Scandinavian design is still seen as democratic; functional and simple; its products exemplifying the same characteristics now as they have done since the 1950s. But both the essence and the history of Scandinavian design are much more complex than this. Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories presents a radically new assessment; a corrective to the persistent mythologies and reductive accounts of Scandinavian design.The book brings together case studies from the early twentieth century to today. Drawn from fields as diverse as transport; engineering; packaging; photography; law; interiors; and corporate identity; these studies tell new or unfamiliar stories about the production; mediation and consumption of design. An alternative history is created; one much more alive to national and regional differences and to types of product.Scandinavian Design analyses a century of design culture from Denmark; Finland; Norway and Sweden and; in so doing; presents a sophisticated introduction to Scandinavian design.
#1965843 in eBooks 2013-09-26 2013-09-26File Name: B00ECGHZXS
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Superb bookcaseBy Jeffery BennettI usually buy art books for the color plates; and their are plenty of these; each beautifully reproduced and occupyinga full page--sometimes two. The text is especially intriguing; the author portrays David and his pupils as precursorsof Romanticism rather than its antagonists. One unique feature of the book is the authors inclusion of literarypassages from romantic writers such as Goethe; Schiller; Keats and Byron. He places these on the pagesnext to the paintings; the effect being an enhanced sense of mystery and sublimity evoked by the paintings.