Phaidon Design Classics

by Phaidon Press

The three-volume book is an authoritative collection of design classics, which will include 999 industrially manufactured products, carefully selected by a group of experts. From cars to furniture, from tableware to cameras, from everyday objects to aeroplanes, this breadth of classic design has never before been collated. These volumes will be the sourcebooks on design from the early 1800's to the present, bringing together patents, prototypes, old advertisements, original drawings, images showing the process of manufacture, as well as rare archival photographs. Over fifty authors ranging from designers to curators, critics, and academics, have contributed with short texts for each objects, providing detailed research and precise information.

Genres: Design, Art, Nonfiction, Art Design, Reference

3300 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2006

About the author

Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional offices in Paris and Berlin. -wikipedia

Reviews

[Koen Crolla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uninspired and underresearched.

It's nice (and unexpected) that they managed to include such genuine quality designs as the Opinel and the Leatherman PST alongside the inevitable boring Bauhaus ugliness and Alessi garbage, but that's hard to appreciate too much when the text then proceeds to get very basic details of their histories wrong. Especially considering the ridiculous price of these books, that's really inexcusable.
Even putting aside the inescapable pretentious mainstays, there's a lot of chaff here; I know the sheer weight of these books is a lot of the appeal, but nobody cares about hundreds of completely interchangeable chairs (maybe one or two of them had genuine claim to inclusion in this kind of compilation). The compilers tend to mistake mere hideousness and impracticality for good design, and brand names for innovation (also included: the Apple iBook G4, the Apple iPod, the Apple iMac G5; I'm not sure the computer mouse would have been included if they hadn't managed to convince themselves to credit it to Apple).

If all you're looking for is a way to broadcast that you're a shallow, pretentious dick with more money than sense to your house guests, these books are a great purchase. If you want these books for any other reason, prepare to be disappointed.

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

i could not just skim through this massive 3 vol. set. a page or 2 on 999 of the greatest industrial designs from the paperclip to whatever. brilliant little essays on classic cars, chairs, lamps, kitchen implements, etc. really engaging. perfect for somone who likes to read in 5 minute settings without following a longer narrative. this was the perfect book(s) for me.

[Jorge Serra]

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