Design

The Bentwood chair, Bauhaus furniture, Dieter Rams' designs for Braun, Apple computers, and Ikea furniture have made their way into homes and offices around the world, but all these objects signify major departures from those that came before - a new way of designing things that, in many cases, we now take for granted. In twenty diverse and fascinating chapters, this book explores numerous such "groundbreaking moments" in product design. Conceptually - rather than chronologically - organized, it focuses on innovative, nonconventional approaches by designers, artists, and schools of ideas that left indelible impressions on the ways we live and work. Each chapter opens with a design object that founded or laid the groundwork for a style, introduced the use of new materials, uncovered new production techniques, or redefined the functionality of the object. From the unique to the mass-produced, each of the objects featured here tells the story of an idea, its implementation, and the way it shaped the world.