Anne-Marie Willis – författare

What is design philosophy and why is it needed? This important book explains the discipline’s recent emergence, the key questions which dominate it, and its potential to fundamentally change the way we practice and think about design.The reader comprises eight thematic sections, each featuring a short, contextualising introduction and an annotated bibliography. It considers social, graphic, product and industrial design, and presents the writings of such leading design thinkers and philosophers as Deleuze and Heidegger, Aristotle and Plato. With texts ranging from philosophically informed writing on design and culture, to ancient and contemporary philosophy which addresses the concept of design, The Design Philosophy Reader is an impressive and pioneering work.

What is design philosophy and why is it needed? This important book explains the discipline’s recent emergence, the key questions which dominate it, and its potential to fundamentally change the way we practice and think about design.The reader comprises eight thematic sections, each featuring a short, contextualising introduction and an annotated bibliography. It considers social, graphic, product and industrial design, and presents the writings of such leading design thinkers and philosophers as Deleuze and Heidegger, Aristotle and Plato. With texts ranging from philosophically informed writing on design and culture, to ancient and contemporary philosophy which addresses the concept of design, The Design Philosophy Reader is an impressive and pioneering work.

Steel has, over centuries, played a crucial role in shaping our material, and in particular, urban landscapes. This books undertakes a cultural and ecological history of the material, examining the relationship between steel and design at a micro and macro level – in terms of both what it has been used to design and how it has functioned as a ‘world-making force’.The research for the book is informed by diverse sources including industry journals, contemporary accounts and technical literature – all framed by rich, early accounts of iron and steel making from the middle ages to the opening of the industrial age, and most notably, the crucial works of Vannoccio Biringuccio, Georgius Agricola, Andrew Ure and Harry Scrivenor. In contrast, trans-cultural accounts of the history of metallurgy from eminent sinologists and cultural historians like Joseph Needham and G.E.R. Lloyd are used. Readings on the pre-history and history of science, as well as histories and philosophies technology from scholars such as Siegfried Giedion, Merritt Roe Smith, L.T.C Rolt, Robert B. Gordon inform the analysis. Social and economic history from historians such as Eric Hobsbawn, William T. Hogan and David Brody are consulted; labour process theory is also examined, particularly the influential writings of F.W. Taylor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and his contemporary critics, like David Nobel and Harry Braverman. Many other disciples also inform the account: histories of urban design and architecture, transport and military history, environmental history and geography.

Steel has, over centuries, played a crucial role in shaping our material, and in particular, urban landscapes. This books undertakes a cultural and ecological history of the material, examining the relationship between steel and design at a micro and macro level – in terms of both what it has been used to design and how it has functioned as a ‘world-making force’.The research for the book is informed by diverse sources including industry journals, contemporary accounts and technical literature – all framed by rich, early accounts of iron and steel making from the middle ages to the opening of the industrial age, and most notably, the crucial works of Vannoccio Biringuccio, Georgius Agricola, Andrew Ure and Harry Scrivenor. In contrast, trans-cultural accounts of the history of metallurgy from eminent sinologists and cultural historians like Joseph Needham and G.E.R. Lloyd are used. Readings on the pre-history and history of science, as well as histories and philosophies technology from scholars such as Siegfried Giedion, Merritt Roe Smith, L.T.C Rolt, Robert B. Gordon inform the analysis. Social and economic history from historians such as Eric Hobsbawn, William T. Hogan and David Brody are consulted; labour process theory is also examined, particularly the influential writings of F.W. Taylor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and his contemporary critics, like David Nobel and Harry Braverman. Many other disciples also inform the account: histories of urban design and architecture, transport and military history, environmental history and geography.

This book introduces the theory and concept of ontological design: a way of understanding and confronting the increasing power of design as it shapes our lives in complex ways that go well beyond the functionality and aesthetics of products and environments.We as humans design our material worlds – our habits, notions of comfort and convenience, what we eat, what we wear, how we travel. In turn, relations within these worlds design us and, mostly, we are designed to be unsustainable. This is becoming a psychosocial as well as biophysical crisis as our ‘normal’ and ‘desirable’ ways of life are wreaking havoc on climate, land, sea, other species and their complex interdependence, with unknown disastrous consequences in the near-future. These ground-breaking essays by Anne-Marie Willis, written over the last twenty years, bring together her pioneering writing on ontological design and provide a comprehensive introduction to the topic. As wider humanities fields are increasingly drawn to the concept of ontological design as a transformative force, this book provides an accessible guide that opens possibilities for deeper responses and different kinds of design interventions, and not just by designers. Essays explore design thinking within anthropology, sociology, politics, ecology, and design writing, including speculative and literary fiction about design. The book demonstrates how design is fundamental to being human and to our future. It makes the agency of design more visible throughout the world and provides tools for tackling urgent contemporary social, economic and environmental challenges.