The Design History Reader
2nd Edition
Published on 9. January 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
520 pages
978-1-350-13349-5 (ISBN)
Description
This revised and updated edition addresses the international history and practice of design from the 17th century to the present day.
Covering both primary texts by social theorists, designers and design reformers, and secondary texts in the form of key works of design history and design thinking, 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, including decolonization, sustainability, historiography, gender and globalization. Extracts are grouped into thematic sections, each with a contextualizing introduction by the editors, and a guide to further reading.
The updated edition of The Design History Reader expands upon its original content and features numerous significant voices from across the globe. Authors include William Morris, Karl Marx, Roland Barthes, Victor Margolin, Penny Sparke, Judy Attfield, Ellen Lupton, and many more.
Covering both primary texts by social theorists, designers and design reformers, and secondary texts in the form of key works of design history and design thinking, 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, including decolonization, sustainability, historiography, gender and globalization. Extracts are grouped into thematic sections, each with a contextualizing introduction by the editors, and a guide to further reading.
The updated edition of The Design History Reader expands upon its original content and features numerous significant voices from across the globe. Authors include William Morris, Karl Marx, Roland Barthes, Victor Margolin, Penny Sparke, Judy Attfield, Ellen Lupton, and many more.
Reviews / Votes
Everything you want to know about design history in one handy volume. * Christoph Lindner, President and Vice-Chancellor, Royal College of Art, UK * There are many books about design history, but this is one of the few volumes in which the contents are carefully chosen with students in mind, and which provides such extensive indications of further reading, making it a very useful resource. * Zoe Hendon, Independent Design Historian and Writer, UK *More details
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
49 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 190 mm
Width: 246 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1430 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-13349-5 (9781350133495)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Grace Lees-Maffei | Rebecca Houze
The Design History Reader
E-Book
12/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€44.49
Available for download
Grace Lees-Maffei | Rebecca Houze
The Design History Reader
E-Book
12/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€44.49
Available for download
Persons
Rebecca Houze is Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, USA. Her publications include, as co-editor, The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010), and, as author, New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform Before the First World War: Principles of Dress (2015).
Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Heritage (DHeritage) at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History and Series Editor, with Kjetil Fallan, of the book series Cultural Histories of Design (Bloomsbury). Her publications include Design at Home (2014) and, with Nicolas P. Maffei, Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury 2019). For Bloomsbury, Grace edited Writing Design (2012) and Iconic Designs (2014). With Rebecca Houze, Grace co-edited Design and Heritage (2022) and with Kjetil Fallan, she co-edited Designing Worlds (2016) and Made in Italy: (Bloomsbury 2014).
Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Heritage (DHeritage) at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History and Series Editor, with Kjetil Fallan, of the book series Cultural Histories of Design (Bloomsbury). Her publications include Design at Home (2014) and, with Nicolas P. Maffei, Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury 2019). For Bloomsbury, Grace edited Writing Design (2012) and Iconic Designs (2014). With Rebecca Houze, Grace co-edited Design and Heritage (2022) and with Kjetil Fallan, she co-edited Designing Worlds (2016) and Made in Italy: (Bloomsbury 2014).
Content
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
General Introduction, Grace Lees-Maffei
Part One: Histories
Introduction to Part One
SECTION 1: NEW DESIGNERS 1676-1820
Introduction
1. An Indian Basket, Providence, Rhode Island, 1676, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
2. A Slipware Dish by Samuel Malkin: An Analysis of Vernacular Design, Darron Dean
3. Of The Division of Labour, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
4. The Wedgwood Slave Medallion: Values in Eighteenth-century Design, Mary Guyatt
5. Manufacturing, Consumption and Design in Eighteenth-century England, John Styles
Guide to Further Reading for Section 1
SECTION 2: DESIGN REFORM 1820-1910
Introduction
6. Science, Industry, and Art, Gottfried Semper
7. The Nature of Gothic, John Ruskin
8. The Ideal Book, William Morris
9. The 'American System' and Mass-Production, from Industrial Design, John Heskett
10. The 1900 Paris Exposition, from Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siecle France, Debora Silverman
11. The Art and Craft of the Machine, Frank Lloyd Wright
Guide to Further Reading for Section 2
SECTION 3: MODERNISMS 1908-1950
Introduction
12. Introduction to Modernism in Design, Paul Greenhalgh
13. Ornament and Crime, Adolf Loos
14. Werkbund Theses and Antitheses, Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde
15. The Modern Movement before Nineteen-fourteen, from Pioneers of Modern Design, Nikolaus Pevsner
16. From Workshop to Laboratory, from The Bauhaus Reassessed, Gillian Naylor
17. Ambiguously Modern: Art Deco in Latin America, Rafael Cardoso
18. The Search for an American Design Aesthetic: from Art Deco to Streamlining, Nicolas P. Maffei
Guide to Further Reading for Section 3
SECTION 4: WAR, RECOVERY, AND DECOLONIZATION 1943-1970
Introduction
19. Gandhi and Khadi, the Fabric of Indian Independence, Susan S. Bean
20. Progress through Prosthetics, Bess Williamson
21. 'Here Is the Modern World Itself': The Festival of Britain's Representations of the Future
Becky Conekin
22. Isotype in Africa: Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Western Region of Nigeria, 1952-8, Eric Kindel
23. The Khrushchev Kitchen: Domesticating the Scientific-Technological Revolution
Susan E. Reid
24. All That Glitters is Not Stainless, Peter Reyner Banham
Guide to Further Reading for Section 4
SECTION 5: POSTMODERNISMS 1967-2006
Introduction
25. A Significance for A & P Parking Lots, or Learning from Las Vegas, from Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown and Steven Izenour
26. The Ecstasy of Communication, Jean Baudrillard
27. There is No Kitsch, There is Only Design! Gert Selle
28. Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory, Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller
29. What was Philippe Starck thinking of? Peter Lloyd and Dirk Snelders
30. Fabricating Identities: Survival and the Imagination in Jamaican Dancehall Culture, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf
Guide to Further Reading for Section 5
SECTION 6: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN 1960-2020
Introduction
31. Spaceship Earth, from Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, R. Buckminster Fuller
32. Do-It-Yourself Murder: the Social and Moral Responsibility of the Designer, from Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek
33. The Hannover Principles. Design for Sustainability, William McDonough and Michael Braungart
34. Material Doubts and Plastic Fallout, from American Plastic, Jeffrey L. Meikle
35. Redefining Rubbish: Commodity Disposal and Sourcing, from Second-Hand Cultures, Nicky Gregson and Louise Crewe
36. Green Marketing on the Go: A Cup of Coffee Opening Up Vistas on a Train Journey, Karin Wagner
37. Environmental Histories of Design: Towards a New Research Agenda, Kjetil Fallan and Finn Arne Jorgensen
Guide to Further Reading for Section 6
Part Two: Methods and Themes
Introduction to Part Two
SECTION 7: FOUNDATIONS, DEBATES, HISTORIOGRAPHY, 1980-1995
Introduction
38. Taking Stock in Design History, Fran Hannah and Tim Putnam
39. The State of Design History, Part I: Mapping the Field, Clive Dilnot
40. Design History and the History of Design, John A. Walker
41. Design History or Design Studies: Subject Matter and Methods, Victor Margolin
42. Resisting Colonization: Design History Has Its Own Identity, Jonathan M. Woodham
Guide to Further Reading for Section 7
SECTION 8: MODES OF PRODUCTION
Introduction
43. Faith, Form and Finish: Shaker Furniture in Context, Jean M. Burks
44. How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum, Ruth Schwartz Cowan
45. 'Mass Customization' and 'Flexible/Agile Manufacturing', from Designing Things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects, Prasad Boradkar
46. Imagined Machines, from Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware, Paul Atkinson.
47. Susan Kare: Design Icon, Eric S. Hintz
48. DS Touch Screen Goddess, from New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape, Rebecca Houze
Guide to Further Reading for Section 8
SECTION 9: PRACTICES OF CONSUMPTION
Introduction
49. The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret, from Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx
50. Conspicuous Consumption, from The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen
51. Myth Today and The New Citroen, from Mythologies, Roland Barthes
52. Introduction and The Sense of Distinction, from Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Pierre Bourdieu
53. 'Parties Are the Answer': The Ascent of the Tupperware Party, Alison Clarke
54. The Revolution Will Be Marketed: American Corporations and Black Consumers during the 1960s, Robert E. Weems, Jr.
55. Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle, Dick Hebdige
56. Integrative Practice: Oral History, Dress and Disability Studies, Liz Linthicum
Guide to Further Reading for Section 9
SECTION 10: CHANNELS OF MEDIATION
Introduction
57. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin
58. Advertising, Mother of Graphic Design, Steven Heller
59. 'Decorators May Be Compared to Doctors' An Analysis of Rhoda and Agnes Garrett's Suggestions For House Decoration In Painting, Woodwork And Furniture (1876), Emma Ferry
60. The Production-Consumption-Mediation Paradigm, Grace Lees-Maffei
61. A Design for the Real World? (1968-1974), from Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society, Elizabeth Guffey
Guide to Further Reading for Section 10
SECTION 11: NEGOTIATING GENDER, SEXUALITY AND DESIGN
Introduction
62. FORM/female FOLLOWS FUNCTION/male: Feminist Critiques of Design, Judy Attfield
63. The Architect's Wife, Introduction to As Long As Its Pink, Penny Sparke
64. Self-Made Motormen: The Material Construction of Working-class Masculine Identities through Car Modification, Andrew Bengry-Howell and Christine Griffin
65. Screening Sexuality: Eileen Gray and Romaine Brooks, from Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity, Jasmine Rault
66. 'The Pink Elephant in the Room: What Ever Happened to Queer Theory in the Study of Interior Design 25 Years on?' John Potvin
Guide to Further Reading for Section 11
SECTION 12: LOCAL/REGIONAL/NATIONAL/GLOBAL: DECOLONIZING DESIGN
Introduction
67. Towards Global Design History, Sarah Teasley, Giorgio Riello, and Glenn Adamson
68. Furniture Design and Colonialism: Negotiating Relationships between Britain and Australia, 1880-1901, Tracey Avery
69. "From Baby's First Bath:" Kao Soap and Modern Japanese Commercial Design, Gennifer Weisenfeld
70. Land Rover and Colonial-Style Adventure, Jeanne Van Eeden
71. Swoosh Identity: Recontextualizations in Haiti and Romania, Paul B. Bick and Sorina Chiper72. Charles and Ray Eames in India, Saloni Mathur
73. The Decolonized Quadruple Bottom Line: A Framework for Developing Indigenous Innovation, Fonda Walters and John Takamura
74. 'The Portable Flush Toilet: From Camping Accessory to Protest Totem', Nadine Botha.
Guide to Further Reading for Section 12
Bibliography
Index
Notes on Contributors
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
General Introduction, Grace Lees-Maffei
Part One: Histories
Introduction to Part One
SECTION 1: NEW DESIGNERS 1676-1820
Introduction
1. An Indian Basket, Providence, Rhode Island, 1676, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
2. A Slipware Dish by Samuel Malkin: An Analysis of Vernacular Design, Darron Dean
3. Of The Division of Labour, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
4. The Wedgwood Slave Medallion: Values in Eighteenth-century Design, Mary Guyatt
5. Manufacturing, Consumption and Design in Eighteenth-century England, John Styles
Guide to Further Reading for Section 1
SECTION 2: DESIGN REFORM 1820-1910
Introduction
6. Science, Industry, and Art, Gottfried Semper
7. The Nature of Gothic, John Ruskin
8. The Ideal Book, William Morris
9. The 'American System' and Mass-Production, from Industrial Design, John Heskett
10. The 1900 Paris Exposition, from Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siecle France, Debora Silverman
11. The Art and Craft of the Machine, Frank Lloyd Wright
Guide to Further Reading for Section 2
SECTION 3: MODERNISMS 1908-1950
Introduction
12. Introduction to Modernism in Design, Paul Greenhalgh
13. Ornament and Crime, Adolf Loos
14. Werkbund Theses and Antitheses, Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde
15. The Modern Movement before Nineteen-fourteen, from Pioneers of Modern Design, Nikolaus Pevsner
16. From Workshop to Laboratory, from The Bauhaus Reassessed, Gillian Naylor
17. Ambiguously Modern: Art Deco in Latin America, Rafael Cardoso
18. The Search for an American Design Aesthetic: from Art Deco to Streamlining, Nicolas P. Maffei
Guide to Further Reading for Section 3
SECTION 4: WAR, RECOVERY, AND DECOLONIZATION 1943-1970
Introduction
19. Gandhi and Khadi, the Fabric of Indian Independence, Susan S. Bean
20. Progress through Prosthetics, Bess Williamson
21. 'Here Is the Modern World Itself': The Festival of Britain's Representations of the Future
Becky Conekin
22. Isotype in Africa: Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Western Region of Nigeria, 1952-8, Eric Kindel
23. The Khrushchev Kitchen: Domesticating the Scientific-Technological Revolution
Susan E. Reid
24. All That Glitters is Not Stainless, Peter Reyner Banham
Guide to Further Reading for Section 4
SECTION 5: POSTMODERNISMS 1967-2006
Introduction
25. A Significance for A & P Parking Lots, or Learning from Las Vegas, from Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown and Steven Izenour
26. The Ecstasy of Communication, Jean Baudrillard
27. There is No Kitsch, There is Only Design! Gert Selle
28. Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory, Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller
29. What was Philippe Starck thinking of? Peter Lloyd and Dirk Snelders
30. Fabricating Identities: Survival and the Imagination in Jamaican Dancehall Culture, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf
Guide to Further Reading for Section 5
SECTION 6: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN 1960-2020
Introduction
31. Spaceship Earth, from Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, R. Buckminster Fuller
32. Do-It-Yourself Murder: the Social and Moral Responsibility of the Designer, from Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek
33. The Hannover Principles. Design for Sustainability, William McDonough and Michael Braungart
34. Material Doubts and Plastic Fallout, from American Plastic, Jeffrey L. Meikle
35. Redefining Rubbish: Commodity Disposal and Sourcing, from Second-Hand Cultures, Nicky Gregson and Louise Crewe
36. Green Marketing on the Go: A Cup of Coffee Opening Up Vistas on a Train Journey, Karin Wagner
37. Environmental Histories of Design: Towards a New Research Agenda, Kjetil Fallan and Finn Arne Jorgensen
Guide to Further Reading for Section 6
Part Two: Methods and Themes
Introduction to Part Two
SECTION 7: FOUNDATIONS, DEBATES, HISTORIOGRAPHY, 1980-1995
Introduction
38. Taking Stock in Design History, Fran Hannah and Tim Putnam
39. The State of Design History, Part I: Mapping the Field, Clive Dilnot
40. Design History and the History of Design, John A. Walker
41. Design History or Design Studies: Subject Matter and Methods, Victor Margolin
42. Resisting Colonization: Design History Has Its Own Identity, Jonathan M. Woodham
Guide to Further Reading for Section 7
SECTION 8: MODES OF PRODUCTION
Introduction
43. Faith, Form and Finish: Shaker Furniture in Context, Jean M. Burks
44. How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum, Ruth Schwartz Cowan
45. 'Mass Customization' and 'Flexible/Agile Manufacturing', from Designing Things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects, Prasad Boradkar
46. Imagined Machines, from Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware, Paul Atkinson.
47. Susan Kare: Design Icon, Eric S. Hintz
48. DS Touch Screen Goddess, from New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape, Rebecca Houze
Guide to Further Reading for Section 8
SECTION 9: PRACTICES OF CONSUMPTION
Introduction
49. The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret, from Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx
50. Conspicuous Consumption, from The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen
51. Myth Today and The New Citroen, from Mythologies, Roland Barthes
52. Introduction and The Sense of Distinction, from Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Pierre Bourdieu
53. 'Parties Are the Answer': The Ascent of the Tupperware Party, Alison Clarke
54. The Revolution Will Be Marketed: American Corporations and Black Consumers during the 1960s, Robert E. Weems, Jr.
55. Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle, Dick Hebdige
56. Integrative Practice: Oral History, Dress and Disability Studies, Liz Linthicum
Guide to Further Reading for Section 9
SECTION 10: CHANNELS OF MEDIATION
Introduction
57. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin
58. Advertising, Mother of Graphic Design, Steven Heller
59. 'Decorators May Be Compared to Doctors' An Analysis of Rhoda and Agnes Garrett's Suggestions For House Decoration In Painting, Woodwork And Furniture (1876), Emma Ferry
60. The Production-Consumption-Mediation Paradigm, Grace Lees-Maffei
61. A Design for the Real World? (1968-1974), from Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society, Elizabeth Guffey
Guide to Further Reading for Section 10
SECTION 11: NEGOTIATING GENDER, SEXUALITY AND DESIGN
Introduction
62. FORM/female FOLLOWS FUNCTION/male: Feminist Critiques of Design, Judy Attfield
63. The Architect's Wife, Introduction to As Long As Its Pink, Penny Sparke
64. Self-Made Motormen: The Material Construction of Working-class Masculine Identities through Car Modification, Andrew Bengry-Howell and Christine Griffin
65. Screening Sexuality: Eileen Gray and Romaine Brooks, from Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity, Jasmine Rault
66. 'The Pink Elephant in the Room: What Ever Happened to Queer Theory in the Study of Interior Design 25 Years on?' John Potvin
Guide to Further Reading for Section 11
SECTION 12: LOCAL/REGIONAL/NATIONAL/GLOBAL: DECOLONIZING DESIGN
Introduction
67. Towards Global Design History, Sarah Teasley, Giorgio Riello, and Glenn Adamson
68. Furniture Design and Colonialism: Negotiating Relationships between Britain and Australia, 1880-1901, Tracey Avery
69. "From Baby's First Bath:" Kao Soap and Modern Japanese Commercial Design, Gennifer Weisenfeld
70. Land Rover and Colonial-Style Adventure, Jeanne Van Eeden
71. Swoosh Identity: Recontextualizations in Haiti and Romania, Paul B. Bick and Sorina Chiper72. Charles and Ray Eames in India, Saloni Mathur
73. The Decolonized Quadruple Bottom Line: A Framework for Developing Indigenous Innovation, Fonda Walters and John Takamura
74. 'The Portable Flush Toilet: From Camping Accessory to Protest Totem', Nadine Botha.
Guide to Further Reading for Section 12
Bibliography
Index