Plastic has shaped our daily lives like no other material. Originally associated with convenience, progress, even revolution, today plastic seems to have lost its utopian appeal. Plastic is everywhere, yet most conspicuous as waste and as a key factor in the global environmental crisis. This book examines the success story of plastic in the twentieth century and at the same time presents the different discourses on how we should manage the waste the material produces and also find solutions that take into account its entire life cycle in the future.

Mark Miodownik, Susan Freinkel, and Nanjala Nyabola each contribute an essay that sheds light on the history of plastics from 1850 to today. A material-rich visual chronology illustrates how consumers’ perception of plastics has changed over the decades. Brief descriptions of a selection of 50 objects examine the importance of plastics for material culture. Reprints of fundamental texts about the history of plastics ― for example by Alexander Parkes and Roland Barthes ― provide a context from the history of ideas.

The book reflects the current discourse and state of research on plastic with numerous individual interviews and panel discussions that were held with designers, representatives from industry, researchers, and environmental activists. Underpinning these conversations are comprehensive data visualizations on plastic production and consumption, recycling.

With contributions by Susan Freinkel, Mark Miodownik and Nanjala Nyabola; interviews with Jane Atfield, Diana Cohen, John McGeehan, Klarenbeek & Dros, The Shellworks, and others.

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More about the Exhibition Plastic: Remaking Our World

The Vitra Design Museum’s "Atlas of Furniture Design" is a new and essential work on the history of modern furniture design. The monumental book examines themes ranging from the early days of industrialization to innovations of the digital era, which play an increasingly important role in furniture design today.

Based on more than twenty years of research and with more than 1,000 pages, the »Atlas« represents the most comprehensive book to ever shed light on this subject. It documents 1,740 objects by over 540 designers and contains more than 2,800 illustrations. The »Atlas« features over 550 detailed texts about key objects as well as in-depth essays that provide sociocultural and design-historical context to four historical epochs and the works themselves. Furthermore, the book includes a comprehensive annex with designer biographies, information graphics, and bibliographies, as well as a manufacturer and materials glossary.

These features make this publication an encyclopedic reference guide and indispensable resource for collectors, scholars, and experts, and without a doubt a book to be treasured by design lovers all over the world.

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Artificial light has revolutionized our environment like almost no other medium. Today, we are experiencing a profound change in the world of artificial light, with as yet unforeseeable consequences for people’s lives. »Lightopia« presents icons and examples of lighting design, setting them in a broader cultural and historical context.

The publication comprises three separate books in a slipcase.

In volume 1, renowned authors take a close look at the cultural history of light in a number of essays dealing with topics as diverse as the scenographic significance of light or its psychological aspects.

Volume 2 presents a selection of the 100 most important luminaires from the collection of the Vitra Design Museum – dating from 1900 to today – and includes texts on the development of lighting design.

In volume 3, interviews with well-known lighting designers and artists explore how new illumination technologies revolutionize the creative use of light today.

With its three volumes, »Lightopia« constitutes a unique compendium of lighting design. It is opulently illustrated and encompasses an exceptional spectrum of examples from  design, art and architecture; with works by Olafur Eliasson, Gino Sarfatti, Ingo Maurer, mischer’traxler, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Richard Sapper, Achille Castiglioni, Ulrike Brandi, Pieke Bergmans and many others

Surrealism was one of the most influential art movements of the twentieth century. This book examines the dialogue between Surrealism and design and, for the first time, reveals the enormous influence the movement has had on design over the last hundred years. It has encouraged designers to question the reality beyond what is visible and to design objects that offer resistance, undermine routine, and disrupt the quotidian. The spectrum of examples ranges from Duchamp’s ready-mades and Dalí’s sensual object sculptures to works by designers like Carlo Mollino or Gae Aulenti and includes current designs that analyse new technologies or gender roles in subversive ways. Evidently, Surrealism has lost none of its relevance — for art as well as for design.

With works by Gae Aulenti, André Breton, Achille Castiglioni, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Dunne & Raby, Ray Eames, Max Ernst, Front Design, Iris van Herpen, Friedrich Kiesler, Shiro Kuramata, René Magritte, Lee Miller, Carlo Mollino, Isamu Noguchi, Odd Matter, Meret Oppenheim, Mimi Parent, Gaetano Pesce, Man Ray, Robert Stadler, Studio Wieki Somers, among others.

Balkrishna V. Doshi (b. 1927 in Pune) is one of the most influential pioneers of modern architecture in India. His life’s work was honored in 2018 with the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Doshi has realized more than one hundred projects, including administrative and cultural facilities, housing developments, and residential buildings. He has become internationally known for his visionary urban planning and social housing projects, as well as his involvement in education. His most important buildings include the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad (1966 – 68) and the Aranya housing development in Indore (1989).

"Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People" is the first overview of the architect’s work in over twenty years, analyzing his most important works and providing timely context to his oeuvre. In-depth academic texts by outstanding experts in the field, including Kenneth Frampton, Kazi Ashraf, and Juhani Pallasmaa, give insights into the inspiration behind Doshi’s work and background to his projects, as well as his lasting influence on younger generations. The richly illustrated survey comes complete with a detailed biography and new photographs of his buildings, which demonstrate the impressive timeliness of the Indian master’s approach to a wide variety of typologies.

Charles and Ray Eames were among the most influential designers of the 20th Century.

The Eames Furniture Sourcebook provides readers with a comprehensive overview of their furniture, which includes design milestones such as the Plywood Group, the Wire and the Plastic Chairs, the Aluminum Group, and the legendary Lounge Chair. Through detailed texts and extensive photographic material, it reconstructs the genesis of these and other pioneering designs, shedding light on the duo’s innovative use of materials and techniques, and analyzing the significance of their work within the context of their time.

The Eames Collection held at the Vitra Design Museum serves as the basis of this book. It is the largest collection of Eames furniture worldwide and includes prototypes, experiments, and study models from the Eames Office, as well as other key pieces.

The designer, author and design activist Victor J. Papanek anticipated an understanding of design as a tool for political change and social good that is more relevant today than ever. He was one of the first designers in the mainstream arena to critically question design's social and ecological consequences, introducing a new set of ethical questions into the design field.

Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design offers a comprehensive overview of the work of the designer, author, and activist Victor J. Papanek. His main work, the instructive guide Design for the Real World published in 1971, is as much in focus as his designs and his commitment to social minorities, the so-called Third World, and the considerate use of natural resources.

This book documents countless photographs, artistic works and designs, objects, drawings, letters, and other materials, some of which are published here for the first time. Papanek’s close exchange with contemporaries such as Richard Buckminster Fuller, George Nelson, and Marshall McLuhan is also examined. Contemporary work by Tomás Saraceno, Catherine Sarah Young, Gabriel Ann Maher, Thomas Thwaites, and Forensic Architecture, as well as Flui Coletivo and Questtonó, among others, rounds off the publication and demonstrates that Papanek’s interpretation of design as a tool for social transformation is as relevant as ever and continues to shape debate on social design, critical design, and design thinking. 

With essays by Alison J. Clarke, Amelie Klein, Jan Boelen, Felicity Scott, Jamer Hunt, Cameron Tonkinwise, among other contributors.

Nightclubs and discothèques are hotbeds of contemporary culture.

Throughout the 20th century, they have been centres of the avant-garde that question the established codes of social life and experiment with different realities, merging interior and furniture design, graphics and art with sound, light, fashion and special effects to create a modern Gesamtkunstwerk.

Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 – Today is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of the design history of the nightclub, examining its cultural context and international scope. Examples range from the Italian clubs of the 1960s created by the protagonists of Radical Design to the legendary Studio 54 where Andy Warhol was a regular and the Palladium in New York, designed by Arata Isozaki, Philippe Starck’s Les Bains Douches in Paris and the more recent Double Club in London, conceived by German artist Carsten Höller for the Prada Foundation, as well as more recent concepts by architecture studio OMA for the Ministry of Sound II in London.

Featuring films and vintage photographs, posters, flyers, and fashion, Night Fever takes the reader on a fascinating journey through a world of glamour, subculture, and the search for the night that never ends.