Starck

by Ed Mae Cooper, Pierre Doze, Elizabeth Laville

Philippe Starck wants to bring love and happiness into your life by designing objects, environments, and appliances that will brighten your days. His overwhelming international success and cult-star status are proof that people everywhere are receptive to his kindhearted philosophy and distinctive aesthetic sensibility. This overview of his stellar career includes examples of his best work around the globe.

Genres: Design, Art

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[KaSaBooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Philippe Starck - one of the most prolific and original designers currently alive. His body of work includes but is certainly not limited to designs of furniture, bathroom fixtures, hotel and restaurant interiors, residential homes, coins, watches, tooth brushes, ... In short you name it, he has done it. No wonder that one may be interested in learning more about this guy, his work, his ideas, his inspirations, future direction. I thought, I would find something like that in Taschen's "Starck" (the cover design seemed promising enough). Well ... unfortunately, the answer is "no". Instead of an introduction to Starck's work with accompanying pictures, you get a (seemingly?) chaotic collection of pictures (albeit of nice quality) - and that's it. The only textual information provided are captions to the pictures and a list of photo credits. There is no table of contents, no real index to Starck's work, no intro. The pictures themselves are not grouped either, neither by type (hotel pictures, furniture, homes, etc.) nor organized chronologically. In short, this whole thing is a total disappointment. I can just hope that one day somebody will put a book together that really provides an overview of Starck's work. I will keep looking for it. In the meantime, you are better off with the entry on Starck in wikipedia ...

[Ralph Zoontjens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains the most important works from the prime days of this master of industrial design who like no other can combine humor with modern beauty.