Furniture Design Books
Pierre Guariche
Pierre Guariche was a leading interior architect, furniture, and lighting designer in postwar France. He created a prolific body of work during what is known as the Thirty Glorious Years (1945-1975), a period of economic prosperity and high growth in France. He was an early adopter of industrial materials and production techniques that emerged during the 1950s, and is known for his remarkable lighting fixtures and simple, elegant furniture designs that could be manufactured on a large scale. Making use of unpublished archives, this book looks back on a rich itinerary of over 200 interior architecture and design projects, almost as many pieces of furniture, and a series of remarkable lighting fixtures (reissued today by Sammode) which shed light on the modernity and timeless elegance of this remarkable creator.
The Italian Smart Office: The Story of Estel
This is the first book of its kind devoted to the history of Estel, celebrating eighty years of the furniture manufacturer's activity.
Chairpedia: 101 Stories of Chairs
Bringing together writers, design historians, architecture critics, and art curators, Chairpedia is a compilation of anecdotes about the chair - beginning with Mauricio Wiesenthal's Tales to Read Seated, published by Andreu World - and comprises a history of chair design told through 101 examples.
Furniture in Architecture: The Work of Luke Hughes
Luke Hughes & Company's enduring and meticulously engineered furniture, an eloquent response both to architecture and the true Arts and Crafts spirit, has been placed at the forefront of the 'craft-led renaissance in British manufacturing.' Flexible in use, commercially viable, and environmentally sustainable, their work furnishes many of the world's most distinguished buildings. Through an introduction to the studio and twenty-five case studies, Furniture in Architecture explores the company's place in the Arts and Crafts tradition and examines the philosophy and work of founder Luke Hughes. Author Aidan Walker sheds light on how the studio balances modern manufacturing technologies with abiding craft values, rendering the small furniture workshop a relevant and profitable proposition even when fulfilling large-scale commissions.
Thonet & Design
From the most humble suburban cafes to high fashion shoots and countless films, the ingenious design of the Thonet chair No. 14, created by Michael Thonet in 1859, has conquered the world. Its immanent beauty, bentwood technology and ease of assembly led to its adaptation across European cafés upon its introduction. Thonet & Design features chair designs of Thonet GmbH from 1838 to the present day. Full-page images depict the famous No. 14 as well as chairs by Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Verner Panton and Marcel Breuer.
From A to Eames: A Visual Guide to Mid-Century Modern Design
This sophisticated A to Z picture book for adults is an illustrated journey through midcentury modern design, perfect for any reader with a keen eye for style. Each letter delves into one facet of this enduring era of design: midcentury modern homes, interior design, graphic design, and illustration, as well as the iconic personalities.
Contemporary Chinese Furniture Design: A New Wave of Creativity
Contemporary Chinese Furniture Design is the first definitive book on contemporary Chinese furniture, introducing the work of leading designers and design studios, including Chen Darui, Jerry Chen, Frank Chou, Hou Zheng-Guang, Hong Wei, Ma Yansong, Neri & Hu, Shao Fan, Shang Xia, Song Tao, Studio MVW, Xiao Tianyu and Zhang Zhoujie. It explains how the 'New Wave' of Chinese furniture designers are looking back to their cultural roots and revitalizing traditional forms, materials and techniques in order to produce interesting and exciting contemporary furniture that is 100% Chinese.
Chair Times: A History of Seating
Chair Times: A History of Seating takes the reader on a journey through a "sea of chairs." This book features 124 objects, dating from 1807 to the latest 3D-printed designs, arranged in the order of their production year, to create a timeline of modern furniture design.
Furniture Marketing: From Product Development to Distribution
Furniture Marketing, 2nd Edition, contains an overview of how furniture products are developed, marketed, and presented to targeted retailers and consumers. Bennington focuses on developing an appreciation for furniture as a functional art form. This new edition covers the entire industry, including types of furniture, design periods, product development, and manufacturing.
Atlas of Furniture Design
The Atlas of Furniture Design is the most comprehensive overview of the history of furniture design ever published. The 1,028-page book documents 1,740 objects by 546 designers and 565 manufacturers and features more than 2,500 images, from detailed object photographs to historical documentation such as interiors, patents, brochures, and reference works in art and architecture.
Herman Miller: A Way of Living
Herman Miller: A Way of Living presents a comprehensive history of this innovative furniture company, from its founding in the early twentieth century to today. For more than 100 years, Michigan-based Herman Miller has played a central role in the evolution of modern and contemporary design, producing timeless classics while creating a culture that has had a remarkable impact on the development of the design world. Ten chapters and thousands of illustrations tell the Herman Miller story, documenting its defining moments and key leaders.
Chair Anatomy: Design and Construction
Through the painstaking work of deconstructing and reducing chairs to their constituent parts, Chair Anatomy gets to the heart of more than fifty iconic designs: how pieces were designed and produced to fit together; why a certain material imparts a certain quality, functional advance, or comfort level; how the chair's structure can withstand stress while being elegant and economical to produce. Offering a truly nuts- and- bolts perspective on masterpieces of design, Chair Anatomy gives insight into a piece of furniture that we so often take for granted.
Miller's Mid-century Modern
From the 'soft modernism' of Scandinavian furniture to the sleek, clean lines of the lighting created by the Castiglioni brothers in Italy, Judith Miller's Mid-century Modern takes an in-depth look at the artefacts and designers that shaped one of the most exciting periods of design history.
101 Danish Design Icons
Denmark has long loomed large in international design history. Today, Danish furniture, textiles, home appliances and utensils from the 1960s and '70s are more popular than ever, for sale at design galleries and a rarity at flea markets. This publication provides an extensive overview of those everyday objects that have to this day written design history both in Denmark and worldwide. Along with 32 leading scholars and journalists, the Head of the Library and Research at the Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen, Lars Dybdahl, explores the fascinating history of the individual objects.
Børge Mogensen: Simplicity and Function
Børge Mogensen was one of the most important and influential representatives of Danish furniture design. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he created a wealth of quality furniture, many pieces of which, such as his Spanish Chair, are still sold as design classics to this day. Influenced by traditional craftsmanship, Mogensen was also often inspired by Shaker furniture and design philosophies. This monograph examines Mogensen's fascinating approach to design and presents his most well known and most popular pieces of furniture. Workshop drawings, sketches and photographs of his furniture as well as archival pictures from his everyday life offer fascinating insight into the world of the Danish designer, whose furniture is not only attractive, but also always, above all, functional.
Artek and the Aaltos: Creating a Modern World
The Finnish design firm Artek is best known as the producer and distributor of Modernist bentwood furniture designed by Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). However, its mission was more complex and multifaceted, grounded in the notion that art and design could enhance everyday life. Artek and the Aaltos showcases more than three hundred objects, including furniture, glassware, lighting, design sketches, drawings, textile swatches, and photographs.
History of Furniture: A Global View
History of Furniture: A Global View covers the major historical movements in furniture design (from prehistoric periods through contemporary times) and includes parts of the world that traditional history books ignore or underserve, such as Africa and China. It presents the achievements of Western furniture designers, not in isolation from the rest of the globe, but in vibrant contact with it.
B&B Italia: 50 Years and Beyond
This book tells about the past and present of B&B Italia and contains important contributions from Renzo Piano, Ferruccio De Bortoli, and Deyan Sudjic, that testify to the importance and consistency of B&B Italia on the Italian and international cultural and economic scene.
100 Midcentury Chairs: And Their Stories
100 Midcentury Chairs: And Their Stories features the top 100 most interesting, most controversial, or simply most beautiful chairs from the period spanning 1930-1970, selected by expert curator and chair addict Lucy Ryder Richardson. Showcasing a range of top international names, including Robin Day, Charles and Ray Eames, Ernest Race, Arne Jacobsen, Pierre Paulin, Finn Juhl, Harry Bertoia, Ero Saarinen and Norman Cherner. There is also an exploration into materials and manufacturing processes, plus lots of information about the manufacturers that brought chair designs to the masses, such as Knoll, Herman Miller, Fritz Hansen and Asko.
Guerilla Furniture Design: How to Build Lean, Modern Furniture with Salvaged Materials
This innovative guide presents dozens of strategies for upcycling scrap cardboard, metal, plastic, or wood into dependable shelving units, sturdy tables, and fun lamps. With directions for 35 easy and inexpensive projects that include a Cardboard Cantilever Chair, a License Plate Bowl, a Conduit Coatrack, and much more, you'll be inspired to start filling your home with unique high-style furniture that makes sense for both your wallet and the environment.
Reinventing Ikea: 70 DIY Projects to Transform Ikea Essentials
Offering modern, ready-to-assemble furniture, Ikea proves that spaces can be functional and affordable. But sometimes you're left wanting more: furniture that's adaptable, creative, and most important, in line with your taste. Reinventing Ikea shows you how. The book features 70 customization projects conceived from popular Ikea products.
Almost 100 Chairs for 100 People
A little book redesigning the shape and the role of the chair, adapting it to different people, personalities and body features.
Chairs by Architects
Does an architect's style always come across, regardless of medium? Pairing great buildings with great chairs by the same architect, Chairs by Architects demonstrates how the defining qualities of a building's style can also be evident in that architect's furniture designs. Pieces of furniture, like manifestos, become signatures of architectural style. The fifty-five architects featured here include early modern architectural pioneers such as Otto Wagner, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Antoni Gaudí, and Walter Gropius, together with more recent modern masters such as Oscar Niemeyer, Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind.
André Dubreuil
A monograph on André Dubreuil, a key figure in British design of the 1980s.
Furnitecture: Furniture That Transforms Space
Furnitecture is a sourcebook exploring the furnishings, interior environments, and solutions for small spaces at the meeting point between design and architecture. The book features the work of a rising generation of designers across the globe who are starting to think about furniture in an architectural way, resulting in pieces that brilliantly transform interior spaces.
Street Furniture Design: Contesting Modernism in Post-War Britain
Eleanor Herring's unique study of street furniture in post-war Britain considers how objects which are now familiar parts of our urban environment were designed to populate public spaces. Herring explores the design of lampposts, post boxes, parking meters, and signage in the context of a government backed by various bodies keen to propagate 'good' modern design, in a Britain whose towns and cities had been laid waste by bombing and the privations of war.
Mid-Century Modern Icons of Design
The mid-twentieth century was one of the most popular, collectable, and dynamic periods of international design. Drawing on the inventive style of the era, Mid-Century Modern Icons of Design features exclusive illustrations of iconic mid century designs, from Eames chairs to Poul Henningsen lamps and George Nelson clocks, all rendered in a distinctive graphic style befitting the era.
Classic Contemporary: The DNA of Furniture Design
Classic Contemporary: The DNA of Furniture Design is a revered furniture designer's in-depth look at the creations ― both classic and contemporary ― that have inspired him.
Romeo Sozzi and Promemoria
A revealing look at the designer behind Promemoria's stunning handmade furniture, and the luxurious interiors that embody his passion, refined taste, and eclecticism. As the third generation of specialized wood craftsmen in cabinetmaking and restoration, Romeo Sozzi made his debut in interior decoration in the 1970s. Since 1988, he and his three sons have run his company, Promemoria, which has become not just a producer of internationally high-profile furnishings but also a laboratory of innovative design. This volume is a discovery of Sozzi's world and work, the epitome of the refined Italian lifestyle.
Ekstrøm Extreme: Norwegian Industrial Design and Furniture Culture
Terje Ekstrøm was the first postmodern designer in Norway and his futuristic chairs even made it into the Star Trek TV-Series. Ekstrøm Extreme is the first monograph on the designer. As this richly illustrated book shows, Ekstrøm was both a product of his own time and far ahead of it. Seen as one of Norway's first postmodern designers, his internationally successful Ekstrem chair achieved iconic status due to its unique and visionary qualities, as did his audio equipment design for the renowned Tandberg Radiofabrikk.