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book review

Book Review: Mid-Century Ads for Design Lovers
Art

Book Review: Mid-Century Ads for Design Lovers

Book Review: Mid-Century Ads for Design Lovers – Gleaned from thousands of images, this companion set of books offers the best of American print advertising in the age of the “Big Idea.” At the height of American consumerism magazines were flooded with clever campaigns selling everything from girdles to guns. These optimistic indicators paint a fascinating picture of the colorful capitalism that dominated the spirit of the 1950s and 60s, as concerns about the Cold War gave way to the carefree booze-and-cigarettes Mad Men era. Also included is a wide range of significant advertising campaigns from both eras, giving insight into the zeitgeist of the period. Bursting with fresh, crisp colors, these ads have been digitally mastered to look as bright and new as the day they first hit newsstands. See also: Contemporary Residential Architecture and Interiors by James Silverman Cultural anthropologist and popular culture historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of Los Angeles, and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has been featured in museum collections internationally and in numerous publications. Steven Heller is the co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer…

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Art

Book Review: The Making of the Eiffel Tower

Book Review: The Making of the Eiffel Tower – “The Tower is also present to the entire world…a universal symbol of Paris…from the Midwest to Australia, there is no journey to France which isn’t made, somehow, in the Tower’s name.” — Roland Barthes See also: Contemporary Residential Architecture and Interiors by James Silverman When Gustave Eiffel completed his wrought iron tower on Paris’s Champ de Mars for the World’s Fair in 1889, he laid claim to the tallest structure in the world. Though the Chrysler Building would, 41 years later, scrape an even higher sky, the Eiffel Tower lost none of its lofty wonder: Originally granted just a 20-year permit, the Tower became a permanent and mesmerizing fixture on the Parisian skyline. Commanding by day, twinkling by night, it has mesmerized Francophiles and lovers, writers, artists, and dreamers from all over the world, welcoming around seven million visitors every single year. See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan Based on an original, limited edition folio by Gustave Eiffel himself, this fresh TASCHEN edition explores the concept and construction of this remarkable building. Step by step, one latticework layer after another, Eiffel’s iconic design evolves over double-page plates, meticulous…

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Book Review: Case Study Houses and Pioneering Designs
Art

Book Review: Case Study Houses and Pioneering Designs

Book Review: Case Study Houses and Pioneering Designs – The Case Study House program (1945–1966) was a unique event in the history of American architecture. Sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, the program sought to respond to the postwar building boom with prototype modern homes that could be both easily replicated and readily affordable to the average American. See also: Contemporary Residential Architecture and Interiors by James Silverman Concentrated on the Los Angeles area, the Case Study Houses included 36 model homes commissioned from such major architects of the day as Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, Eero Saarinen, A. Quincy Jones, and Ralph Rapson. Their criteria included “using, as far as is practicable, many war-born techniques and materials best suited to the expression of man’s life in the modern world.” The results of the program would redefine the modern home and extend influence not only across the United States but around the world. This compact guide includes all of the Case Study Houses with over 150 photos and plans, as well as a map showing locations of all sites, including those that no longer exist. See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from…

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Book Review: Visionary Architecture in Postwar Japan
Art

Book Review: Visionary Architecture in Postwar Japan

Book Review: Visionary Architecture in Postwar Japan – “Once there was a nation that went to war, but after they conquered a continent their own country was destroyed by atom bombs… then the victors imposed democracy on the vanquished. For a group of apprentice architects, artists, and designers, led by a visionary, the dire situation of their country was not an obstacle but an inspiration to plan and think… although they were very different characters, the architects worked closely together to realize their dreams, staunchly supported by a super-creative bureaucracy and an activist state… after 15 years of incubation, they surprised the world with a new architecture—Metabolism—that proposed a radical makeover of the entire land… Then newspapers, magazines, and TV turned the architects into heroes: thinkers and doers, thoroughly modern men… Through sheer hard work, discipline, and the integration of all forms of creativity, their country, Japan, became a shining example… when the oil crisis initiated the end of the West, the architects of Japan spread out over the world to define the contours of a post-Western aesthetic….” —Rem Koolhaas / Hans Ulrich Obrist See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan Between 2005 and 2011, architect Rem…

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Art

Book Review: Life Aesthetic and Josef Hoffmann’s Minimalism

Book Review: Life Aesthetic and Josef Hoffmann’s Minimalism – Before aesthete, designer, and architect Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) came along, Austrian architecture and design was suffocating under a surfeit of opulent ornamentation and bombastic flourish. With his radical new approach and a band of like-minded figures, Hoffmann was a founding father of the Viennese Secession and Wiener Werkstätte and revolutionized Western aesthetics with a brave new minimalism. See also: Contemporary Residential Architecture and Interiors by James Silverman This essential introduction explores Hoffmann’s key ideas, projects, and designs to understand his radical aesthetics and their continued influence on European architecture and design, from monochrome interior schemes to the cutlery we put on the table. We explore his integral role at the center of both the Vienna Secession in 1897 and the Wiener Werkstätte, and his commitment to stylistic purity, including some of Europe’s first major modernist buildings, such as the Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and the Palais Stoclet (1905–1911). Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features: an introduction to the life and work of the architect the major works in chronological order information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions a list of all the selected works and…

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Book Review American Citie's Creation and Development
Art

Book Review: American Citie’s Creation and Development

Book Review: American Citie’s Creation and Development – American Cities features nine of this country’s greatest metropolises, thriving urban centers with rich colorful histories: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco. Rare or previously unpublished historic maps and views of each of the cities provides a unique journey through each city—from the how they developed over time to historic events that helped to shape their formation. The maps and views offer a fascinating way to explore the creation, development, and true spirit of each city. Essays by specialists accompany each section and help to explain and explore the growth of these wonderful cities, while this lavish book pays tribute to the most important and artistic images of America. See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan Paul E Cohen is a dealer in antique maps and rare books with the firm of Cohen & Taliaferro LLC. He is the coauthor of Manhattan in Maps (1997), which won the New York City Book Award, and Mapping the West (2002). Henry G Taliaferro has been a dealer in rare maps and views for thirty years and is presently a partner in the…

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Book Review Living Spaces of Gypsy-Jet-Setters Around the World
Interior Design

Book Review: Living Spaces of Gypsy-Jet-Setters Around the World

Book Review: Living Spaces of Gypsy-Jet-Setters Around the World – In her third book in the Gypset series for Assouline, Julia Chaplin explores the living spaces of gypsy-jet-setters around the world, from Hydra to Gué,thary; from Cuixmala to Pa’ia, and beyond to the Indonesian isles. Chaplin, who coined the term gypset, provides an insightful look into these spectacular personal utopias with her witty and humorous stories of the gypsetters that she meets along the way, such as Alix Goldsmith Marcaccini at her Mexican hideaway, or Halemano, a kind of hippie Four Seasons in Hawaii. Stunning photography opens the door to the fascinating and dazzling homes and haunts of the bohemian artists, designers, and bons vivants known as the gypset. See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan Julia Chaplin is a New York-based journalist and editor who covers art, style, and travel. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, W, and Travel + Leisure. The author of Gypset Style (2009), Gypset Travel (2012) and Gypset Living (2014), she also founded the clothing brand Gypset, and the web site Gypset.com. See also: Contemporary Residential Architecture and Interiors by James Silverman Keep following Best Design Books for the…

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Book Review Fell in Love with Maria Callas
Lifestyle

Book Review: Fell in Love with Maria Callas

Book Review: Fell in Love with Maria Callas – Decades after the legendary prima donna left the scene forever, filmmaker Tom Volf fell in love with Maria Callas. He traveled the globe to interview Callas’s closest friends and colleagues, who opened their collections, unveiling a trove of previously unknown photos, many of which came from Maria’s own albums. Composed with the support of many of Maria’s loved ones, including Nadia Stancioff, her longtime best friend, and Georges Prêtre, her favorite conductor, who for the first time in forty years agreed to collaborate on a book about her, Maria by Callas, the definitive, unique product of countless hours of research, offers a new perspective, a personal album as Maria herself would have presented, invoking the diva’s own voice. You can also like: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan Tom Volf is a photographer and filmmaker whose work ranges from opera and fashion advertising to documentaries for television broadcast and international communications. As a photographer he uses vintage film cameras such as Rolleiflex and Hasselblad; his fashion photographs have been published in numerous magazines, and he has presented exhibitions in Paris. He is also producing a documentary film on Maria…

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Book Review Exclusive Interviews with Incredibly Eccentric People
Lifestyle

Book Review: Exclusive Interviews with Eccentric People

Book Review: Exclusive Interviews with Eccentric People – Published in collaboration with Dallas-based luxury boutique Forty Five Ten, The Eccentrics features exclusive interviews with such icons as Iris Apfel, Edward Bess, and Dita Von Teese. Coupled with original photography by internationally renowned photographer Ruven Afanador that captures the idiosyncrasies, characteristics, and personas of each subject, legendary journalist Hal Rubenstein defines what sets these individuals apart, and, most importantly, what makes them eccentrics. See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan Hal Rubenstein is a journalist, restaurant critic, designer, philanthropist and author of five books including his most recent The Looks of Love: 50 Moments in Fashion that Inspired Romance and the best-selling 100 Unforgettable Dresses. Perhaps best known as one of the founding editors at InStyle magazine, he served as its Fashion Director for fifteen years, following five years as Men’s Style Director for The New York Times Magazine, and after creating the now-cult classic Egg Magazine. Rubenstein is co-founder and director of the non-profit Fund in the Sun Foundation, and serves on the boards of Live Out Loud and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. See also: Contemporary Residential Architecture and Interiors by James Silverman The recipient of numerous…

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Book review Discover Jewelry Design with Golden Menagerie
FASHION

Book review: Discover Jewelry Design with Golden Menagerie

Book review: Discover Jewelry Design with Golden Menagerie – With an artist’s eye and explorer’s heart, Temple St. Clair explores our relationship to animals through a lens of whimsy and discovery. St. Clair, winner of the 2016 GEM Award for Jewelry Design, celebrates rare gemstones and Florentine craftsmanship in each of the one-of-a-kind pieces that comprise her Haute Couture collection, illustrated through luminous photography and St. Clair’s original watercolor paintings in The Golden Menagerie. From vibrantly jeweled Fantasy Birds earrings to a ring mounted with a falcon ready to take flight from the wearer’s finger, this exclusive window into St. Clair’s world brings her alchemical creations to life. See also: Book Review: Nendo – Interior Design Book from Japan With an artist’s eye and an explorer’s heart, Temple St. Clair fashions jewelry from rare colored gems with distinctive gold work to illustrate universal narratives of the earth and cosmos. In each of the one-of-a-kind pieces that comprise her Haute Couture collection, St. Clair explores our relationship to animals through a lens of whimsy and discovery and celebrates a connoisseur’s level of gemstones and Florentine craftsmanship. The Golden Menagerie offers an exclusive window into the alchemic jeweler’s process, illustrating the collection through…

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Art

Book Review: Santiago Calatrava’s Futuristic Fusion

Book Review: Santiago Calatrava’s Futuristic Fusion – Spanish visionary Santiago Calatrava is renowned around the world as an architect, structural engineer, sculptor, and artist. Famed for bridges as much as buildings, he has made his name with neofuturistic structures that combine deft engineering solutions with dramatic visual impact. From the Athens 2004 Olympic sports complex and the Museum of Tomorrow to the Peace Bridge in Calgary, Alamillo Bridge in Seville, and the Mujer Bridge in Buenos Aires, Calatrava’s creations show particular interest in the meeting point of movement and balance. With influences ranging from NASA space design to da Vinci’s nature studies, the structures dazzle with a sense of lightness, agility, and aerodynamism, but always with a graceful poise amid their particular surroundings. This compact introduction explores Calatrava’s unique aesthetic with key projects from his career, from early breakthroughs to his most recent work. Through buildings of culture, science, faith, and across his many famous bridges, we explore his integration of organic forms and human movements, and a uniquely fluid futurism, soaring towards tomorrow. See also: Book Review: GUCCI New Book – Blind For Love Philip Jodidio (born 1954) studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des…

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Hospitality Interior Design Ideas