Design History Reader

Rebecca Houze is Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, USA. Her publications include, as co-editor, The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010), and, as author, New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform Before the First World War: Principles of Dress (2015).Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Heritage (DHeritage) at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History and Series Editor, with Kjetil Fallan, of the book series Cultural Histories of Design (Bloomsbury). Her publications include Design at Home (2014) and, with Nicolas P. Maffei, Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury 2019). For Bloomsbury, Grace edited Writing Design (2012) and Iconic Designs (2014). With Rebecca Houze, Grace co-edited Design and Heritage (2022) and with Kjetil Fallan, she co-edited Designing Worlds (2016) and Made in Italy: (Bloomsbury 2014).

Everything you want to know about design history in one handy volume.

• List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsPreface to the Second EditionAcknowledgementsGeneral Introduction, Grace Lees-MaffeiPart One: HistoriesIntroduction to Part OneSECTION 1: NEW DESIGNERS 1676-1820Introduction1. An Indian Basket, Providence, Rhode Island, 1676, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich2. A Slipware Dish by Samuel Malkin: An Analysis of Vernacular Design, Darron Dean3. Of The Division of Labour, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith4. The Wedgwood Slave Medallion: Values in Eighteenth-century Design, Mary Guyatt5. Manufacturing, Consumption and Design in Eighteenth-century England, John StylesGuide to Further Reading for Section 1SECTION 2: DESIGN REFORM 1820-1910Introduction6. Science, Industry, and Art, Gottfried Semper7. The Nature of Gothic, John Ruskin8. The Ideal Book, William Morris9. The ‘American System’ and Mass-Production, from Industrial Design, John Heskett10. The 1900 Paris Exposition, from Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siècle France, Debora Silverman11. The Art and Craft of the Machine, Frank Lloyd WrightGuide to Further Reading for Section 2SECTION 3: MODERNISMS 1908-1950Introduction12. Introduction to Modernism in Design, Paul Greenhalgh13. Ornament and Crime, Adolf Loos14. Werkbund Theses and Antitheses, Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde15. The Modern Movement before Nineteen-fourteen, from Pioneers of Modern Design, Nikolaus Pevsner16. From Workshop to Laboratory, from The Bauhaus Reassessed, Gillian Naylor17. Ambiguously Modern: Art Deco in Latin America, Rafael Cardoso18. The Search for an American Design Aesthetic: from Art Deco to Streamlining, Nicolas P. MaffeiGuide to Further Reading for Section 3SECTION 4: WAR, RECOVERY, AND DECOLONIZATION 1943-1970Introduction19. Gandhi and Khadi, the Fabric of Indian Independence, Susan S. Bean20. Progress through Prosthetics, Bess Williamson21. ‘Here Is the Modern World Itself’: The Festival of Britain’s Representations of the FutureBecky Conekin22. Isotype in Africa: Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Western Region of Nigeria, 1952-8, Eric Kindel23. The Khrushchev Kitchen: Domesticating the Scientific-Technological RevolutionSusan E. Reid24. All That Glitters is Not Stainless, Peter Reyner BanhamGuide to Further Reading for Section 4SECTION 5: POSTMODERNISMS 1967-2006Introduction25. A Significance for A & P Parking Lots, or Learning from Las Vegas, from Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown and Steven Izenour26. The Ecstasy of Communication, Jean Baudrillard27. There is No Kitsch, There is Only Design! Gert Selle28. Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory, Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller29. What was Philippe Starck thinking of? Peter Lloyd and Dirk Snelders30. Fabricating Identities: Survival and the Imagination in Jamaican Dancehall Culture, Bibi Bakare-YusufGuide to Further Reading for Section 5SECTION 6: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN 1960-2020Introduction31. Spaceship Earth, from Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, R. Buckminster Fuller32. Do-It-Yourself Murder: the Social and Moral Responsibility of the Designer, from Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek33. The Hannover Principles. Design for Sustainability, William McDonough and Michael Braungart34. Material Doubts and Plastic Fallout, from American Plastic, Jeffrey L. Meikle35. Redefining Rubbish: Commodity Disposal and Sourcing, from Second-Hand Cultures, Nicky Gregson and Louise Crewe36. Green Marketing on the Go: A Cup of Coffee Opening Up Vistas on a Train Journey, Karin Wagner37. Environmental Histories of Design: Towards a New Research Agenda, Kjetil Fallan and Finn Arne JørgensenGuide to Further Reading for Section 6Part Two: Methods and ThemesIntroduction to Part TwoSECTION 7: FOUNDATIONS, DEBATES, HISTORIOGRAPHY, 1980-1995 Introduction38. Taking Stock in Design History, Fran Hannah and Tim Putnam39. The State of Design History, Part I: Mapping the Field, Clive Dilnot40. Design History and the History of Design, John A. Walker41. Design History or Design Studies: Subject Matter and Methods, Victor Margolin42. Resisting Colonization: Design History Has Its Own Identity, Jonathan M. WoodhamGuide to Further Reading for Section 7SECTION 8: MODES OF PRODUCTIONIntroduction43. Faith, Form and Finish: Shaker Furniture in Context, Jean M. Burks44. How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum, Ruth Schwartz Cowan45. ‘Mass Customization’ and ‘Flexible/Agile Manufacturing’, from Designing Things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects, Prasad Boradkar46. Imagined Machines, from Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware, Paul Atkinson.47. Susan Kare: Design Icon, Eric S. Hintz48. DS Touch Screen Goddess, from New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape, Rebecca HouzeGuide to Further Reading for Section 8SECTION 9: PRACTICES OF CONSUMPTIONIntroduction49. The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret, from Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx50. Conspicuous Consumption, from The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen51. Myth Today and The New Citroën, from Mythologies, Roland Barthes52. Introduction and The Sense of Distinction, from Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Pierre Bourdieu53. ‘Parties Are the Answer’: The Ascent of the Tupperware Party, Alison Clarke54. The Revolution Will Be Marketed: American Corporations and Black Consumers during the 1960s, Robert E. Weems, Jr.55. Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle, Dick Hebdige56. Integrative Practice: Oral History, Dress and Disability Studies, Liz LinthicumGuide to Further Reading for Section 9SECTION 10: CHANNELS OF MEDIATIONIntroduction57. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin58. Advertising, Mother of Graphic Design, Steven Heller59. ‘Decorators May Be Compared to Doctors’ An Analysis of Rhoda and Agnes Garrett’s Suggestions For House Decoration In Painting, Woodwork And Furniture (1876), Emma Ferry60. The Production-Consumption-Mediation Paradigm, Grace Lees-Maffei61. A Design for the Real World? (1968-1974), from Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society, Elizabeth GuffeyGuide to Further Reading for Section 10SECTION 11: NEGOTIATING GENDER, SEXUALITY AND DESIGNIntroduction62. FORM/female FOLLOWS FUNCTION/male: Feminist Critiques of Design, Judy Attfield63. The Architect’s Wife, Introduction to As Long As Its Pink, Penny Sparke64. Self-Made Motormen: The Material Construction of Working-class Masculine Identities through Car Modification, Andrew Bengry-Howell and Christine Griffin65. Screening Sexuality: Eileen Gray and Romaine Brooks, from Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity, Jasmine Rault66. ‘The Pink Elephant in the Room: What Ever Happened to Queer Theory in the Study of Interior Design 25 Years on?’ John PotvinGuide to Further Reading for Section 11SECTION 12: LOCAL/REGIONAL/NATIONAL/GLOBAL: DECOLONIZING DESIGNIntroduction67. Towards Global Design History, Sarah Teasley, Giorgio Riello, and Glenn Adamson68. Furniture Design and Colonialism: Negotiating Relationships between Britain and Australia, 1880-1901, Tracey Avery69. “From Baby’s First Bath:” Kao Soap and Modern Japanese Commercial Design, Gennifer Weisenfeld70. Land Rover and Colonial-Style Adventure, Jeanne Van Eeden71. Swoosh Identity: Recontextualizations in Haiti and Romania, Paul B. Bick and Sorina Chiper72. Charles and Ray Eames in India, Saloni Mathur73. The Decolonized Quadruple Bottom Line: A Framework for Developing Indigenous Innovation, Fonda Walters and John Takamura74. ‘The Portable Flush Toilet: From Camping Accessory to Protest Totem’, Nadine Botha.Guide to Further Reading for Section 12BibliographyIndex