Weekly Wrap-Up & Preview: November 1
November 1, 2013
Modern glass work by architect Carlo Scarpa, a design library in Miami, a book list from Jorge Silvetti, and a look at five designers who made Apple the company it is today are just a few of this week’s highlights. We also introduce “The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition,” in honor of the 100th anniversary of the first volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. We sent the questionnaire to a variety of designers and design commentators, and starting next week, continuing through November, we’ll be posting the answers we received. We'll also bring you visual literature pioneer Warren Lehrer’s book list and some imaginative dollhouse designs from some of the world’s most prominent architects.
Weekly Wrap-Up
Several major modern architects have had an intensive preoccupation with glass, but no other architect has so comprehensively and dynamically designed with, and invented new processes to decorate, glass as Carlo Scarpa (1906–78).
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A design library and museum at Florida International University features rare books, posters, and ephemera from 1885 to 1945.
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Designers & Books poses its own version of the famous questionnaire to contributors and friends.
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Apple has unquestionably produced some of the most iconic designs of our time. Here are five other prolific designers and companies who have played a part in the shaping of Apple’s design philosophy.
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Jorge Silvetti, a partner with Rodolfo Machado in the firm Machado and Silvetti Associates, notably headed the transformation and expansion of Malibu’s Getty Villa into a center for the study of antiquities and has designed many high-profile and award-winning cultural buildings in the more than 25 years since the firm was founded. He assembled his book list in a unique way.
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Writer on philosophy, architecture, and other contemporary themes Alain de Botton considers travel.
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For his (long—22 books) list for Designers & Books, writer, graphic designer, and multimedia artist Warren Lehrer, known as a pioneer in the field of visual literature, or “vis lit,” decided to focus on “books (mostly fiction, some non-fiction, a few hybrids) whose visual composition is an integral part of the writing.”
We preview an exhibition and auction on November 11 that features 20 prominent architects’ versions of a dollhouse for the 21st century in order to raise money for the UK-based KIDS, which raises money for children with disabilities.
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.
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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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
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.”
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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