Softcover. New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1st, 2002, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 184 pages, b&w illustrations. Albert Kahn's contribution to North American industrial architecture is best characterized by a simplicity of expression in his designs of flexible spaces for manufacturing and production. Working in Detroit, Kahn began a long and fruitful collaboration with the automobile mogul Henry Ford, that was based on a shared vision of modernism and industry. Kahn rapidly established himself as an architect capable of responding to the new demands of mass production by employing the patented system of reinforced concrete developed by his brother, an engineer. Guided by functionalist principles and a sense of manufacturing organizations, Kahn anticipated assembly line operations and developed innovative typological characteristics for the modern factory. His projects included Ford Motor Company River Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan; Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Detroit, Michigan; Tractor Plant, Stalingrad, Russia; General Motors Building, Chicago World's Fair; and Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, Michigan. Through incisive text, Albert Kahn - part of a growing series with Adalberto Libera and Adolf Loos - brings to light the novelty of Kahn's designs and his advancement of the machine aesthetic. Over ninety black-and-white photographs and drawings illustrate the extensive number of projects realized by "the architect of Ford."

Hardcover. NY, Harry N. Abrams, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 300 pages. This book accompanies a major traveling exhibition that showcases works by some of the most visionary designers and architects, from chairs and tables to jewelry and entire buildings.

Hardcover. Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, A fully illustrated, stylish look back at the story behind a Canadian design icon. With 250 illustrations, including previously unpublished drawings, rare film stills, confidential memorandums, and original photography,The Art of Clairtone is a candid and in-depth look at the company's skyrocketing success and sensational collapse.

Hardcover. NY, Assouline, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 128 pages. Internationally renowned artist Bernar Venet continues to challenge himself with a wholly original, fresh collection of furniture. Although designed to satisfy a non-artistic, purely domestic need, furniture fits naturally into the range of Venet's creative activities. Using a blow-torch to cut thick sheets of laminated, crude steel, he sets up a contrast between solidity and fragility, emphasizing rawness and indestructibility. Venet's furniture reflects the artistic vision he has developed throughout his ceuvre. He emphasizes functional simplicity and a plainness underpinned by notions of utilitarianism.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 320 pages. From the 1920s through the 1950s, two individuals, Joseph Urban and Norman Bel Geddes, did more, by far, to create the image of "America" and make it synonymous with modernity than any of their contemporaries. Urban and Bel Geddes were leading Broadway stage designers and directors who turned their prodigious talents to other projects, becoming mavericks first in industrial design and then in commercial design, fashion, architecture, and more. The two men gave shape to the most quintessential symbols of the modern American lifestyle, including movies, cars, department stores, and nightclubs, along with private homes, kitchens, stoves, fridges, magazines, and numerous household furnishings.Illustrated with more than 130 photographs of their influential designs, this book tells the engrossing story of Urban and Bel Geddes. Christopher Innes shows how these two men with a background in theater lent dramatic flair to everything they designed and how this theatricality gave the distinctive modernity they created such wide appeal. If the American lifestyle has been much imitated across the globe over the past fifty years, says Innes, it is due in large measure to the designs of Urban and Bel Geddes. Together they were responsible for creating what has been called the "Golden Age" of American culture.

Hardcover. New York, Harper Collins, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 250 pages. Hardcover. Extensive color photographs throughout. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket.

Hardcover. New York, Harper Design, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 256 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Color photographs. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. A lavish, gorgeously designed full-color collection that showcases the designs of Dorothy and Otis Shepard, two groundbreaking giants of early twentieth-century American advertising. Dorothy and Otis Shepard are the unsung heroes of early twentieth-century North American visual culture. Together, they were the first American graphic designers to work in multiple mediums and scales with equal skill and vision, and their work remains brilliant; yet their names are little known today. Dorothy and Otis chronicles their story in detail for the first time. It explores the Shepards' penchant for abstraction and modernism, and shows how the advent of billboard advertising inspired their creativity--large campaigns that matched the grandeur of their lifestyle. Throughout, it demonstrates how their influence touched all aspects of consumer culture--from collaborating on the packaging for Wrigley's Gum and designing uniforms and logos for the Chicago Cubs to planning and promoting the resort island Catalina, where Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Clark Gable, and other celebrities frequented.

Hardcover. NY, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1st, 2005, Book: N, Hardcover, 256 pages. In 1936, the founder of Herman Miller Inc, D. J. De Pree, committed Herman Miller to 'modern' furniture, partly because he saw a moral dimension to Gilbert Rohde's clean designs, honest materials and lack of ornamentation. In 1984, a major impetus behind Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick's Equa chair was a desire to give a reasonably priced, comfortable, good-looking chair to everybody in offices - not just the top bosses. These are just two examples of the best work done at Herman Miller. The company is concerned with larger issues of humanity, equality and bettering the world by creating great places to work through design, and has, perhaps more than any other company, revolutionized office systems and furniture in the workplace. This book is the most up-to-date compilation available of the design efforts and results from Herman Miller since its foundation, reflecting its most recent work, activities and products. But it goes beyond simply cataloguing the work of the famous design team; it shows design-related attitudes of HMI and provides examples of the benefits of creative thinking and problem-solving. Written in clear, engaging prose, Herman Miller is a must-read for anyone interested in design.

Hardcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 219 pages. This book documents the work of designer Brooks Stevens. It includes 250 illustrations of designs by Stevens and his firm, many in color, detailed studies of individual designs, interpretative essays, and several key writings by Stevens himself. Believing that an industrial designer "should be a businessman, an engineer, and a stylist, in that order," Stevens created thousands of ingenious and beautiful designs for industrial and household products-including a clothes dryer with a window in the front, a wide-mouthed peanut butter jar, and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Softcover. The MIT Press , reprint, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, The first publication documenting the work of Brooks Stevens, one of America's most influential twentieth-century designers. A long overdue introduction to the work of visionary industrial designer Brooks Stevens (1911-1995). Believing that an industrial designer "should be a businessman, an engineer, and a stylist, in that order," Stevens created thousands of ingenious and beautiful designs for industrial and household products--including a clothes dryer with a window in the front, a wide-mouthed peanut butter jar, and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. ("There's nothing more aerodynamic than a wiener," he explained.) He invented a precursor to the SUV by turning a Jeep into a station wagon after World War II, and streamlined steam irons so that they resembled aircraft. It was Brooks Stevens who, in 1954, coined the phrase "planned obsolescence," defining it as "instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." This concept has since been blamed for everything from toasters that stop working to today's throwaway culture, but Stevens was simply recognizing the intentionally ephemeral nature of a designer's work. Asked once to name his favorite design, he replied, "none, because every one would have to be restudied for the tastes of tomorrow." Clean copy still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. NY, Assouline Publishing, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 80 pages. Between 1932 and 1940, J.M. Frank completely reinvented the vocabulary of decorative arts. Working in Paris, New York and South America, Frank was inspired by neo-classicism, abstract art and primitive art. He sought to create an original style for the thirties, a style whose elegance gained him the patronage of an elite clientele. J.M. Frank's name has come to serve as a reference for collectors. The decorative principles he created are still today the basis for the minimalist style that dominates contemporary decor.

Hardcover. Phaidon, 1st thus, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 304 pages. Working in graphic, architectural, and product design, Pentagram is one of the most respected firms in the world. A collection of the work and thought of the Pentagram partners, this lavishly illustrated and--not surprisingly--beautifully designed book helps to explain the unique qualities of organization and creativity that have allowed the firm to prosper since its beginnings more than 20 years ago. The candid and insightful discussion of the business and artistic processes of design is useful for students as well as seasoned professionals. While the tone is occasionally a bit self-satisfied, the final feeling conveyed is that of a ceaselessly open and growing entity, astonished at its success, justifiably proud of its work, and aware of its status as an anomaly. Recommended for all collections with a focus on design.

Hardcover. NY, Assouline, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 80 pages. Piero Fornasetti is often described as a visionary. A Milan artist, Fornasetti was at the same time a painter, sculptor, designer, craftsman, and an engraver of art books. In his lifetime, he created more than 11,000 items, most of which are one-of-a kind. It is actually said that his production of objects and furniture is one of the largest in the 20th century. Perpetuating the workshop tradition today is his son Barnaba, who has revived his most popular pieces and created new ones. In an illustrated memoir devoted to Piero Fornasetti1s work, the book critically discusses his contribution to 20th century art and design.

Hardcover. NY, Universe / Vendome, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. A illustrated survey of the career and influence of a master of design showcases some of his most famous and influential works, including the Coca-Cola bottle and truck, the package for Lucky Strike cigarettes, and the Studebaker automobile.Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Assouline, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 80 pages, illustrated in color and b&w. In publisher's shrinkwrap. While Andy Warhol is known for creating icons, it is Raymond Loewy who built monuments. At once an engineer and a visionary, this master of streamlined design integrated movement into his designs in what would become a characteristic American way. Indeed, his drawings of the Coca Cola truck, the Greyhound bus, the package of Lucky Strike cigarettes, the Studebacker automobile, and the bullet-nose train molded our vision of twentieth-century American iconography. Illustrated with photographs of Loewy s most notable designs, this memoir pays a tribute to a man who shaped the image of an entire nation with his pencil strokes.

Hardcover. NY, Flammarion, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 224 pages, color and b&w illustrations. Rene Herbst's enduring furniture designs provide fundamental lessons for today's interior designers. A staunch modernist, Herbst was a founding member and later president of the Union des artistes modernes (UAM) in France, which sought to make domestic comfort accessible to all, regardless of class. The diversity of his work is testament to his prolific and creative output, and his design is marked by its simplicity and functionality. The French architect turned designer was nicknamed the "man of steel" because he pioneered the use of the material for furniture years before mass production on a large scale was possible. In 1929 he created several versions of his celebrated Sandow Chair, which ignited his research into serial production and inaugurated the era of mass production. This book presents a selection of the best works from the Herbst Collection held by the library of the Musee des Arts decoratifs in Paris, and demonstrates how Herbst was the catalyst of a new style of living that spurred the birth of modernity.

Hardcover. Newburyport Press, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped jacket. Richard Henry Arbib was considered one of the leading industrial designers in the United States in the years following World War II. By the 1950s, he had established himself as one of the true visionaries in his field, producing groundbreaking design concepts not only for automobiles, but for a range of products that included wristwatches, pens, boats and even personal helicopters--designs so innovative than many of them would still be considered advanced today. This book is an attempt to rediscover both the man and his extraordinary work. Combining a biographical essay and commentary by historian and collector Frederic A. Sharf with 35 never-before-seen drawings by Arbib, this is a revelatory look at one of the great artists of America's industrial history, and the first biographic study of his work.

Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 176 pages. Before there was Martha Stewart, there was Russel Wright (1904-1976), the great mid-century modern American designer who pioneered the concept of "easier living" for the middle class, a uniquely American lifestyle that was gracious but contemporary and informal. Yet despite Wright's enormous influence, there has been no major survey of his work until now. This handsome volume-which accompanies an exhibition at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City-showcases more than 125 of Wright's best designs for inexpensive, mass-produced dinnerware, textiles, and furniture. As the flurry of Wright auction activity on Ebay shows, there is a thriving collectors' market for his designs. 125 illustrations, 65 in full color, 176 pages, 71/2 x 10".