Overview

This is the first anthology to address Design History as an established discipline, a field of study which is developing a contextualised understanding of the role of design and designed objects within social and cultural history. Extracts range from the 18th Century, when design and manufacture separated, to the present day. Drawn from scholarly and polemical books, research articles, exhibition catalogues, and magazines, the extracts are placed in themed sections, with each section separately introduced and each concluded with an annotated guide to further reading. Covering both primary texts (such as the writings of designers and design reformers) and secondary texts (in the form of key works of design history), the reader provides an essential resource for understanding the history of design, the development of the discipline, and contemporary issues in design history and practice. Selected authors: Judy Attfield, Jeremy Aynsley, Reyner Banham, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Pierre Bourdieu, Christopher Breward, Denise Scott Brown, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Clive Dilnot, Buckminster Fuller, Paul Greenhalgh, Dick Hebdige, Steven Heller, John Heskett, Pat Kirkham, Adolf Loos, Victor Margolin, Karl Marx, Jeffrey Meikle, William Morris, Gillian Naylor, Victor Papanek, Nikolaus Pevsner, John Ruskin, Adam Smith, Penny Sparke, John Styles, Nancy Troy, Thorstein Veblen, Robert Venturi, John Walker, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Full Product Details

9781847883896

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Reviews

The Design History Reader will be of enormous benefit to the field. It includes both an excellent collection of essays on the history of design and essential material related to methods and themes. The scope of this book is remarkable. David Brody, Parsons, the New School for Design Intelligently selected and carefully structured, with an impressive temporal and geographical range, this collection will prove invaluable to students new to design history, but has wider potential for all those involved in historical, cultural and media studies. Jill Seddon, University of Brighton Both scholarly and delightfully readable, Design History Reader provides a valuable compilation of canonical texts along with a series of thoughtful contemporary essays on a wide range of topics. Marianne Eggler, Museum of Modern Art, New York The Design History Reader offers a fine blend of texts through which to explore the field, and comprises a valuable resource for an up-to-date design history survey. Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo This comprehensive selection of texts by designers, theorists and design historians range from eighteenth century economics to manifestoes on sustainability. Thoughtfully organised and thoroughly contextualised, The Design History Reader will be indispensable to students, lecturers and researchers. Deborah Sugg Ryan, University College Falmouth the Reader acts as an essential resource for understanding the history of design, the development of the discipline, and contemporary issues in design history and practice. New Design In this resource, not only are the chosen writings excellent examples, but the structure of the book itself is a model of clarity ... A very useful, eclectic and elegant resource for understanding and exploring the history and development of design. Its range ... is impressive, and it would prove an excellent model and introductory resource, not just to design students but to those interested in other areas such as media, art, and critical, cultural and historical studies. The Higher Education Academy A really good read. Lees-Maffei and Houze have skilfully collected and edited a wide range of interesting and sometimes unexpected (but very rewarding) essays and, furthermore, have organized them in a clear and navigable way. Design Issues

The Design History Reader will be of enormous benefit to the field. It includes both an excellent collection of essays on the history of design and essential material related to methods and themes. The scope of this book is remarkable. David Brody, Parsons, the New School for Design Intelligently selected and carefully structured, with an impressive temporal and geographical range, this collection will prove invaluable to students new to design history, but has wider potential for all those involved in historical, cultural and media studies. Jill Seddon, University of Brighton Both scholarly and delightfully readable, Design History Reader provides a valuable compilation of canonical texts along with a series of thoughtful contemporary essays on a wide range of topics. Marianne Eggler, Museum of Modern Art, New York The Design History Reader offers a fine blend of texts through which to explore the field, and comprises a valuable resource for an up-to-date design history survey. Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo This comprehensive selection of texts by designers, theorists and design historians range from eighteenth century economics to manifestoes on sustainability. Thoughtfully organised and thoroughly contextualised, The Design History Reader will be indispensable to students, lecturers and researchers. Deborah Sugg Ryan, University College Falmouth

Author Information

Grace Lees-Maffei is Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Design and Applied Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. Rebecca Houze is Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University.

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