Louis Vuitton, the global luxury fashion house, and world-famous artist Yayoi Kusama partner again, and in the storied history of the brand’s epic collaborations with artists, this is the most ambitious to date.

In this important volume about this powerhouse collaboration, artwork by trailblazing artist Yayoi Kusama is featured alongside the groundbreaking fashion collection she designed with Louis Vuitton, and is organized around the seminal artistic themes that inspired the project.

Edited by Ferdinando Verdi and Isabel Venero, the volume includes contributions from renowned experts in both fashion and art, including writer Jo-Ann Furniss who explores the collaboration, designer Marc Jacobs who initiated the house’s relationship with Kusama, and curators Mika Yoshitake and Philip Larratt-Smith, both of whom have organized important exhibitions on the artist’s work. And Hans Ulrich Obrist, the renowned curator and Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries, London, Hans Ulrich Obrist talks with longtime Kusama expert Akira Tatehata.

In the spirit of this iconic partnership and with a nod to the popular fascination with Kusama, the book includes musings from some of the most important contemporary artists and musicians working today—including Arca, Katherine Bradford, Anne Imhoff, Ryan McNamara, Raúl de Nieves, Ryan Trecartin, Nora Turato, and Jacolby Satterwhite—talking about Kusama’s impact and her extraordinary ability to build fantastical worlds through her signature polka dots and mirror balls, which are joyful representations of her deeply thoughtful philosophy about art and the universe.

Tat* is a bit of a graphic designer's curse. Walk into any design studio and you will see tat pinned to the walls or placed with loving care on top of a computer screen. Even the purist will have a secret cache hidden away somewhere. Andy Altmann began collecting tat while he was on his Foundation course, getting ready for an interview at St Martins School of Art. He'd been asked to present a sketchbook, but worried that he couldn't draw very well, he decided to start a scrapbook: "I rummaged through the drawers at home and found some football cards from the late 1960s and early '70s (plenty of Georgie Best), an instruction leaflet from an old Hoover, Christmas cracker jokes, and so on. Then I started on the magazines, cutting out images of anything that interested me. And finally I took myself off to the college library, where I photocopied things from books before reaching for the scissors and glue." It was the beginning of a significant collecting habit. So what it is that makes a piece of graphic tat interesting? Is it the 'retro' thing - a fascination with a bygone age, the primitive printing techniques, the naivety of the design, or the use of colour? All of the above, of course, but it's not quite that simple. "Occasionally people offer me something they've found that they think I might like", says Andy. "But usually they're wrong - it doesn't excite me at all. The magic is missing." To a graphic designer, most the content of this book can safely be regarded as 'bad' design. But there is some magic in each and every piece that has made Andy either pick it up off the street, trail through online links, or enter some dodgy looking shop on the other side of the world just to snap it up. Here you'll find everything from sweet wrappers to flash cards, from soap powder boxes to speedway flyers, from wrestling programmes to bus tickets. More tat than you can shake a stick at. Taken together, it represents a lifetime of gleeful hunting and gathering. * tat (noun) - anything that looks cheap, is of low quality, or in bad condition; junk, rubbish, debris, detritus, crap, shite

A serious scholarly look at the work of R. Buckminster Fuller is long overdue. While Fuller himself wrote and published many volumes, and several biographies were written about him, there is little research that contributes to a critical understanding of his work and its historical significance. The 1,300-plus linear feet of material contained in the Fuller Archive at Stanford, including papers, photographs, audio and video recordings, and models, has been recently organized and described by the Department of Special Collections, and is ready to be explored by a new generation of scholars.
Fuller's work has often suffered from lopsided treatment. Some laud him as a planetary prophet whose design science work foretold sustainable architecture and nanotechnology; others dismiss him as a "delirious technician" with a talent for linguistic obfuscation. Between adulation and disdain must lie a balanced picture of Fuller's life and his work.
This volume paints that picture by taking a broader historical view, discussing Fuller and his work in the context of larger social and cultural patterns. Fuller is a common thread in a critical cultural history that will show him to be both a participant in and a product of his times. By placing Fuller and his work in a historical framework, we will arrive at a much richer understanding of both this self-made polymath and his times. This fresh, contextual look at Fuller's work from leading scholars in different fields is an important step toward filling the void of serious scholarship on Fuller.

A serious scholarly look at the work of R. Buckminster Fuller is long overdue. While Fuller himself wrote and published many volumes, and several biographies were written about him, there is little research that contributes to a critical understanding of his work and its historical significance. The 1,300-plus linear feet of material contained in the Fuller Archive at Stanford, including papers, photographs, audio and video recordings, and models, has been recently organized and described by the Department of Special Collections, and is ready to be explored by a new generation of scholars.
Fuller's work has often suffered from lopsided treatment. Some laud him as a planetary prophet whose design science work foretold sustainable architecture and nanotechnology; others dismiss him as a "delirious technician" with a talent for linguistic obfuscation. Between adulation and disdain must lie a balanced picture of Fuller's life and his work.
This volume paints that picture by taking a broader historical view, discussing Fuller and his work in the context of larger social and cultural patterns. Fuller is a common thread in a critical cultural history that will show him to be both a participant in and a product of his times. By placing Fuller and his work in a historical framework, we will arrive at a much richer understanding of both this self-made polymath and his times. This fresh, contextual look at Fuller's work from leading scholars in different fields is an important step toward filling the void of serious scholarship on Fuller.

Considered the founder of industrial design and pioneer of a design approach that rigorously put people first, Henry Dreyfuss shares insightful lessons from his legendary career. From the first answering machine ("the electronic brain") and the Hoover vacuum cleaner to the SS Independence and the Bell telephone that are depicted here, Dreyfuss's creations have shaped the cultural landscape of the 20th century like few other designers before or after him. Designed from the master's own hand, the book offers an inviting mix of professional advice, case studies and design history along with historical black-and-white photos and the author's whimsical drawings. Key chapters include a brief history of industrial design and the concepts behind "Joe and Josephine", the author's famous anthropometrical models; classic design principles, such as the importance of testing and the "Five-Point Formula" for good design; and the role of the designer as a business person, from knowing when to accept a commission to budgeting questions and cultivating client relationships. Written in a robust, fresh style, the book offers inspiration to both designers and design-interested laymen. In addition, the author's uncompromising commitment to public service, ethics and design responsibility make his book a timely read for any designer seeking to define his or her role in today's industrial design community.

Designers come in all shapes and sizes and apply their talents to an enormous range of things, from books to refrigerators to clothes to stage scenery. Can such a motley crew be grouped together under one head; and do their diverse passions have common roots? Becoming a Designer traces the early development of talent in a range of designers to explore the possibility that a unique combination of personality characteristics along with a visualising sensitivity makes design success predictable from an early age.

Douglas Burrage Snelling (1916-85) was one of Britain's significant emigre architects and designers. Born in Kent and educated in New Zealand, he became one of Australia's leading mid-century architects, of luxury residences and commercial buildings, and a trend-setting designer of furniture, interiors and landscapes. This is the first comprehensive study of Snelling's pan-Pacific life, works and trans-disciplinary significance. It provides a critical examination of this controversial modernist, revealing him to be a colourful and talented protagonist who led antipodean interpretations of American, especially Wrightian and southern Californian, architecture, design and lifestyle innovations.

Mark Brazier-Jones is a unique force in the world of design, whose wonderfully eccentric works literally defined the term 'Creative Salvage' in the mid-1980s. Today, his work is increasingly recognised as forging a new and more artistically compelling way forward. As a veritable 'designer-laureate of metal', his metalwork possesses a poetic sensibility and an engaging quirkiness that is suffused with symbolic meaning rarely found in contemporary design. A sumptuously illustrated tome, Mark Brazier-Jones assesses his approach to design and making, and is an important catalogue raisonne of his work. By playfully subverting our notions of art, craft and design Brazier-Jones' surprisingly ecletic work offers an alternative definition of modern design - one that is about quality of craftsmanship and individuality of expression that is intended to last generations.

The Films of Charles and Ray Eames traces the history of the Eameses' work, examining their evolution away from the design of mass-produced goods and toward projects created as educational experiences. Closely examining how the Eameses described their work reveals how the films and exhibitions they generated were completely at odds with the earlier objectives exemplified in their furniture designs. Shifting away from promoting the consumer-culture, they turned their attention to the presentation of complex sets of scientific, artistic, and philosophical ideas. During a critical period from the late 1950s to the early 1960s there was a moment of introspective self-reflection in the West stemming from the events of the Cold War. This moment of uncertainty was crucial, for it provided the incentive to question the values and concerns of society as a whole. In turn, designers began to question their own sense of purpose, temporarily expanding the purview of design to a broader field of inquiry. In the case of the Eameses, they identified an overriding problem related to consumerism and excess in America and sought to resolve the issue by creating a network of communication between universities, governments, institutions, and corporations. The solution of promoting greater education experiences as an alternative to consumerism in America required that different sectors of society functioned in unison to address political, social, economic, and educational concerns. The Films of Charles and Ray Eames reconsiders how design intersects with humanity, culture, and the sciences.

Munnu: Vision & Passion traces the creativity and vivacity of the late Munnu Kasliwal. Kasliwal’s magical designs put The Gem Palace, his family’s jewellery house, and India on the fashion map of the jewellery world. The book follows the design journey of Munnu Kasliwal of The Gem Palace Jaipur, a jewellery house synonymous with luxury, sophisticated style, striking statement pieces, and exquisite craftsmanship. Munnu: Vision & Passion chronicles the metamorphosis of The Gem Palace from a local jewellery firm to an international jewellery house, an evolution synchronous with Munnu’s life. From the creation of the ‘T-shirt’ necklace to dreaming up settings that fused gemstone and metal in unique ways, Munnu produced a new genre of jewels that bridged the historical past with an uber-stylish present. While Munnu loved and admired traditional Indian opulence and grandeur, he brought a unique vision and passion, a rare sensibility and elegance to all his designs, establishing his unique style. To Munnu, a piece of jewellery was a beautiful creation, to be liberated from the confines of the conventional. Published as a tribute to Munnu, this book documents his design journey for more than two decades.

The Films of Charles and Ray Eames traces the history of the Eameses work, examining their evolution away from the design of mass-produced goods and toward projects created as educational experiences. Closely examining how the Eameses described their work reveals how the films and exhibitions they generated were completely at odds with the earlier objectives exemplified in their furniture designs. Shifting away from promoting the consumer-culture, they turned their attention to the presentation of complex sets of scientific, artistic, and philosophical ideas.

During a critical period from the late 1950s to the early 1960s there was a moment of introspective self-reflection in the West stemming from the events of the Cold War. This moment of uncertainty was crucial, for it provided the incentive to question the values and concerns of society as a whole. In turn, designers began to question their own sense of purpose, temporarily expanding the purview of design to a broader field of inquiry. In the case of the Eameses, they identified an overriding problem related to consumerism and excess in America and sought to resolve the issue by creating a network of communication between universities, governments, institutions, and corporations. The solution of promoting greater education experiences as an alternative to consumerism in America required that different sectors of society functioned in unison to address political, social, economic, and educational concerns. "The Films of Charles and Ray Eames" reconsiders how design intersects with humanity, culture, and the sciences.

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William Morris - poet, designer, campaigner, hero of the Arts & Crafts movement - was a giant of the Victorian age, and his beautiful creations and provocative philosophies are still with us today: but his wife Jane is too often relegated to a footnote, an artist's model given no history or personality of her own. In truth, Jane and William's personal and creative partnership was the central collaboration of both their lives. The homes they made together - the Red House, Kelmscott Manor and their houses in London - were works of art in themselves, and the great labour of their lives was life itself: through their houses and the objects they filled them with, they explored how we all might live a life more focused on beauty and fulfilment. In How We Might Live, Suzanne Fagence Cooper explores the lives and legacies of Jane and William Morris, finally giving Jane's work the attention it deserves and taking us inside two lives of unparalleled creative artistry.

With remarkable panache and discernment, Iris Apfel combines styles, colors, textures, and patterns without regard to period, provenance, or aesthetic conventions. She is a unique style icon. Over ninety sumptuous color plates, photographed by Eric Boman, show off a selection of Apfel's extraordinary outfits on wittily posed mannequins, some sporting her trademark outsized spectacles. The originality of her style is typically revealed in her mixing of Dior haute couture with flea-market finds, Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers with nineteenth-century ecclesiastical vestments, pink Lanvin worn with ropes of Navajo turquoise. Apfel's eclectic pieces might come from a Parisian couture house, an American thrift shop, or a North African souk, or they may have been made to her own design in a tiny studio. Detailed captions describe every aspect of the outfits, including names and dates of designers, plus full information on fabrics and accessories. A selection of audacious accessories also comes under the spotlight: a giant necklace made of bear claws, a turn-of-the-century Indian horse ornament worn as a necklace, a parrot's-head brooch in colored glass and rhinestones. The book includes an introduction by Harold Koda, director of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an essay by Apfel herself, describing her lifelong love affair with style and illustrated with vintage photographs from her personal collection.

Finnish for ‘Mary’s dress’, Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Armi Ratia. Going against the restrictive fashion of the period, it produced flowing dresses in abstract patterns and vibrant colours, which remain the house’s signature to this day. Over the last eight decades, Marimekko's artists have created some 3,500 designs, which have graced clothing, bags, accessories, ceramics, bedding, fabric, and more.

Blending archival photographs and advertisements with modern campaign imagery as well as newly commissioned photography, Marimekko: The Art of Printmaking tells the story of the house’s most iconic designs. Four distinct sections guide the reader through the Marimekko philosophy and lifestyle, via its factory in Herttoniemi, where fabrics have been created from the very beginning, on to a rich sourcebook of pattern and finally to the brand’s ultra-sustainable, super-creative future.

In ‘Art of Printmaking’, follow the making of the iconic Unikko (poppy) print, its multiple variants and colourways, and discover how an initial idea evolves from sketch to dress, through colour trials and printing table. Learn Marimekko’s unique ‘Language of Pattern’, through in-depth explorations of its iconic patterns, interspersed with the themes – floral, minimalistic, architectural – that make up Marimekko’s vivid lexicon. In ‘Making Marimekko’ and ‘Marimekko Next’, discover the past, present, and future of this creative powerhouse, in the voices of its own creative talents. Dive into the exhilarating tale of Marimekko’s success and an unstoppable whirlwind of breath-taking imagery.

The first ever monograph on the award-winning and genre-defying multidisciplinary designer Luca Nichetto's eponymous studio With offices in Venice and Stockholm, Nichetto Studio combines Italian flair with Scandinavian modernity to produce innovative commissions for brands including Hermes, Venini, Cassina, and ZaoZuo. This book presents the Studio's portfolio in chronological order from 2000 to the present, highlighting key projects throughout. The studio's focus on craftsmanship and collaboration is magnified through interviews with designers such as Oki Sato and Nichetto himself. More than 400 photographs and sketches paint a fascinating portrait of a trailblazing contemporary design practice, whose collaborations include Ginori 1735, Foscarini, Steinway & Sons, Salviati, Hem and many more.

She revolutionized how women looked. She banned corsets, shortened skirts and scented the world with Chanel No.5. Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel was an icon. But how closely did her carefully moulded image match the truth? Born illegitimate and raised in an orphanage - not by the two aunts that she invented - Gabrielle Chanel fought constantly to escape the mundane. She rose from back-street milliner to become the head of a vast business empire, and socialised with Picasso, Stravinsky and Cocteau. Edmonde Charles-Roux also reveals one of Chanel's best-kept secrets - her love affair with a prodigal German spy. Chanel's legend did not fade with her death, and nor has the mark of sheer elegance that she left upon the world of fashion. This is the living woman behind the vibrant legend.

The first book to survey the work of this iconic designer, known for her serene "new American classic" look. One of today's most influential designers, Victoria Hagan exploded onto the scene in 1988 when New York magazine devoted the cover of its design issue to one of her rooms. Since then she has become renowned for her intelligent integration of architectural and interior design, her refined use of materials, her sophisticated color palette, and her strong silhouettes. Always looking to the view, Hagan effortlessly makes a close connection of interior spaces to the surrounding landscape. The houses profiled-ranging from elegant urban residences to casual weekend retreats-reveal Hagan's unerring attention to what Proust called "the unexpected detail," which makes her interiors beautiful as well as timeless. Throughout, Hagan discourses on the spirit of cherished objects-a print of birds in flight, a vintage star-shaped mirror, or a chair with an unusual silhouette-that add soul and modernity. With stunning photography and personal insights into Hagan's design philosophy, Victoria Hagan: Interior Portraits is an artful and inspiring collection of this design superstar's oeuvre.

Change is inevitable. This is the only constant in our lives. Yet, change is also something that we fear. We seek comfort in the familiar, in routines and in conventions. We are afraid of things that we don't know or we don't understand. We fear change because we don't know how change will affect us. Change, however, is necessary for progress. Sometimes, change happens naturally due to circumstances beyond our control, and sometimes we initiate change because we can or because we must. In 2020, we experienced the biggest change of our lifetimes. For a brief moment in history, the world came to a halt. Then, everything changed. Many things that we used to take for granted no longer applied. We experienced major disruptions to our daily lives. As if in some kind of perfect storm, so many things happened all at once - global pandemic, social inequalities, climate change, racial injustices, riots and unrests, gender struggles and rapid advances of new technologies. This book started to take shape in the midst of it all, and in a way, it is a time capsule of how we experienced the birth of what became known as the 'new normal'. Designers are the kind of people who thrive in times of change. In fact, it is their job to create change. The nature of their job is such that they have to take an existing situation and change it into a better, or a more preferred situation. Some do this by relying on their imagination and personal experiences, and some use evidence-based research to inform their work. Regardless of this, many share the belief that they can somehow make the world a better place - on a micro or a macro level. During this period of massive change, Gjoko Muratovski invited ten highly influential design figures - including iconic design leaders such as Carole Bilson, Karim Rashid, Bruce Mau, Steven Heller and Don Norman - to reflect on the state of things today. In return, each one of them shares a highly personal account on why change is good. The book also features a foreword written by the president of the World Design Organisation (WDO), Srini Srinisavan, and a conclusion by one of the greatest design philosophers of our time, Ken Friedman. By looking to the past and reflecting on the present, these designers project very personal images of the future that they would like to see. The conversations are very broad, and they cover highly diverse topics. From the effects of the pandemic, to issues of race and gender, notions of beauty, technology and industry, to global and local economies, politics, power, privilege and the importance of community. A 'must-read' for anyone interested in how designers and design can change the world. Gjoko Muratovski is a university executive, award-winning designer and innovation consultant working with leading organisations, Fortune 500 companies and governments from around the world, and a fellow of the Design Research Society.

A history of women designers and consumers from 1900 to the present day. The work of women designers has not traditionally been the focus of mainstream histories of design. By revealing the untold story of female design pioneers, this comprehensive introduction celebrates their crucial role in the history of modern processes of making. Arranged chronologically, this guide considers the structural barriers to professional success and how women overcame these hurdles, charting the success of designers including Anni Albers at the Bauhaus, the architect Eileen Grey, interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe and fashion icon Mary Quant, focusing on the key subjects of architecture, craft, fashion, furniture, graphics, interior, product and textile design. The link between early twentieth-century revolutionary design and lifestyle is explored, as well the ideas of shopping and consumerism as a liberating activity. The important contribution of designers during and after the Second World War is also discussed, along with design activism, design collectives and the current success of women working transnationally in architecture and design.

This inspirational book features over 35 master jewelry designers, organized alphabetically. Hailing from Australia, Brazil, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Russia, Turkey, the UK and USA, they represent a wide variety of approaches, from Aida Bergsen's flora and fauna-inspired designs, including emerald- studded frogs and diamond- encrusted salamanders; through Anabela Chan's exquisitely detailed laser-cut brooches of white gold and platinum with iridescent diamonds and natural grey pearls; to Elie Top's yellow gold spheres that are a feat of mathematical precision and ingenuity. Red-carpet customers and fans include Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek, Madonna and Michelle Obama. Each designer is introduced with a biography that highlights their working practices and key sources of inspiration. Illustrations include sketches as well as images of glorious finished designs, all of which are unique and many of which are bespoke. Complete with an introduction, a useful glossary and notes of designers' websites (some work by appointment only), this is the perfect, curated resource for both aficionados and professionals who wish to view the craftsmanship of some of the most visionary practitioners working in the field of fine jewelry today

Beginning in the Renaissance, ateliers were established as places for European artists to work and teach their crafts. Centuries later most of these spaces have disappeared, but a select few continue to produce some of the world's most celebrated and sought-after objects in the areas of crystal, ceramics, wrought iron, fabric, bookbinding, mosaic, wood paneling, and more. John Whelan and Oskar Proctor traveled throughout Europe to document these important spaces, both to celebrate them and to preserve their disappearing ideals. Ranging from the well- known to the obscure, this volume takes readers inside dozens of ateliers from Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. Sumptuous double-page spreads feature alluring photography, and fascinating background texts tell their stories. By shining a light on their collective value as well as their individual expertise, this book offers both a historic evaluation of how ateliers have been shaped by modern forces-and also a clarion call for their preservation.

This volume brings together a cross-disciplinary group of anthropologists, researchers of craft, and designer-makers to enumerate and explore the diversity and complexity of problem-solving tactics and strategies employed by craftspeople, together with the key social, cultural, and environmental factors that give rise to particular ways of problem solving. Presenting rich, textured ethnographic studies of craftspeople at work around the world, Craftwork as Problem Solving examines the intelligent practices involved in solving a variety of problems and the ways in which these are perceived and evaluated both by makers and creators themselves, and by the societies in which they work. With attention to local factors such as training regimes and formal education, access to tools, socialisation and cultural understanding, budgetary constraints and market demands, changing technologies and materials, and political and economic regimes, this book sheds fresh light on the multifarious forms of intelligence involved in design and making, inventing and manufacturing, and cultivating and producing. As such, it will appeal to scholars of anthropology, sociology, and cultural geography, as well as to craftspeople with interests in creativity, skilful practice, perception and ethnography.