Best Design Books

Book Review: New New York Interiors

March 30, 2016

Book Review: New New York Interiors:New New York Interiors is a new release by Tachen, after the great success of New York Interiors, released ten years ago. Much has changed in the Big Apple since then, the city is still bristling with an exciting and eclectic mix of cutting-edge movers, something that you can see in its interiors. New York lives an unprecedented influx of graphic designers, interior designers, artists, gallerists, and collectors. Since September 11, the city has become less money-driven and more creative. All the interiors that you find in this new book where hand-picked by editor and author Angelika Taschen. A spanking new collection of interiors that explores an array of homes as dizzying as the diversity of the New Yorkers themselves. Peek into the apartments of artist Terence Koh, artist and director Julian Schnabel, musician Rufus Wainwright, porn diva Vanessa del Rio, and actress Julianne Moore, among many others, to get an idea of the myriad and marvelous ways New Yorkers love to live. Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987 to 2010, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design,…

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Interior Design

Good Books to Read: Bahia Style

March 17, 2016

Best Design Books presents another example of a great interior design book that will inspire our projects. The history of Brazil began in Bahia in 1500—and even today this vibrant state, still the heart of the country, combines the cultures of the Indios, Portugal and Africa. This book takes you to the breathtaking beauty of the Atlantic coast and inside houses designed with a Love of detail—nestling in this landscape as if they always belonged there. From a simple beach bungalow or a typical fazenda to a sophisticated residence: tudo bem in Bahia – everything is good in Bahia. The photographer – Tuca Reinés is a native and resident of Sao Paulo. For over 20 years, he has been a frequent contributor to magazines such as Vogue, Casa Vogue Brasil, and Wallpaper*, among others. He is the photographer of several architectural books and his work has also appeared in many publications, including TASCHEN’s Seaside Interiors and Great Escapes South America. The editor – Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987 to 2010, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle. About the series – More bang…

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Interior Design

Interior Design Books: 100 Interiors Around the World

March 16, 2016

Interior Design Books: 100 Interiors Around the World – Making stops in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, this edition rounds up some of today’s most exceptional and inspiring interiors across six continents. From rustic minimalism to urbane eclecticism, the selection celebrates a global spectrum of styles, united by authenticity, a Love of detail, and a zest for individual expression that will never go out of fashion. Includes interiors in Argentina, Brasil, China, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, the USA, and many more countries. See also: Interior Design Books: Kaleidoscope, Living in Color and Patterns With pictures by leading interior photographers including: Xavier Béjot, Pieter Estersohn, Marina Faust, Reto Guntli, François Halard, HieplerBrunier, Ditte Isager, Nikolas Koenig, Ricardo Labougle, Eric Laignel, Åke Lindman, Thomas Loof, Jason Schmidt, Mark Seelen, René Stoeltie, Tim Street-Porter, Vincent Thibert, Simon Upton, Paul Warchol. “A brilliant source of inspiration for your next refurb, this is a high-quality book at an affordable price.” — The Lady, London “A fantastically indulgent, immaculately shot feast of contemporary homes from all corners of the globe – traditional and avant-garde, rustic and glossy, weird and wonderful.”…

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Interior Design

Book Review: 100 Contemporary Wood Buildings

March 15, 2016

100 Contemporary Wood Buildings – Discover the wooden structures of the 21st century. Not so very long ago, some might have considered wood a material of the past, long since replaced by more modern components such as concrete and steel. The truth is radically different. Bolstered by new manufacturing techniques and ecological benefits, wood has seen a fabulous resurgence in contemporary construction. See also: Book review: The American Mater, Jeffrey Bilhuber This double-volume survey explores how architects around the world have created and invented with this elementary material. Featuring follies, very large buildings, and ambitious urban renewal schemes, it celebrates the diverse deployment of wood from architects in China, Chile, and everywhere in between. We see how wood can at once transform urban spaces, as in the Metropol Parasol in Seville by Jürgen Mayer H, and allow for sensitive interventions in natural environments, as at the Finnish Forest Research Institute by SARC Architects, or the Termas Geométricas Hot Springs Complex by Germán del Sol. True to all Taschen architecture tomes, the book pays tribute to many emerging international talents, as well as to such renowned figures as Tadao Ando to Renzo Piano. It celebrates each of these architect’s vision and innovation, as well…

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Interior Design

Book Review: 100 Contemporary Houses

March 14, 2016

Book Review: 100 Contemporary Houses – Domestic bliss: Innovative, intimate architecture from China to Chile, written by Philip Jodidio. Designing private residences has its own very special challenges and nuances for the architect. The scale may be more modest than public projects, the technical fittings less complex than an industrial site, but the preferences, requirements and vision of particular personalities becomes priority. The delicate task is to translate all the emotive associations and practical requirements of “home” into a workable, constructed reality. See also: Book review: Carrier and Company – Positively Chic This publication rounds up 100 of the world’s most interesting and pioneering homes from the past decade, featuring a host of talents both new and established, including John Pawson, Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, Herzog and de Meuron, Daniel Libeskind, Alvaro Siza, UNStudio, and Peter Zumthor. Accommodating daily routines of eating, sleeping, and shelter, as well as offering the space for personal experience and relationships, this is architecture at its most elementary and its most intimate. About the series: Bibliotheca Universalis— Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic Taschen universe. Since Taschen started the work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the editor become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together…

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Art

Book Review: Jean Nouvel Complete Works

December 18, 2015

The work of France’s most unique and internationally celebrated contemporary architect in a book designed by the master himself. Limited to 1,000 signed and numbered copies packaged in a translucent plexiglass slipcase especially designed by Jean Nouvel for this edition: Jean Nouvel. Complete Works 1970-2008. Recipient of the 2008 Pritzker Prize, Jean Nouvel is without any doubt France’s most original and important contemporary architect. From 1967 to 1970, he was an assistant of the influential architects Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, then creating his own office in Paris. His first widely acclaimed project was the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (1981–87, with Architecture Studio). Since then he has completed the Lyon Opera House (1986–93), the Euralille Shopping Center, Lille (1991–94), and the Fondation Cartier, Paris (1991–94). His major completed projects since 2000 include the Culture and Convention Center in Lucerne, Switzerland (1998–2000), the spectacular Agbar Tower on Barcelona’s Diagonal Avenue (2001–03), the extension of the Reina Sofia Museum, (Madrid, 1999–2005), the Quai Branly Museum on the Seine in Paris (2001–06), and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Apart from receiving this year’s Pritzker Prize, Jean Nouvel won the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Gold Medal in 2001. Jean Nouvel…

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Books Review: The Rolling Stones official photographic record

November 19, 2015

The kind of fame and success The Rolling Stones have achieved in their 50-years and counting career is without parallel; their most famous riffs and catchiest lyrics are indelibly engraved in our collective memory. With their bluesy rock ‘n’ roll and mesmerizing off and onstage presence, the Stones redefined the music of the 1960s and 1970s and paved the way for rock as we know it today. They also set the standard for how a rock band should look and behave. Produced in close collaboration with the band, this book charts the Stones’ remarkable history and outrageously cool lifestyle in over 500 pages of photographs and illustrations, many previously unseen, and gathered from archives all over the world in a Taschen edition. Unprecedented access to the Rolling Stones’ own archives in New York and London adds an equally extraordinary, more private side to their story. For Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie this is their official photographic record. Features: Over 500 pages of incredible images from some of the world’s greatest photographers, including David Bailey, Peter Beard, Cecil Beaton, Bob Bonis, Anton Corbijn, Annie Leibovitz, Gered Mankowitz, Helmut Newton, Norman Parkinson, Bent Rej, and Ethan Russel. A foreword written by…

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Art

Book review: Zaha Hadid Complete Works

November 16, 2015

Book review: Zaha Hadid Complete Works – Limited to 200 numbered copies, delivered in a clamshell box and each signed by the architect, this Art Edition features a special cover custom-made by Zaha Hadid, a cast and high gloss polished black acrylic plate inspired by the design of the new MAXXI in Rome. Zaha Hadid is a wildly controversial architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite her designs winning prizes and critical acclaim. Some even said her work was unbuildable. Yet over the past decade she has completed numerous structures including the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (which the New York Times called “the most important new building in America since the Cold War’’), thePhaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, and the Central Building of the newBMW Assembly Plant in Leipzig. Today, Hadid is firmly established among the élite of world architecture, her audacious and futuristic designs having catapulted her to international fame. Born in Baghdad and educated in London, where her practice is based, Hadid has designed radical architecture for over 30 years and is now the subject of this massive TASCHEN monograph. Covering her complete works to date, from Dubai to Guangzhou, this tome demonstrates…

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BEST SELLERS

Book Review: The Rise of David Bowie 1972–1973

November 9, 2015

In 1972, David Bowie released his groundbreaking album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. With it landed Bowie’s Stardust alter-ego: A glitter-clad, mascara-eyed, sexually-ambiguous persona who kicked down the boundaries between male and female, straight and gay, fact and fiction into one shifting and sparkling phenomenon of ’70s self-expression. Together, Ziggy the album and Ziggy the stage spectacular propelled the softly spoken Londoner into one of the world’s biggest stars. A key passenger on this glam trip into the stratosphere was fellow Londoner and photographer Mick Rock. Rock bonded with Bowie artistically and personally, immersed himself in the singer’s inner circle, and, between 1972–1973, worked as Bowie’s official photographer. This limited and numbered edition brings together the best of Rock’s Bowie portfolio with spectacular stage shots as well as intimate backstage portraits. Pictures for press, album jackets, and stills from promo movies sit alongside around 50 percent previously unseen images, offering unprecedented access to the many facets of Bowie’s personality and his fame. With a hologram cover of different head-shots, the book rejoices in Bowie’s experimentation and unpredictability. Through the aloof and approachable, the playful and serious, the candid and contrived, this tribute bursts…

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