Definitive book by foremost authority. Over 320 illus. Enlarged (1947) edition.

Since ancient times, fashion jewellery in Italy has been, and still is, an important component of clothing. The history of fashion cannot be written without mentioning its jewels. This book presents 200 Italian fashion jewels that, spanning from the era of La Dolce Vita to the Pret a Porter of the Eighties, from '90s Minimalism to the Neo Baroque of the new millennium, define the aesthetic mirror of society and show the transformation of styles and customs, ambitions and conquests of women, the evolution of shapes and innovations of materials and new technologies. DIVA! Italian Glamor in Fashion Jewellery tells about fashion jewellery in its creative intersections with Italian excellence: craftsmanship, design and fashion. It is a typically Italian story based on the ability to combine creativity, manufacturing and industry, art and technology, beauty and innovation. The masters of costume jewellery enter a dialogue with the great stylists and the talents of design, three heterogeneous visions with a single great protagonist: the Italian fashion jewel. Text in English and Italian.

Jewellery art is a small but easily discernible voice amid the great choir that is the art scene. It has been the impetus for innovation and a seismograph for current discourse within the applied arts for several decades. Now, for the first time, the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts is presenting its holdings of modern jewellery, ranging from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. Analysed and assembled, it provides insights into the multifaceted oeuvres of around 180 jewellery artists from around the world. The collection is broadly representative of the international developments in jewellery art and as such it especially grants a special view of the approaches from GDR before the unification. Images by 11 photographers from Leipzig show just how varied and versatile the perception of jewellery on a person can be. Text in English and German.

If you've ever wanted to take up the creative art of pyrography, here's the perfect place to start. Big Book of Pyrography Projects is packed with tips, tricks and inspiration. All you need is this big book and an inexpensive woodburning tool to start adorning wood, paper, gourds and more with beautifully burned images and patterns.Leading pyrography artists and authors show you how to complete 23 of their favourite projects, from realistic portraits and landscape scenes to stylized frames, platters, boxes, bowls and birdhouses. Applications in both fine and decorative art are presented in traditional designs as well as modern innovations.Whether you're a complete beginner or an accomplished pyrographyartist, you're bound to find exciting ideas in this book. You'll also find helpful advice inside on choosing a woodburning system, creating your own patterns, making practice boards, staying safe and keeping your woodburner clean. A full-colour gallery presents a stunning array of projects from international artists to stir your imagination and spark your creativity.

Celebrated world-wide for his modern romantic jewels that push the boundaries of contemporary design, Shaun Leane has been responsible for creating a new genre of jewellery; precious, poetic, with a sense of eternity, yet relevant to today's world. Illustrated with a breath-taking combination of high fashion shots and detailed close-ups of the pieces themselves. Captured by photographers Nick Knight, Robert Fairer and Chris Moore, along with a dedicated photo essay of unseen backstage images recorded by Leane's close friend Ann Ray. Shaun Leane is introduced by the jeweller himself, then divided into three distinct parts: His heritage and training, by Joanna Hardy; reflections on Leane's famous collaboration with Alexander McQueen, by Claire Wilcox; and his modern classic commercial jewellery style, by Vivienne Becker. Altogether, this book provides a vital overview of an artist that will be of interest to anyone who follows the contemporary jewellery and fashion scene. This special edition is limited to just 250 copies. Enclosed in a slipcase, the book is accompanied by a print by photographer Rob Busling, signed by Shaun Leane.

Since 1965, the Association for Goldsmiths' Art and the German Goldsmiths' House Hanau have been organising the Silver Triennial International to promote contemporary silversmithing. The 20th competition demonstrates the variety of works at a high level: 121 silversmiths from 21 countries submitted hollow- and flatware or free-formed works. The focus is not only on technical and artistic aspects; a large number of the entries also have a socio-critical and contemporary historical background. An expert jury was again assembled this year: Dirk Allgaier, head of Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart; Dr. Claudia Banz, curator for design at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin; and JaKyung Shin, silversmith and assistant professor at Seoul National University, Korea, selected 67 impressive silver works. Text in English and German.

The Art Deco style, named after the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, reached its peak in the 1920s. A new artistic language driven by a formidable vital impulse born of recent peace, left its mark on urban and domestic architecture, but also on all forms of design: furniture, mural painting, glassware, ceramics. This book offers a magnificently illustrated panorama of this ornamental aesthetic, which blend into the world's artistic landscape with materials as luxurious as lacquer, ivory or stingray.

The power of Christmas derives from the appeal of its repeated rituals, the presumed antiquity of its traditions, and its ability to adapt to changing cultural conditions. Christmas cards seemed inevitable and ubiquitous, but in recent years the genre has been visibly in decline. It is now evident that the Christmas card was a culturally specific artifact, a distinctive way in which a fundamental human gesture could be expressed within a commercial, materialistic, and rapidly changing society. This stylish book explores the imagery, graphic forms, subject matter, and significance of Christmas cards in their chronological timeframe to reveal an important area of American material culture. There is much to surprise and delight. Distributed for the Bard Graduate Center Exhibition Schedule: Bard Graduate Center (09/28/11-12/30/11)

The glorious Manifattura Lenci of Turin is the protagonist of this volume, which presents one hundred and fifty works belonging to the Ferrero Collection. Small plastics and decorative sculptures have made the fortune of this historical manufacture, first active in the field of cloths and dolls, for 'toys in general, furniture, furnishings and children's clothing', and subsequently, since 1927, in the ceramic sector. The Lenci production was inspired by the fashion magazines of its time, between customs and bon ton, reflecting the taste of an era and a society, which had identified in its products the bourgeois status symbol. Lenci was characterised over the years by the creative contribution of important artists such as Sandro Vacchetti, Elena Konig Scavini, Marcello Dudovich, Gigi Chessa, Mario Sturani, and Abele Jacopi, who made the ceramic production unique and inimitable. In 1934 Sandro Vacchetti, former artistic director of Lenci manufactory, founded the successful Essevi ceramics, which follows in the footsteps of Lenci and constitutes a continuation of their style.

An authoritative and insightful study, surveying the life and work of "the greatest of the English artist-craftsmen" This study of the renowned designer-maker Ernest Gimson (1864-1919) combines biography with analysis of his work as an architect and designer of furniture, metalwork, plaster decoration, embroidery, and more. It also examines Gimson's significance within the Arts and Crafts Movement, tracing the full arc of his creative career, ideas, and legacy. Gimson worked in London in the 1880s, joining the circle around William Morris at the Art Workers' Guild and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He later moved to the Cotswolds, where he opened workshops and established a reputation for distinctive style and superb quality. Gimson's work influences designers today and speaks directly to ongoing debates about the role of craft in the modern world; this book will be the standard reference for years to come.

In this inventive interpretation of the popular colouring book concept, Islamic design expert Eric Broug helps readers to create their own patterns, based on compositions from across the Islamic world. The book opens up the world of intricate Islamic patterns, allowing artists, designers and doodlers alike to learn about these works of art as they produce their own. With 48 Islamic geometric compositions from around the world to choose from, artists at all skill levels will relish the myriad opportunities to replicate these intricate patterns or create their own. The workbook's clever design invites the pattern-maker to consider a composition in the book, take a corresponding loose leaf from the back of the book and figure out which sections of lines to trace to make the composition. Readers will have the unique satisfaction of making patterns appear where previously none were visible. Compositions - including a mix of more familiar geometric compositions and those that have scarcely been documented - are categorized by region and have various levels of complexity, making it possible for beginners to get started and artists or designers to develop their skills.

Trimmings are often overlooked as mere details of a furnished interior but in the past they were seen as vital and costly elements in the decoration of a room. They were used not only on curtains and beds but also on wall hangings, upholstered seat furniture and cushions, providing a visual feast for the eye with their colour and intricate detail. Sometimes more expensive than the rich fabrics they enhanced, trimmings are often the only surviving evidence of a lost decorative scheme, reapplied to replacement textiles or found as fragments in the attic. This book, the first of its kind, traces their history in Britain and Ireland from 1320 to 1970, examining the design and usage of tassels, fringe, braid (woven lace), gimp and cord and their dependence on French fashion. Lavishly illustrated with new photography, the substantial text links surviving items in historic houses and museums to written evidence, paintings, drawings and other primary sources to provide a firm framework for dating pieces of less-certain provenance. The importance of the 'laceman', the maker of these trimmings, is also examined within an economic and social context, together with the relationship to the upholsterer and interior decorator in the creation of a fashionable room.

Muthanna, also known as mirror writing, is a compelling style of Islamic calligraphy composed of a source text and its mirror image placed symmetrically on a horizontal or vertical axis. This style elaborates on various scripts such as Kufic, naskh, and muhaqqaq through compositional arrangements, including doubling, superimposing, and stacking. Muthanna is found in diverse media, ranging from architecture, textiles, and tiles to paper, metalwork, and woodwork. Yet despite its centuries-old history and popularity in countries from Iran to Spain, scholarship on the form has remained limited and flawed. Muthanna / Mirror Writing in Islamic Calligraphy provides a comprehensive study of the text and its forms, beginning with an explanation of the visual principles and techniques used in its creation. Author Esra Akin-Kivanc explores muthanna's relationship to similar forms of writing in Judaic and Christian contexts, as well as the specifically Islamic contexts within which symmetrically mirrored compositions reached full fruition, were assigned new meanings, and transformed into more complex visual forms. Throughout, Akin-Kivanc imaginatively plays on the implicit relationship between subject and object in muthanna by examining the point of view of the artist, the viewer, and the work of art. In doing so, this study elaborates on the vital links between outward form and inner meaning in Islamic calligraphy.

Discover the sophisticated beauty of calligraphy from around the world with this comprehensive, one-of-a-kind resource. This groundbreaking international tour of calligraphy now features a sumptuous new foil-stamped cover. Showcasing the work of a roster of international artists, it features more than 60 scripts drawn by experts from America and Armenia to Syria and Tibet. Reflecting the diversity of contemporary calligraphy, it includes lessons and exercises for learning to write 28 alphabets, including Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Roman, and more. This unique volume offers an exploration of each script's history, while beautiful step-by-step instructions and examples will inspire and guide calligraphy enthusiasts and experts alike.

The Italian goldsmith of the "Paduan School" Giampaolo Babetto is famous for his jewellery - geometrically distinct shapes arranged into refined entities of extraordinary perfection and beauty. However, the artist's wide-ranging spectrum also includes furniture design, silverwork, sculptures, liturgical utensils, and architecture; even his design drawings possess an autonomous character and artistic value. In addition to Christian iconography, his sources of inspiration include the fresco cycles of Renaissance artist Jacopo da Pontormo but also echo Minimalism, Neoplasticism, Neoconstructivism, and "arte programmata/cinetica." The Entity of Being presents the first overarching survey of the virtuoso Babetto. The comprehensive catalogue section is complemented by four contributions that provide exciting insights into the work of this universal artist. Text in English, German and Italian.

Why spend hundreds of dollars stocking up on expensive manufactured clasps, jump rings, ear wires, bails, and much more when you can get exactly what you need for a fraction of the cost? With Handcrafted Wire Findings you can learn how to make all of these things and more with your choice of materials. From sterling silver, fine silver, and German silver to copper, brass, and artistic wire you can use whatever material fits your budget to make just the custom components you want. Who wouldn't want to have fun making jewelry AND save money at the same time? Included are over 30 projects for making many different and useful custom wire findings. Starting off for fundamental skills for beginners then progressing for more ambitious and sophisticated designs, Handcrafted Wire Findings offers great projects for crafters and jewelry makers of all skill levels. A variety of techniques are also highlighted, including basic wirework, texturizing, silver fusing, adding patina, and traditional finishes. With all of these possibilities, there is no limit to what you can create with your own money-saving hand-made jewelry components.

Italic and copperplate are easily the most popular styles among today's calligraphers. Well-illustrated, step-by-step instructions by an expert calligrapher explain every detail of mastering the two hands, from the basics of posture and practice to tips on texture, colour and commercial calligraphy.

The Art of Letter Carving in Wood is a thorough guide to this beautiful craft. Based on the v-cut method, it explains how to carve letters in a range of sizes, styles and different kinds of wood. The book progresses from the basic to the difficult, and from simply designing and carving letters to using them in a wide range of situations, from the purely practical and informative to the expressive and interpretative. Written by one of the UK's leading and most respected lettering artists, this book not only covers the process of letter carving in wood but also does much more by explaining how to convey a message effectively. It looks at every aspect of designing the piece - be that using italics, spacing the letters, using letters, using the grain or adding colour. With over 500 illustrations, it is the definitive text for all letter carvers in wood.