Chasing The Perfect: Thoughts On Modernist Design In Our Time

by Natalia Ilyin, Szenasy

In Chasing the Perfect writer/designer Natalia Ilyin delivers her astute, incisive and humorous observations on design and the world it has molded. According to Ilyin, “Modern design is based on deeply idealist notions, and its inherent perfectionism has dovetailed beautifully with our commodity-based economy's need to keep people itching so that they will buy things and keep the society chugging along. I began Chasing the Perfect because I started to become aware of this collusion, this silent pressure that a language of design based in perfectionism had brought to bear on how I developed as a person.” Chasing the Perfect is especially relevant in our times as interest in graphic, industrial and architectural design moves more and more into mainstream culture. Each of the ten chapters features Ilyin's accessible and often hilarious writing, which is highlighted with a broad range of images--some quite unexpected--from the designed world around us. An “The choices that designers and architects have made in the last hundred years silently mold us, silently direct us through the tunnels of Penn Station or up to the fifty-third floor of the Sears Tower. But they direct more than our movements. They direct us to notice one thing and not another, to value one thing over another, to identify with one thing rather than with another. Modernism, the guts of it, the strength of it, the egotistic beauty of it, carries with it effects we did not expect and fosters attitudes about ourselves and others that may have been dandy in a utopia, but do little good in our world. Why have we not changed this idea, moved on with our thinking? For even after the disbanding of the Bauhaus, the disintegration of the International Style, the exhausting of postmodernism, we're all still chasing the perfect.”

Genres: Design, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Art Design, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2005

Reviews

[Park Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after i had a liberal art undergrad majoring in architecture. i didnt feel i was *of the architecture discipline* yet, was very skeptical of all the white men & their buildings and was attracted to this kind of outsider criticism of the whole canon's ideology. however, even then (this was years ago - writing this review years later so as not to lose all trace of my reading experience), i found it naive. when youre trained at something and have to listen to an enthusiastic non-professional wax about it, it can be itchy (ugh, that sam green / yo la tengo slideshow on buckminster fuller, or novice tour guides on architecture — so painful.) this book could be GREAT for someone who has a conversational interest in design but is not a designer. it could be insightful for someone who is not heavily schooled on architectural hist / theory or capitalist critical theory — someone who can operate in whatever sphere they *are* an expert in with a kinda partial tightly narrativised understanding of design. this books ideas could, for this kinda interested novice, be useful to summon at a dinner party. but theyre not really useful, and far too flat, too personal, too pedantic, for a trained well-read architect.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I have to admit that I know Natalia. She was my teacher for three years and now I have the privilege of calling her friend. The book reads similarly to how we teaches, with the wit and wisdom of someone immersed in the world of art and design. Being an older, and rather stressed out, student makes me appreciate her stories so much more, and really makes my current Bauhaus research that much deeper than it was before.

[Starre Vartan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book I've read on design since Papanek's classic, but more fun to read. Finely written takedown of modern design that I found myself joyously exclaiming "yes, yes!!!" to every 3-5 pages. Just brilliant and intensely human too, as the author herself proves to be. This book is a beloved part of my library and I have no doubt I will return to it many times in the future.

[Masha · Rating 5 out of 5]

just so beautiful

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review of how modernism has shaped our sphere of design to focus on cleanliness, removing the organic and often messy nature that ties design more to artistry.

[Beth Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Natalia Ilyin...! This was a treat to read and gave me another view on Post Modernism, in terms of style in real life and humanism or lack thereof. It's a complicated look at how Post Modernism trapped us into thinking it is the perfect way to live and see things? We learn about her
thinking on the topic through the lens of a time in the past when she was unraveling and living in New York city. A series of events culminate in her losing her moorings in the city, eviction from an apartment due to misunderstanding about lease, etc., and there she is! In a situation I've been in, depressed, living in nyc, working hard to maintain a little studio (with a view of the river)...when the pace and pressure of the city becomes too much.
I love a survival story in an urban setting where the writer is a sensitive thinker and an open, revealing writer. She does survive. And life moves onward... we get to hear her thoughts and surmising as she grows. This is a story within a examination of a kind of design, a way of seeing things. How the "perfection of modernism" is a let down. Sorry if this isn't making much sense. It's not an easy book to dash off a few lines about. The book is well designed by Matthew Monk. It is short and gets going right at the end (for me). I am really looking forward to her next book!

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of personal essays centered on design, Ilyin voices the doubts some of us have when we see a chair, fork, or table in a catalogue that looks perfectly designed with its clean lines, brushed stainless steel surface, and its hefty price tag. We see these items for their promises of a better life after we slide our plastic cards through the checkout line and bring back the haul into our homes. But these promises can often be nothing more than hollow and imbalanced, despite appearances. Even when we choose imperfection, as Ilyin notes with great insight, it's for the "right" type of imperfection.

"What will happen to us as a culture when we have been completely conditioned only to choose between options, rather than to come up with solutions?" Ilyin asks. It's a question that goes beyond the world of design.

[Bro (Dave Kurimsky) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Good for designers, artists or anybody who wants a different perspective on our culture. The author challenges lots of ideas that are pervasive in "design culture" and, by extention, American culture, consumer culture and social class. Also, it's real pretty to look at.
Very easy and enjoyable to read as well.

[Lorilee Rager · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a joy, uplifting and full of hope for those with a design mind. I stumbled upon this great read during my grad school studies and literally laughed out loud reading it. It makes one feel a little less anxiety and a lot more human about the design life. I highly recommend anyone on the path to self care, and growth.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, wise memoir of a classically-trained, RISD designer who wants the freedom to illustrate quaint little bonnet-wearing mice if she damn well feels like it. Eff you Bauhaus. The photographs accompanying the text are perfect. Exciting text to image ratio. Beautiful book.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some may call this slight, but I feel like it's the most honest assessment of us modernist/perfection-obsessed design-types. Written in a very intimate and accessible storytelling manner, it made me embarrassed to be a designer—and I think that's a good thing.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great read for anyone who considers themselves a creator. In it, Natalia questions what drives us to create, and backs up her clever incites with personal experience. An incredibly interesting and enlightening read.

[Phobean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended by David -his graphic design book group read it. A quick, lively, interesting and insightful read.

[litherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light read. Perfect for the subway.