Desire

The foreword announces a summing-up and stocktaking of the design of the first decade of the new millennium. So what is new, what can we expect and what will we want to have? With skilful artifice there is reference to Louis Sullivan's famous words "form follows function", which are quoted - so to speak - restored to their original context: “It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things super-human, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function.”

And yes of course, why shouldn't wit, irony, longing and readiness to experiment be 'real' functions? With excellent illustrations the book presents objects, prototypes, series and collector's pieces which all go beyond pure functionality in their form, material and/or surface finish. Arranged in the categories of 'Modernists', 'Inventors', 'Taletellers' and 'Entertainers', the furniture produced by the 'Inventors' makes the most relaxed and playful impression, while a number of objects are very reminiscent of Seventies Retro, Eames and Co.

Featured Designers are: 5.5 Designers, Ron Arad, Autoban, Maarten Baas, BarberOsgerby, Joost van Bleiswijk, Bless, Jörg Boner, Bram Boo, Tord Boontje, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Stephen Burks, Fernando & Humberto Campana, Committee, Christophe Delcourt, Stefan Diez, Tom
Dixon, Drift, Kiki van Eijk, Olafur Eliasson, Thomas Feichtner, Folkform, Front, Martino Gamper, Konstantin Grcic, Anna Ter Haar, Ineke Hans, Jaime Hayon, Anna James, Studio Job, Hella Jongerius, Kjellgren Kaminsky, Tomita Kazuhiko, Cordula Kehrer, Dave Keune, Alexander Kneller, Mikiya Kobayashi, Kursi, Mikko Laakkonen, Max Lamb, Kwangho Lee, Mathieu Lehanneur, Leif.designpark, Doshi Levien, Studio Libertiny, Julia Lohmann, Malin Lundmark, Peter Marigold, Haldane Martin, Jason Miller, Jasper Morrison, Nendo, Ernesto Neto, Marc Newson, Patrick Norguet, o-d-a, od-v, Robert Stadler, Steven Holl Architects, Studio Makkink & Bey, Studioilse, Tjep., Ünal & Böler Studio, Patricia Urquiola, Marcel Wanders, Hannes Wettstein, Dirk Winkel, Wok Media, Michael Young, Oskar Zieta ...

Facts
Authors: Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann and others (editors)
280 pages
24 x 30 cm, bound
Published by: Die Gestalten Verlag Berlin 2008
Publisher's recommended price: 44.- EUR
Language: English
ISBN: 978-3-89955-218-8

All illustration pages from Desire about forms