With all the wit, knowledge and wisdom of one of the UK's foremost cultural commentators, Stephen Bayley takes the reader on a satirical roller-coaster ride through the world of art and design in the late 20th century. 'Brilliantly drawn ..the pages are full of Wildean paradoxes' The Spectator ______________________________ Someone once said you can find beauty anywhere. But all Eustace Dunne can see is ugliness. The buildings are grey, the people are tired and unimaginative, the food is inedible and life is drab, drab, drab. Growing up in an England ravaged by the Second World War, Eustace resolves to make things beautiful again. A mercurial stint in art school gives him a springboard into a world that is changing so fast you have to hold on tight to keep up. And in that world, ambition, timing and a modicum of talent can transform you into anything you want to be. Before long he's an artist, a designer, a restaurateur, an entrepreneur, a genius. But becoming a bastion of perfect taste can be a grubby business. Eustace's charm may have secured his influence on the homes and hearts of a nation, but there are still people out there who know where the bodies are buried...

We all consume architecture - it's the one artform we can't avoid. So it's hardly surprising that the finest writers have applied their minds to it. Most of them aren't architects, but their powers of perception are such that what they say gets under the skin of a building - and gives us a lesson in how to look at architecture. You'll be entertained and enlightened as you find out why Goethe went from being dismissive of Strasbourg Cathedral to being an awed admirer; why Ruskin was offended by decorated shopfronts; why D.H. Lawrence loved Etruscan temples; why Tom Wolfe ridiculed the Seagram Building; why Vita Sackville-West saw Chatsworth as an alien interloper; why Rose Macaulay was passionate about ruins; And what Evelyn Waugh thought of Gaudi. The answers, and plenty more, are all here. Knowing them will transform the way you see buildings and deepen your understanding of architecture.

Wittgenstein said that if people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever happen. In this compelling A-Z of modern ignorance, Stephen Bayley gathers silly, curious and sometimes shocking facts on everything that makes our world tick. Why does Judeo-Christianity love mountains? Why was fear of drinking from skulls the original reason for cremation? And where does the word f*** come from (hint: think berets)? You'll be surprised how much you never knew!

The automobile is the ultimate analogue machine and mankind's most ingenious, seductive and damaging invention. For over a century, cars have provided reference points for our notions of style, status and desire. In design terms, the Age of Combustion was as rich and varied as architecture's Baroque - and far more popular. And now it is coming to an end, as the internal-combustion engine is superseded by the battery and cars become wheeled computers, running on AI not oil. Together with a wide-ranging introduction, this book reproduces 60 of Stephen Bayley's popular monthly columns for Octane, the outstanding classic car magazine where, for more than 10 years, he has provided the most consistent and insightful commentary on car culture, often based on privileged access to industry insiders.

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link is Britain's first dedicated high-speed railway line and its first major railway-building project in more than a century. Running from London's newly refurbished St Pancras International to the mouth of the Channel Tunnel, the link will decrease journey times to Paris and beyond, as well as to commuter towns in the south-east of England. The project is also being credited with significant regeneration in the areas around the new stations and terminus. Well-known architecture and design commentator Stephen Bayley tells the story of the building of the link and its sensitive insertion into the rural and urban landscape, from the spectacular renaissance of St Pancras to the unearthing of significant archaeological remains along the route, and from the creation of bridges, viaducts and tunnels to the planting of wild-flower meadows. Lively and entertaining, this is a fascinating record of a ground breaking project.

'A terrific read, bubbling with anecdotes and insight' Daily Mail, 2021's best biographies 'Bayley, the author of books on style, design and taste, tells the Habitat story with his customary polycultural panache . . . [Mavity is] good at conveying the experience of being in a room with Conran' Sunday Times Terence Conran, a visionary and a myopic. A design entrepreneur and imaginative restaurateur, he was a democratising idealist who was also a selfish hedonist. His influence is everywhere in modern Britain from where we live to what we eat. Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is the most definitive, intimate and revelatory biography of this design legend, by two of his closest collaborators, Roger Mavity and Stephen Bayley. Frank, amusing, indiscreet, sharp, rude, respectful and knowing, it tells Terence's story as it evolved, from before Habitat's humble chicken brick to Bibendum's sophisticated poulet de Bresse, via personal successes and corporate calamities, culminating in that peculiar temple to the religion he invented: The Design Museum. It celebrates Terence's genius and immeasurable impact on British life - and ensures his rightful status as national treasure. Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is the most candid, up-close insight into the man and myth.

Regardless of style, age or size, a home should be a place of refuge, a private space in which we can feel truly comfortable, whether spending time on our own or entertaining friends. Above all, it should be a place of our own making, filled with the books, furniture and other cherished objects that say so much about who we are. Nowhere is this philosophy more apparent than in the work of Chester Jones, one of the UK's most celebrated interior designers and decorators. Lavishly illustrated throughout, "The Interiors of Chester Jones" provides a unique and fascinating insight into both Jones himself - a former architect and managing director of Colefax and Fowler - and the thinking behind the many rich and nuanced interiors he has created since establishing his own firm in 1989. The book covers every aspect of his work, from his distinctive use of art and artefacts to his sympathetic treatment of a building's architectural history, and includes a series of in-depth case studies on past projects. At the heart of this beautiful book is Jones's own belief that to be happy in one's own surroundings, to live contentedly in a space of our own design, is to feel genuinely at home.

How do we define taste? The only certainty is that it shifts and changes - sometimes abruptly. With the explosion of vulgar consumerism in the mid-nineteenth century, the Victorians seized upon the notion of good taste as a way of codifying middle-class mores. A century later, to talk about taste had become almost taboo, since judgments made about dress, manners, food and art can often be painfully revealing. And today? When this classic text was first published in 1991, Stephen Bayley illuminated the nuances and niceties of our mercurial understanding of taste. In this new edition, he ranges far and wide to bring us exquisitely up to date. 'I don't know anybody with more interesting observations about style, taste and contemporary design' Tom Wolfe on Stephen Bayley

Since the industrial revolution, when everything ran by clockwork, people have understood how important it is to live in the moment. But over time our world has grown increasingly busy, and we've lost our ability to truly savour each unique experience and the simple pleasures the world has to offer. Cultural commentator and critic Stephen Bayley seeks to explain what real value is: it's about taking the time and making the effort to appreciate things, of understanding the permanent charm of modest daily rituals performed with care and feeling. Of caring about appearances and meaning. Of being bold in matters of taste. Of fully understanding the source of lasting pleasure. Of making every encounter with an object or person meaningful. Value is an elegiac account of what's recently been lost in the digital apocalypse. But also an enthusiastic anticipation of what we can regain in a post-viral, more analogue and more thoughtful world.

The pitch is the absolute essence of modern business. Ideas are the most valuable commodity in the modern economy and it is human skill which develops them. However the skills of the pitch are not only relevant to the world of business, rather they apply to just about every significant personal transaction in your life... So whether at a sales conference in corporate conference room hell or over lunch at a glamorous restaurant, Life's a Pitch tells you how to handle human transactions. A pitch is not a meeting, it's a drama. A pitch is not about transferring information, it's about transferring power. It is business, but it is also theatre. Part inspirational manual for business, part guidebook to a successful and happy social life, Life's a Pitch is written as the result of an accumulated half century of (mostly successful) pitching by the authors. Ground-breaking and genre-busting, it will transform the way you think about the art of persuasion for ever.

Since the industrial revolution, when everything ran by clockwork, people have understood how important it is to live in the moment. But over time our world has grown increasingly busy, and we've lost our ability to truly savour each unique experience and the simple pleasures the world has to offer. Cultural commentator and critic Stephen Bayley seeks to explain what real value is: it's about taking the time and making the effort to appreciate things, of understanding the permanent charm of modest daily rituals performed with care and feeling. Of caring about appearances and meaning. Of being bold in matters of taste. Of fully understanding the source of lasting pleasure. Of making every encounter with an object or person meaningful. Value is an elegiac account of what's recently been lost in the digital apocalypse. But also an enthusiastic anticipation of what we can regain in a post-viral, more analogue and more thoughtful world.

The car industry and the way in which cars are created have changed beyond all recognition over the last half-century. Automotive styling was once the grudging afterthought when the engineers had finished their work. Now, following a short flirtation with exotic Italian design houses, it has evolved into sophisticated design carried out by multitalented in-house teams honing carefully crafted brand identities. One of the visionary designers at the forefront of that revolution has been Patrick le Quement. Most widely acclaimed for his 22 years in charge of Renault Design, resulting in such standout models as the Twingo, Scenic and Avantime, le Quement has enjoyed a 50-year career that has also taken in Simca, Ford and Volkswagen-Audi. In his foreword to the book, Stephen Bayley calls le Quement `perhaps the very most original designer working in the conservative car business at the turn of the millennium'. Some 60 million cars across the world now bear the unmistakable stamp of le Quement. Design: Between the Lines is not a straightforward autobiography; rather, le Quement charts his journey through five decades of thoughts, actions, failures and successes. He offers fascinating commentaries on design and the creative process, and on some of the extraordinary automotive brands that make up our shared cultural heritage. As Bayley notes, for le Quement, design is `as much a matter of thinking as a matter of drawing'. On a broader, more philosophical level, le Quement also shares his views about life in general and that remarkable contraption called `the automobile', which has so influenced the lives of millions of people the world over from the late 1800s to the present day. Presented as a series of 50 brief essays or `perspectives', le Quement's thoughtful and astute observations from the street, from the design studio and from his seat in the boardroom give the reader a penetrating and often amusing insight into the high-level workings of a global industry, its triumphs and tragedies, and the foibles of the decision-makers responsible for running it. A lively complementary text by the automotive journalist Stephane Geffray accompanies each of le Quement's perspectives, and illustrations are provided by the automobile designer Gernot Bracht. Design: Between the Lines will appeal to all motoring fans and enthusiasts of good design. As Chris Bangle, the former Director of BMW Design, remarks: `Few car designers have had a career so filled with innovative successes that they have inspired a whole industry; fewer still have the skills to share it. Engaging and revealing, Patrick relates his personal experience and deep knowledge of car design in a very enjoyable manner.'

'Bayley, the author of books on style, design and taste, tells the Habitat story with his customary polycultural panache . . . [Mavity is] good at conveying the experience of being in a room with Conran' Sunday Times Terence Conran, a visionary and a myopic. A design entrepreneur and imaginative restaurateur, he was a democratising idealist who was also a selfish hedonist. His influence is everywhere in modern Britain from where we live to what we eat. Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is the most definitive, intimate and revelatory biography of this design legend, by two of his closest collaborators, Roger Mavity and Stephen Bayley. Frank, amusing, indiscreet, sharp, rude, respectful and knowing, it tells Terence's story as it evolved, from before Habitat's humble chicken brick to Bibendum's sophisticated poulet de Bresse, via personal successes and corporate calamities, culminating in that peculiar temple to the religion he invented: The Design Museum. It celebrates Terence's genius and immeasurable impact on British life - and ensures his rightful status as national treasure. Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is the most candid, up-close insight into the man and myth.

With all the wit, knowledge and wisdom of one of the UK's foremost cultural commentators, Stephen Bayley takes the reader on a satirical roller-coaster ride through the world of art and design in the late 20th century. 'Brilliantly drawn ..the pages are full of Wildean paradoxes' The Spectator ______________________________ Someone once said you can find beauty anywhere. But all Eustace Dunne can see is ugliness. The buildings are grey, the people are tired and unimaginative, the food is inedible and life is drab, drab, drab. Growing up in an England ravaged by the Second World War, Eustace resolves to make things beautiful again. A mercurial stint in art school gives him a springboard into a world that is changing so fast you have to hold on tight to keep up. And in that world, ambition, timing and a modicum of talent can transform you into anything you want to be. Before long he's an artist, a designer, a restaurateur, an entrepreneur, a genius. But becoming a bastion of perfect taste can be a grubby business. Eustace's charm may have secured his influence on the homes and hearts of a nation, but there are still people out there who know where the bodies are buried...

The communications and design agency Imagination was founded by Gary Withers in 1978. It now has almost 500 staff, based in London, Hong Kong and New York, who practise a wide range of disciplines, from architecture, interiors, lighting and acoustics to graphics, film and digital media. Often dealing with high-profile theatrical events, Imagination's projects are sophisticated and highly orchestrated. This book features over 30 projects organized into thematic chapters reflecting their aims: to inform, entertain, inspire, persuade and amaze. Projects include the exhibition 'Dinosaurs' at the Natural History Museum, London (1992), the Talk and Journey zones at the Millennium Dome (1999), The Aurora Centre, Berlin (1998) and the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin (2000). An introduction by design critic Stephen Bayley assesses the significance of Imagination's approach to communication, while perspectives from Mike Davies of the Richard Rogers Partnership, Sean Perkins of North, architect Lorenzo Apicella, Ian Liddell of Buro Happold and J Mays, Vice President, Design, Ford Motor Company, provide insights into the work and culture of Imagination. An extensive interview with Gary Withers, illustrated with over 350 projects from the course of Imagination's history, further explains the evolution of this unique company.