The Design Book list is filled with new book releases on artists, designers, architecture, interior design, textiles, landscape design and more. Enjoy these new design reads throughout the month of October.
“Alison Berger: Glass and Light”
Obsessed with light for as long as she can remember, Alison Berger used to catch fireflies as a child and put them in glass jars - an activity that has inspired more than twenty years' worth of work in hand-blown glass. In this monograph, Berger presents her evocative light fixtures, functional objects, furnishings, and large-scale sculptures in combination with the diverse imagery and objects that inspired them.
Using age-old glass-blowing techniques to create essential forms that capture light and its reflection in different configurations and times of day, Berger's unique process and its results feel at once Old World and modern. Featuring more than 200 full-color photographs of Berger's glassworks, sketches, sources, and studio, “Alison Berger: Glass and Light” celebrates the magic of light and the medium of glass as brought together by one of America's most innovative artists working in glass.
BASIC FACTS: “Alison Berger: Glass and Light” is written by Holly Hunt (Foreword), Matilda McQuaid (Contributor) and Pilar Viladas (Contributor). Published by Skira Rizzoli. Release Date: October 11, 2016. Hardcover; 240 pages; $65.00.
“Gerrit Rietveld”
Gerrit Rietveld's simple yet dynamic style greatly influenced international furniture design and contributed significantly to the history of architecture. Following Rietveld from his humble beginnings as a cabinetmaker to his final years as a world-renowned architect, this book presents both his lesser-known work and his most celebrated. It explores his significance in the wider context of avant-garde movements, and his influence within De Stijl and Functionalism. The acclaimed Dutch designer Wim Crouwel designs this highly detailed yet accessible monograph.
BASIC FACTS: “Gerrit Rietveld” is written by Ida van Zijl. Published by Phaidon Press. Paperback Edition. Release Date: October 17, 2016. Paperback; 240 pages; $44.95.
“Marfa Modern: Artistic Interiors of the West Texas High Desert”
When Donald Judd began his Marfa project in the early 1970s, it was regarded as an idiosyncratic quest. Today, Judd is revered for his minimalist art and the stringent standards he applied to everything around him, including interiors, architecture, and furniture. The former water stop has become a mecca for artists, art pilgrims, and design aficionados drawn to the creative enclave, the permanent art installations and the beautiful high-desert landscape.
In keeping with Judd’s site-specific intentions, those who call Marfa home have made a choice to live in concert with their untamed, open surroundings. “Marfa Modern” features houses that represent unique responses to this setting—the sky, its light and sense of isolation—some that even predate Judd’s arrival.
BASIC FACTS: “Marfa Modern: Artistic Interiors of the West Texas High Desert” is written by Helen Thompson (Author) and Casey Dunn (Photographer). Published by The Monacelli Press. Release Date: October 25, 2016. Hardcover; 240 pages; $50.00.
“Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse: Three Stories of Sustainable Design”
The textile and fashion industries produce millions of tons of solid waste every year through the many processes used—from yarn production, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing, to apparel construction, quality inspection and unsold goods—generating waste at each step. Typically, this waste is sent to landfills, incinerated or, at best, recycled into low-quality fibers used for industrial applications.
“Scraps,” published for Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s exhibition of the same name, presents three designers’ alternative approaches to the high human and environmental costs of textile industry waste. Christina Kim, founder of Los Angeles–based brand Dosa; Reiko Sudo, cofounder of Tokyo textile firm Nuno; and Luisa Cevese, founder of Milan-based accessories and home goods company Riedizioni, all share a profound respect for scraps as repositories of raw materials, energy, labor and creativity. Each copy of the book is bound in its own unique discarded Indian woodblock-printed textile with foil stamping.
BASIC FACTS: “Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse: Three Stories of Sustainable Design” is written by Susan Brown (Author) and Matilda McQuaid (Author). Published by Cooper Hewitt. Release Date: October 25, 2016. Hardcover; 116 pages; $24.95.
“Architecture and Surrealism”
The long-standing interaction between architecture and Surrealism is being reinvigorated by the new technology that makes the protocols and concepts of otherworldly Surrealism more relevant to architects than the dogmas of architectural modernism. This book charts the development of this fertile relationship, revealing how Surrealist ideas are being put to use by contemporary architects in extraordinary ways.
“Architecture and Surrealism” opens with an introduction on the precursors of Surrealism in the Baroque and Rococo periods, moving into the twentieth century through the Symbolists and Dadaists. The four main chapters present the interplay between architecture and Surrealism through the key concepts of the body, the interior space, the house, alternative realities, and the environment. In an era of wearable technology and big data, the fascinating possibilities for new worlds, new buildings, and new spaces are creating the most exciting futures for contemporary architects. Written by Neil Spiller, a leading academic and architect known for his own Surrealist-influenced work.
BASIC FACTS: “Architecture and Surrealism” is written by Neil Spiller. Published by Thames & Hudson. Release Date: October 25, 2016. Hardcover; 256 pages; $60.00.
“Thinking the Contemporary Landscape” 
Examining our shifting perceptions of nature and place in the context of environmental challenges and how these affect urbanism and architecture, the seventeen essayists in this book argue for an all-encompassing view of landscape that integrates the scientific, intellectual, aesthetic, and mythic into a new multidisciplinary understanding of the contemporary landscape. A must-read for anyone concerned about the changing nature of our landscape in a time of climate crisis.
BASIC FACTS: “Thinking the Contemporary Landscape” is written by Christopher Girot (Editor) and Dora Imhof (Editor). Published by Princeton Architectural Press. Release Date: October 25, 2016. Paperback; 288 pages; $45.00.
“Tate Modern: Building a Museum for the 21st Century”
After opening its doors in 2000, Tate Modern quickly became the most popular modern and contemporary art destination in the world, welcoming more than five million visitors a year. Architects Herzog & de Meuron created a gallery of singular power and beauty, whose spaces articulate a rare affinity with contemporary art. With the second major phase of the building now complete, Tate Modern presents a combination of the raw and the refined.
In new photographs and texts by leading architectural writers, this book describes the ideas behind the Tate Modern’s conception and construction, how it was designed and built, and how it has impacted the world beyond its doors. Conversations between Tate Modern director Chris Dercon and architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, as well as landscape architect Gu¨nther Vogt, interior designer Jasper Morrison, and graphic designer Ian Cartlidge, present the philosophy and interchange of ideas that drove this project.
BASIC FACTS: “Tate Modern: Building a Museum for the 21st Century” is written by Chris Dercon (Editor) and Nicholas Serota (Editor). Published by Tate Publishing. Paperback Edition. Release Date: October 25, 2016. Paperback; 208 pages; $37.50.
“Scandinavia Dreaming: Nordic Homes, Interiors and Design”
The nuanced realm of Nordic design has two personalities. On one side, there sits the open, light, friendly, on the side is its moody counterpart: sleek and sophisticated; timeless and traditional. Within the lines of tile-covered roofs born from nearby clay deposits and large windows that let in light during the shorter winter days, insight into this special thread of skilled craftsmanship awaits. “Scandinavia Dreaming” presents interiors, architecture, and products that show the richness, variety, and intensity of contemporary Nordic spaces.
The projects within this book translate to any four walls and readily invite transformation from page to reality. Told through anecdotes from those who live in them and from those who exist in other sectors of the creative community, “Scandinavia Dreaming” tells of a design school that has a worldwide reputation for its effortless combination of classical restraint and warm materials.
BASIC FACTS: “Scandinavia Dreaming: Nordic Homes, Interiors and Design” is written by Angel Trinidad (Editor) and Gestalten (Editor). Published by Gestalten. Release Date: October 28, 2016. Hardcover; 256 pages; $60.00.
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