Objectivity: A Designer's Book of Curious Tools - Softcover

Usborne, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0500288712 ISBN 13: 9780500288719

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2010

Synopsis

If you have ever thatched a roof, measured a baby's skull, or castrated a bull, you will recognize some of these objects. If you haven't but admire the work of, say, Warhol, Duchamp, or Cornell, you will appreciate these accidental masterpieces of daily life.

Some tools were developed to satisfy basic human needs, some for less obvious ends, and still others are the relics of vanishing trades, yet all display a beauty and meaning beyond their function.

More than 400 objects, ancient and modern, are presented in sections that broadly characterize their use: hitting, cutting, holding, shielding, molding, spreading, gripping, rubbing, and testing. From a nineteenth-century fruit picker to Czech military food-mixing blades, from variations on the kitchen whisk to medical instruments that, thankfully, are no longer in use, there is something in these objects that will touch the inventor, designer, artist, or collector in all of us.

About this title

Product Description

objectivity: a designer's book of curious tools by usborne, david

Review

'Surprisingly absorbing' --V&A Magazine

'From biscuit cutters and meat tenderisers to carpet beaters, Objectivity revels in their design beauty and functionality'
--Homes & Interiors Scotland

'A collection of intriguing tools... not just a hoard of esoterica'
--The World of Interiors

'A miscellany of mysterious objects that celebrate the pleasing form of simple, useful things ... stunningly photographed'
--Ceramic Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500288712
• ISBN 13: 9780500288719
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 191