Books: Andrew Zuckerman The Flower Book

In various artistic traditions, flowers have figured as ornament, allegory, and vehicles for exploring color, light, and technique. Substituted for the most fundamental themes — death, sex, the spiritual realm — they abound by virtue of their physical beauty and diversity, but also due to their symbolic implications, ritualistic and medicinal applications, and their proximity to decay.

Dispensing with romanticism and narrative associations, Andrew Zuckerman’s Flower is predicated on contemporizing this seemingly exhausted terrain. Culled from an exploration of over 300 species, Zuckerman aims, as always, to translate the essential nature of his subjects and unearth qualities that have previously escaped scrutiny.

With characteristic minimalism, he creates an atmosphere of absolute clarity to reveal each flower on its own terms. In the blank field of pure white light, in exacting definition, they appear alternately alien, comestible, and anatomical. Every aspect is made explicit. What one notices immediately are the astonishing gradations of color and variations of form — some sculptural, others almost viscous — followed by boundless textural nuance.

The images contained within are not still lives, but flowers in a specific time and place, responding to the pull of light, gravity, and water. At close range, they reveal a kind of topography for survival. Zuckerman’s photographs expose the mechanisms beneath the surface — vascular, respiratory, reproductive – the structural imperatives for such arresting physical beauty.

Andrew Zuckerman Flower

Books: Made in Japan: 100 New Products

‘Made in Japan’ is a simple phrase, but one full of meaning. From kettles and cutlery to chairs, Japan creates some of the most innovative, elegant, whimsical and well-made objects in the world. Combining high aesthetic standards with cutting-edge technology, many of these designs turn everyday items into functional works of art that would look as good in a museum as on a kitchen counter. Made in Japan surveys 100 of the country’s recent design triumphs, among them furnishings, utensils, gadgets, clothing, office equipment and even a silent guitar. While the book features mainly mass-produced objects, it also includes one-off prototypes and limited-edition items that are immensely popular in Japan. Created specifically for the Japanese consumer, these products reflect the way people live, work and play in a country that prizes highly both exceptional craftsmanship and industrial perfection.

Made in Japan: 100 New Products, Published by Merrell, Hardback, 240 pages, 200 colour illustrations, 25 x 20 cm (9.75 x 7.75 in) ISBN: 978-1-8589-4562-0

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Monograph: Marc Newson: Complete Works Art Edition

He has designed chairs, restaurants, boutiques, cars, planes, and even a spaceship. For Australian industrial designer Marc Newson, the sky is no limit. From mass-produced objects to limited edition furniture to fashion, Newson has blurred boundaries, mapped new territories, and made himself an international superstar.

This comprehensive tome leaves no stone unturned in cataloguing all of Newson’s works to date, from early pieces such as Lockheed Lounge (which holds the world record for the highest price paid for a piece of designer furniture, at over two million dollars) through designs of household objects and more recent, large scale projects such as the interior of Qantas’s A380 and the Aquariva boat.

+ Encyclopedia-style entries, arranged chronologically by categories: Furniture, Objects, Interiors and Architecture, Timepieces and Jewelry, Transport, and Unreleased Projects
+ Extended, in-depth case studies for a selection of Newson’s most important projects: the Kelvin40 plane, Qantas Airbus A380, Gagosian art editions, Ford 021C, Ikepod watches, and Aquariva boat
+ Visual index cataloguing Newson’s complete works
+ Exclusive, in-depth interview by Louise Neri

Marc Newson Art Edition, Contributing authors: Laszlo Adams, Nicholas Foulkes, Louise Neri, and Alice Rawsthorn, The Collector’s Edition (No. 101–1,100) is limited to 1,000 numbered and signed copies, each in a linen-covered slipcase, Hardcover with leather inlay, in a Micarta slipcase, 33 x 44 cm, 610 pages.

or

Marc Newson, Alison Castle, Hardcover in slipcase, 33 x 44 cm, 610 pages,
ISBN 9783836508070, Multilingual Edition: English, French, German.

Books: Hokusai Manga by Katsushika Hokusai

The legendary masterpieces of Hokusai-fifteen volumes in a single chunky book. Hokusai Manga is one of the masterpieces by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), a master of Ukiyo-e art, depicting ordinary people’s lives, animals, plants, landscapes and human figures, historical and supernatural, even demons and monsters, as if it were a visual encyclopedia, amounting to fifteen volumes. Hokusai Manga turned out to be very popular among every class of people, from feudal lords to the general public, and became a long time best-seller in the Edo period. This book selects pieces from each volume and compiles them into one charming book.
The original masterpiece spread throughout Japan and flowed into Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century, where it had a striking impact on artists, including Impressionists Manet, Monet, Degas, and others. The artistic movement ‘Japonisme’ began in part due to its influence.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was a Japanese artist and ukiyo-e painter of the Edo period, and best-known as the author of the woodblock print series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”.

Hokusai Manga, by Katsushika Hokusai, Designed by Kazuya Takaoka, via: Cool Hunting
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Books: OKOLO Mollino

Carlo Mollino represents one of the most authentic creative figures of the last century. Mollino became a modern Renaissance man whose production embraced the entire cultural and technological world of his time thanks to his undisguised love of life and everything that our world offers.

The book, which presents the work of Carlo Mollino in a different way than usual, is divided into six basic chapters, i.e. six life stages and six of Mollino’s passions. Apart from a text on a specific theme, each part brings a materialized symbol of Mollino’s creativity. Thus, the reader can assemble miniature models of Mollino’s fascinating projects, implementations, and symbols related to Mollino’s life. Paper models serve to update the versatile activities of the charming Italian and place his work into a new context. Mollino will be gradually presented as a visionary designer, excellent architect, courageous race driver, fearless acrobatic pilot, style-setting skier, photographer and womanizer. Mollino is a phenomenon.

OKOLO Mollino, First edition of 80, by OKOLO, Created in the collaboration with Studio Činčera, Signpek print and 3DH furniture showroom.

Books: Alexander Girard by Oldham & Coffee

Renowned designer Todd Oldham and writer Kiera Coffee have created this massive monograph on seminal designer Alexander Girard as the ultimate tribute to this design icon.

This 672-page book covers virtually every aspect of Girard’s distinctive career. As one of the most prolific and versatile mid-20th century designers, Girard’s work spanned many disciplines, including textile design, graphic design, typography, illustration, furniture design, interior design, product design, exhibit design, and architecture. Exhaustively researched and lovingly assembled by designer Todd Oldham, this tome is the definitive must-have book on Girard’s oeuvre.

Girard’s repertoire includes an incredible list of projects, including his bold, colorful, and iconic textile designs for Herman Miller (1952- 1975), his typographic designs for La Fonda del Sol restaurant (1960), his celebrated retail store Textiles and Objects (1961), his own Girard Foundation (1962) that houses his own extensive, personal collection of folk art from around the world, and his complete branding and environmental design for Braniff International Airways (1965).

Alexander Girard, by Todd Oldham & Kiera Coffee, Published by Ammo Books, ISBN: 9781934429846, 16 x 12 inches, 672 pages.
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Photography: Disportraits by Matthias Schaller

Matthias Schaller is a retrospective of Schaller’s photography in book form. Presenting all his major bodies of work from the last ten years such as the series “Studio Gursky” (2000), documenting Andreas Gursky’s Düsseldorf studio; “Die Mühle” (2001-02), showing the studio-home of Bernd and Hilla Becher; and “Controfacciata” (2008), colourdrained images of the interiors of Venetian palaces. Including thumbnail images of all these series and a bibliography, this book is the perfect entry-point to Schaller’s oeuvre and a comprehensive summary of it.

Matthias Schaller, Photography by Matthias Schaller, Hardcover, 332 pages, Published by Steidl, English, ISBN: 9783869303239
Buy it here: Amazon

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Here are 10 Flickr groups for vintage photography inspiration.

Books: London Unfurled by Matteo Pericoli

London is divided and united by its river; one of few cities in the world to find its essence in two profoundly different, yet nearly touching, urban characters. So the Thames provides the perfect vantage point for telling the most comprehensive story of this complex city.

Arriving with little previous knowledge of London, Matteo Pericoli made an intensive 20-mile journey along the river, from Hammersmith Bridge to the Millennium Dome and back again. Over two years later, he leaves behind the most astonishing document of his journey: two 37-foot-long pen-and-ink drawings depicting the city’s north and south banks. Each drawing presented on one side of this beautiful single-sheet accordion-style book — is rendered with loving and essay-like detail, revealing a distinct profile of London in all of its diversity: a dozen boroughs, nineteen bridges and hundreds of buildings, including the Houses of Parliament, Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station and Millennium Wheel.

London Unfurled: Matteo Pericoli, with essays by Will Self and Iain Sinclair, Published by Picador, iPad Version, Buy it here: Amazon

Books: Apple Design

Apple is clearly one of the most influential design, manufacturing and software companies of our era. The forthcoming book is a comprehensive survey of the company’s products to date. The book is also a catalog for a new exhibition Stylectrical: On Electro-Design That Makes History, which examines “the complex process of industrial design in the context of cultural studies.”

Featuring over two hundred examples of designs, this publication focuses on Jonathan Ive (*1967 in London), Senior Vice President of Industrial Design for Apple, who since 1997 has been responsible for the design of all of the company’s products. Over the past decade, Ive and his team of designers wrote electronics design history with their standard-setting iMacs, iPhones, iPods, and iPads. Their user-friendly, distinct, and elegant design has made a significant contribution to the brand’s cult status.

This volume compares various approaches to design and casts light on numerous aspects of design history, deepening one’s understanding of contemporary industrial design. Following an analysis of the forms and functions of the featured products, the book provides an explanation of the innovative production methods and materials applied. Last but not least, it points out Apple design’s noticeable references to the simplified forms of the products manufactured by the successful German brand Braun, and lists the Ten Rules for Good Design promulgated by the company’s chief designer, Dieter Rams.

Exhibition: Stylectrical: On Electro-Design That Makes History, at Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, (Museum for Arts and Crafts) Hamburg, August 26 – January 15, iPhone app

Apple Design, Edited by Sabine Schulze, Ina Grätz, foreword by Sabine Schulze, texts by Friedrich von Borries, Bernhard Bürdek, Ina Grätz, Harald Klinke, Bernd Polster, Henry Urbach, Thomas Wagner, Peter Zec, graphic design by Jung von Matt, 2011. 320 pp., 542 color ills., 25.80 x 30.70 cm, ISBN 9783775730105, Published by Hatje Cantz

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Books: Folding Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form

Many designers use folding techniques in their work to make three-dimensional forms from two-dimensional sheets of fabric, cardboard, plastic, metal and many other materials. This unique book explains the key techniques of folding, such as pleated surfaces, curved folding and crumpling. An elegant, practical handbook, it covers over 70 techniques explained by clear step-by-step drawings, crease pattern drawings, and specially commissioned photography. The book is accompanied by a CD containing all the crease pattern drawings.

Paul Jackson has been a professional paper folder and paper artist since 1982 and is the author of 30 books on paper arts and crafts. He has taught the techniques of folding on more than 150 university-level design courses in the UK, Germany, Belgium, the US, Canada and Israel. These include courses in Architecture, Graphic Design, Fashion Design, Textile Design, Jewellery, Product Design, Packaging, Ceramics, Industrial Design, Fine Art, Basic Design and Interior Design. He has also taught many workshops in museums, arts centres and festivals and has worked as ‘folding consultant’ for companies such as Nike and Siemens.

Folding Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form, by Paul Jackson, Paperback with CD-ROM, 575 illustrations, 224 pages, 220 x 220 mm, ISBN: 9781856697217
Buy it here: Amazon