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Whether it’s salivating over the latest PowerMac, insisting on a Philippe Starck lemon squeezer, or re-mortgaging the house to pay for a sofa that’s chic enough to sit on, most of us have our design fetishes. Glossy images of such covetable gems run through the Dictionary of Design since 1900, and it’s fascinating to learn how these classics of modern style came into being.
It was only in the twentieth century that people really started to study design as a topic in its own right, and only in the late 1960s that it developed internationally as a university subject. But design is all around us; and with the growth of consumerism and ever more sophisticated global companies focusing on brand, marketing and advertising and clamouring to produce the coolest, most desirable products, we’ve all become super-discerning and visually aware these days. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way that we approach interior decoration – a century after the launch of first Heals furniture catalogue and just weeks after riots over sofas at the opening of Ikea Edmonton, we are prepared to hunt, fight and wait for the sofas, work surfaces and fittings that fulfil our vision of the perfectly designed property.
With encyclopaedia-style entries on the artistic movements, individuals, manufacturing companies, materials, universities and magazines that have shaped the direction of design over the last 100 or so years, the Dictionary of Design since 1900 is an excellent guide to how things got to where they are today. On the one hand, entries on postmodernism and Dadaism help to explain the theoretical elements that have fed into modern style, while sections on green design and design for disability look at how practical and political issues have influenced the way designers work. Advances in technology and new materials have often been the driving force behind new trends, and you’ll find Bakelite and Perspex faithfully represented here.
There are plenty of pointers to further reading throughout the book, and the black-and-white pictures sprinkled on every page are a particular treat; showing iconic examples of architecture, products, posters and packaging that often bring the memories flooding back; anyone remember the first Sony Walkman, or the original Guinness posters?
Complete with a chronological chart which gives major landmarks in design history throughout the 20th century and into the 21st (Frank Lloyd Wright’s first trip to Japan in 1905, the invention of Tupperware in 1942, the opening of the first Habitat store in 1964…), a handy subject index, and a bibliography of design books for those who want to find out more, the Dictionary of Design since 1900 is great both for those who are involved professionally with design, and for the armchair connoisseur of all things just-so. Published by Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-20379-2