The Design History Reader - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1350133507 ISBN 13: 9781350133501

Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts (UK), 2025

Synopsis

This revised and updated edition addresses the international history and practice of design from the 17th century to the present day.

Covering both primary texts by social theorists, designers and design reformers, and secondary texts in the form of key works of design history and design thinking, the Reader provides an essential resource for understanding the history of design, the development of the discipline, and contemporary issues in design history and practice, including decolonization, sustainability, historiography, gender and globalization. Extracts are grouped into thematic sections, each with a contextualizing introduction by the editors, and a guide to further reading.

The updated edition of The Design History Reader expands upon its original content and features numerous significant voices from across the globe. Authors include William Morris, Karl Marx, Roland Barthes, Victor Margolin, Penny Sparke, Judy Attfield, Ellen Lupton, and many more.

About this title

About the Author

Rebecca Houze is Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, USA. Her publications include, as co-editor, The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010), and, as author, New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform Before the First World War: Principles of Dress (2015).

Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, Programme Director for the Professional Doctorate in Heritage (DHeritage) in the School of Humanities and Chair of the university's Researcher Development Working Group. Her publications include The Design History Reader (Berg 2010), Writing Design: Words and Objects (Bloomsbury 2012), Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design (Bloomsbury 2014), Design at Home: Domestic Advice Books in Britain and the USA since 1945 (2014), Iconic Designs: 50 Stories about 50 Things (Bloomsbury 2014), Designing Worlds: National Design Histories in an Age of Globalization (2016), Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury, 2019). She is Series Editor, with Kjetil Fallan, of the book series Cultural Histories of Design (Bloomsbury).

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts (UK)
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350133507
• ISBN 13: 9781350133501
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 520
• Editor: Grace Lees-Maffei, Rebecca Houze