out to be a busy Friday morning instead. I’ve made this list from all the books I could reach from my desk at home without getting onto ladders. I have about 3,000 books, so there could easily be many more. As there is intelligent life outside the U.S., I have included some of my favorite books in German as well.
When asked to make a list of my favorite books, these are the titles that immediately came to mind. Once completed, I realized there wasn’t a single design book on the list.
I’ve found that whether it’s a minor character in The World According to Garp who has halitosis and is described as “dying from the inside out” or Sartre’s description of finding his hand on a doorknob in Nausea, the fleeting imagery created from reading a well-written sentence is an act of design in itself.
Haruki Murakami, Georges Perec, Primo Levi.
Bernard Rudofsly, Henry Dreyfuss, Gyorgy Kepes.
Walter Crane.
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