Best Design Books

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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PHOTOGRAPHY

The Amazing Photobook of Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

January 6, 2015

Alfred Wertheimer was born in Germany in 1929, emigrated to America and settled in Brooklyn as a young boy. He took an early interest in architecture and design, which led him to Cooper Union, from which he graduated in 1951. Wertheimer’s photographs, which first gained national attention after Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, capture the metamorphosis of pop music and the cultural transformation of America. Chris Murray has organized over 200 exhibitions of many of the leading artists of our time, from Andy Warhol in the 1970s to Annie Leibovitz’s first exhibition in 1984. He is co-curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition Elvis at 21 and is the author or editor of over a dozen books. Robert Santelli is the executive director of the Grammy Museum and former CEO/artistic director of the Experience Music Project. He is the author of nearly a dozen books and a contributor to magazines such as Rolling Stone. This incredible photobook published by TASCHEN feature 418 pages bringing together the beat photographs of Elvis Presley shot by Alfred Wertheimer. Wertheimer took nearly 3,000 photographs of Presley that year, creating a penetrating portrait of a man poised on the brink of superstardom. Extraordinary in its…

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FASHION

In Your Face, the incredible Mario Testino photobook

September 30, 2014

Mario Testino, born in Lima, Peru moved to London in 1976 where he made his home and where he began his career. Testino is one of the world’s most influential and respected photographers. He travels extensively shooting for Vanity Fair, American, British, and French Vogue. Other clients include Burberry, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Michael Kors. His vision has made him a much sought-after creative partner in the fashion and beauty industries today. Testino work has been featured across the globe in magazines from Vogue to Vanity Fair and he has contributed to the success of many leading fashion and beauty houses through. Mario Testino‘s boundless talent with a camera must be maddening for other photographers working in a highly competitive field, but he remains one of the most revered stars in his profession. Often imitated and never equaled, Testino is graced with a natural ability to float effortlessly from studio to backstage to after-party, producing stunning shots in any kind of situation. From royals to mega-celebrities, Testino has shot some of the world’s most inaccessible subjects, always with an ease that betrays the complexity of the task. “In your face” (published by TASCHEN) Testino captures you at your best—and that is what makes him the best.” This…

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PHOTOGRAPHY

The incredible Beatles Photobook by Harry Benson

August 21, 2014

Harry Benson has photographed every US President since Eisenhower,the Civil Rights movement,and was next to Robert Kennedy when he was assassinated. As well as The Beatles, he has shot some of the biggest personalities of the last 50 years, including Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Her Majesty The Queen. In 2009, he was made Commander of the British Empire (CBE). “These photos convey a really happy period for them and for me. It all comes down to music, they were without a doubt the greatest band of the 20th century, and that’s why these photographs are so important.” – Harry Benson In early 1964, Harry Benson was getting on a plane for a foreign assignment in Africa, when he got a call from the photo editor of London newspaper The Daily Express. He was now going with The Beatles to Paris to document French Beatlemania and what followed was the biggest (ticket to) ride of his life. Benson was warmly welcomed into The Beatles’ inner sanctum, resulting in some of the most intimate photographs ever taken of the band, then on the cusp of world domination. In Paris, he took the famous photograph of the Fab Four having a pillow fight at the…

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PHOTOGRAPHY

The Audrey Hepburn PhotoBook by Taschen

July 25, 2014

Bob Willoughby (1927-2009) author of numerous books on photography took his first photo at the age of twelve. By 1954 his exhibitions of photographs of jazz musicians and dancers led to a contract with Globe Photos, followed by work at Harper’s Bazaar. After shooting Judy Garland during the filming of A Star is Born he became the first “unit photographer”, hired specifically by movie studios to take on-set promotional “stills”. In his distinguished career as a Hollywood photographer, Bob Willoughby took iconic photos of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda, but remains unequivocal about his favorite subject: Audrey Kathleen Ruston, later Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston, best known as Audrey Hepburn. Willoughby was called in to shoot the new starlet one morning shortly after she arrived in Hollywood in 1953. It was a humdrum commission for the portraitist often credited with having perfected the photojournalistic movie still, but when he met the Belgian-born beauty, Willoughby was enraptured. “She took my hand like…well a princess, and dazzled me with that smile that God designed to melt mortal men’s hearts,” he recalled. As Hepburn’s career soared following her Oscar-winning US debut in Roman Holiday, Willoughby became a trusted friend, framing her working and home life. His historic, perfectionist, tender photographs seek out the…

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Interior Design

Kartell: The Culture of Plastics

February 16, 2013

The Kartell Museum in Milan, home to 60 years’ worth of plastic icons from the Italian furniture brand, was the obvious setting for last week’s launch of ‘Kartell: The Culture of Plastics‘, a new monograph chronicling the brand’s rise and rise. Edited by Bauhaus Universityprofessor Hans Werner Holzwarth and Kartell Museum curator Elisa Storace, the book analyses the brand’s remarkable history, illustrated by archival shots of the bestsellers of the era. It will be published by Taschen in two editions – one in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, the second in English, French and German – on 1 March. Kartell’s early success followed some spot-on decisions by founder Giulio Castelli, a former chemical engineer, and his wager that the future of furniture design would hinge on candy-coloured moulded-plastic furniture. Castelli’s instincts and faith in the material were paramount, as was his knack for hiring top Italian industrial designers like Ettore Sottsass, Pier and Achille Castiglione and Joe Colombo. By the time Dustin Hoffman heard that oft-mimicked line in ‘The Graduate’ – ‘Just one word: plastics’ – Kartell had already been in the business nearly 20 years. Soon after, Kartell launched its Componibili range of cylindrical storage tubs, now ubiquitous in bedrooms, bathrooms, offices and kitchens across 60 countries. To spotlight this and other Kartell…

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