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Design Book
Discover more than 500 of the most innovative, influential, and enduring products from the last five centuries in this fully revised and expanded edition of Phaidon's much-loved companion to the best of design
Take an extraordinary journey through objects from the last 500 years that have improved our environments and functionality, and shaped society and culture. With an image for each object featured and descriptive text including information about the product itself, its designer, manufacturer, and history,The Design Book includes iconic pieces by such masters as Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck, and the Eames, alongside classic objects such as the paper clip, the hurricane lantern, and the martini glass. This new edition also features 30 new products from the last 15 years, expertly selected and curated to reflect modern-day design breakthroughs.
Praise for the original edition:
"Phaidon seems to have pulled off the rare trick of creating something accessible and wide-ranging, but genuinely interesting and informative too." - Design Week
Take an extraordinary journey through objects from the last 500 years that have improved our environments and functionality, and shaped society and culture. With an image for each object featured and descriptive text including information about the product itself, its designer, manufacturer, and history,The Design Book includes iconic pieces by such masters as Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck, and the Eames, alongside classic objects such as the paper clip, the hurricane lantern, and the martini glass. This new edition also features 30 new products from the last 15 years, expertly selected and curated to reflect modern-day design breakthroughs.
Praise for the original edition:
"Phaidon seems to have pulled off the rare trick of creating something accessible and wide-ranging, but genuinely interesting and informative too." - Design Week
544 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2013
16 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
Phaidon Press
194 books426 followersPhaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional offices in Paris and Berlin. -wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 19, 2024
4.5 Stars!
Did you know that ant, antelope, swan, pony, ghost, egg, coconut, tongue and tulip are all forms of chair?...I certainly didn’t…Deary me! So much out there in the great wide world…blows my tiny mind!
I love books that pick out those everyday things that most of us rarely give a second thought to, unless we suddenly can’t find them. The things you didn’t think about thinking about. There’s the galvanised metal dustbin (c.1830), Safety pin (1849) and the clothes peg (1850s). And that’s just from the mid-1800s.
And let’s not forget the likes of the scalpel (1937) and the Jerry can (c.1937) to the milk bottle (1940s) and the. The vast majority of these items which most of us don’t give a second thought to and yet they play such significant roles in our day to day lives, making so much of our world easier, quicker and more pleasant. I also came across some new and bizarre creations which I’ve never heard of before such as the Chicken brick (1966)?...
How often and in using so many kinds of materials we find that perfect balance between beauty and utility, a nice balance of science and art resulting in so many creations that amount to well beyond the sum of its parts. Time and time again through fashion, fads and trends that what seems to endure longest of all is pure, old fashioned quality.
Another intriguing factor in this is the cross-pollination of ideas, forms and techniques from one discipline to another, as seen with some of the Italians who take aspects from the car manufacturing process and put them into furniture. This of course throws up almost infinite possibilities.
I have to say the longer I read into this the deeper my understanding and appreciation grew for the phenomenal contribution from Scandinavia. There’s also a really strong showing from the Japanese as well as the Italian and Germanic European countries too, which is to be expected. In particular we see a strong showing for the likes of Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Aalto and Saarinen from Finland, the Luckhardt brothers, Le Courbusier, Mies van Der Rohe and those immensely productive and prolific Castiglioni brothers and so many more.
Overall this book really reminds you of the origins and backstories behind so much of what furnishes and enhances our day to day lives and this is a book with so much to offer. There is the odd puzzling omission (I wont mention them cos they get enough publicity) but still this is a great little book with so much packed into it!
Did you know that ant, antelope, swan, pony, ghost, egg, coconut, tongue and tulip are all forms of chair?...I certainly didn’t…Deary me! So much out there in the great wide world…blows my tiny mind!
I love books that pick out those everyday things that most of us rarely give a second thought to, unless we suddenly can’t find them. The things you didn’t think about thinking about. There’s the galvanised metal dustbin (c.1830), Safety pin (1849) and the clothes peg (1850s). And that’s just from the mid-1800s.
And let’s not forget the likes of the scalpel (1937) and the Jerry can (c.1937) to the milk bottle (1940s) and the. The vast majority of these items which most of us don’t give a second thought to and yet they play such significant roles in our day to day lives, making so much of our world easier, quicker and more pleasant. I also came across some new and bizarre creations which I’ve never heard of before such as the Chicken brick (1966)?...
How often and in using so many kinds of materials we find that perfect balance between beauty and utility, a nice balance of science and art resulting in so many creations that amount to well beyond the sum of its parts. Time and time again through fashion, fads and trends that what seems to endure longest of all is pure, old fashioned quality.
Another intriguing factor in this is the cross-pollination of ideas, forms and techniques from one discipline to another, as seen with some of the Italians who take aspects from the car manufacturing process and put them into furniture. This of course throws up almost infinite possibilities.
I have to say the longer I read into this the deeper my understanding and appreciation grew for the phenomenal contribution from Scandinavia. There’s also a really strong showing from the Japanese as well as the Italian and Germanic European countries too, which is to be expected. In particular we see a strong showing for the likes of Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Aalto and Saarinen from Finland, the Luckhardt brothers, Le Courbusier, Mies van Der Rohe and those immensely productive and prolific Castiglioni brothers and so many more.
Overall this book really reminds you of the origins and backstories behind so much of what furnishes and enhances our day to day lives and this is a book with so much to offer. There is the odd puzzling omission (I wont mention them cos they get enough publicity) but still this is a great little book with so much packed into it!
July 7, 2016
Loved it! Short, interesting description about things that everybody knows about. Yeah, right. I have never been so curious about sax or "samovar" as I became after reading the book.
June 18, 2023
This is a fantastic compendium on industrial design. It isn't categorized by historical era or geographic region, but rather it surprises you with something new on every page.
Even the most seasoned designer will not know all of these, yet every single one of them (with perhaps 3-5 exception) are fundamentally relevant for the field of ID. And there are many iconic products included of which the original designer is unknown (for example scissors). The descriptions are concise yet extremely informative in that both juniors and seniors can learn a lot from this. For example, I never knew that it wasn't Panton but Joe Colombo who designed the first plastic single-injection chair.
Even the most seasoned designer will not know all of these, yet every single one of them (with perhaps 3-5 exception) are fundamentally relevant for the field of ID. And there are many iconic products included of which the original designer is unknown (for example scissors). The descriptions are concise yet extremely informative in that both juniors and seniors can learn a lot from this. For example, I never knew that it wasn't Panton but Joe Colombo who designed the first plastic single-injection chair.
June 30, 2018
A beautifully presented compendium for the casual reader. Heavily weighted towards the twentieth century (~450/500 objects). The descriptions are often repetitive but as a visual guide this is a great introduction to design.
June 5, 2017
This is an amazing book to pursure in interior design..😊
November 18, 2020
great! inspiring! design bible!
November 21, 2016
A gift with some beautiful things detailed with fairly interesting text
January 14, 2015
I don't know a lot about design, so while some of the content of this book was a bit beyond me, I still found it interesting. Essentially The Design Book highlights 500 products which were designed between the 1600s and 2009. The book has no introduction and no conclusion, just 500 pages, one per one item, with the items ranging from chairs (the book has a lot about chairs) to cutlery, lamps, office supplies, bicycles, and so on. It also tended to focus largely on European design. Still, I was fascinated to learn the origin of paperclips, of the keyring, and of Post It Notes ... items I take for granted, but which haven't always been in existence!
December 14, 2020
I went through this with my kids and pointed out all the objects we recognize from our house, or those of relatives' and friends', the stuff we covet, and even a bunch of stuff I remember working with at Gallery 91 in NYC's Soho back in the early 90s where and when I met designer Karim Rashid. My 13 yo kids take a design class at school, and had a lot of opinions I was thrilled to hear. Anyways, this is a lovely little ingot of a book.
August 30, 2020
‘Het Designboek’ is werkelijk een ontzettend mooi vormgegeven boek. Het bladert fijn als een pocketboek en de afbeeldingen zijn van zeer hoge kwaliteit. De beschrijvingen van designs zijn daarnaast ook nog duidelijk en eenvoudig te begrijpen. Wordt daarom naar mijn mening terecht ook vaak gebruikt voor studies.
December 19, 2020
Interesting collection of different iconic designs. As a Product Design student, I found quite interesting each object from this book, as well as the information given. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in design and wants to use this as a reference, inspiration or starting point for creating new ideas.
January 16, 2016
It's a wonderful feeling, I should say - to know that you have a whole museum of a consumer product design in one pocket-sized book, which itself deserves to be in design museum because of its perfectness.
http://uk.phaidon.com/store/design/th...
http://uk.phaidon.com/store/design/th...
October 2, 2016
Really cool !!! - gets into the paper clip and Tupperware but also mid century furniture game changers. Basically all the important things in life. Short and to the point Info - also a great I guess one would call a coffee table book ?
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews