Overview
Designer Brooks Stevens created thousands of ingenious and beautiful designs for industrial and household products - including a clothes dryer with a window in the front, a wide-mouthed peanut butter jar, and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. (""There's nothing more aerodynamic than a wiener,"" he explained.) In 1954 he coined the phrase ""planned obsolescence,"" defining it as ""instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary."" This book, the first publication to document his work, includes 250 illustrations of designs by Stevens and his firm, many in color, detailed studies of individual designs, interpretive essays, a description of the Brooks Stevens Archive at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and several key writings by Stevens himself.
Full Product Details
Author: Glenn Adamson ,
David Gordon (Director, Milwaukee Art Museum) ,
John Heskett ,
Kristina Wilson
Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
Imprint: MIT Press
Dimensions:
Width: 24.10cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 27.90cm
Weight: 1.488kg
ISBN: 9780262012072
ISBN 10: 0262012073
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 20 June 2003
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: No Longer Our Product
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Fascinating not only for its display of the products of Stevens's fertile mind but also for its drawing out of the implications his work had for social life. Nancy Tousley Calgary Herald A level of scholarship and editorial skill rare in design books from any source. Martin Pawley The Architect's Journal A level of scholarship and editorial skill rare in design books from any source. Martin Pawley The Architect's Journal ...the story of a man, a time and the emergence of an idea--the 20th-century American concept of innovation. Craig M. Vogel American Scientist ...the story of a man, a time and the emergence of an idea the 20th-century American concept of innovation. Craig M. Vogel American Scientist
Fascinating not only for its display of the products of Stevens's fertile mind but also for its drawing out of the implications his work had for social life. -- Nancy Tousley, Calgary Herald ...the story of a man, a time and the emergence of an idea--the 20th-century American concept of innovation. -- Craig M. Vogel, American Scientist A level of scholarship and editorial skill rare in design books from any source. -- Martin Pawley, The Architect's Journal ...uncommonly (and fittingly) well designed and visually compelling... -- Publisher's Weekly
Author Information
Glenn Adamson is curator at the Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee.
