Cars Mini - Hardcover

Bayley, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1840915358 ISBN 13: 9781840915358

Publisher: Conran Octopus Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

Sources are eclectic, results mixed, but one thing is certain: car design is being forced up an ever tightening spiral of creativity. These machines are memorials of our tastes, yearnings and capabilities. They have layers of meaning and can, as Henry Ford knew, be read like a book... if only you know how. The story of the car is the story of how the objects of industry became a medium of artistic expression.This book tells that story in a series of case studies which reveal national characteristics: American flair, German technical suprematism, French vernacular chic, gorgeous Italian sculpture, English antiquarianism, Japanese ingenuity, Swedish responsibility. Cars featured appear in chronological date order from the 1908 Ford Model T to 2003 BMW 5 Series.The chosen cars will be specially photographed in a uniform style and reproduced in very textured, 4 colour b/w so as to distance this book from the cliches and conventions of specialist automotive publishing and to highlight form and shape. Each picture will be accompanied by a short critical essay including essential historical material together with colourful anecdotage and quotations as well as a persuasive aesthetic appraisal of each vehicle. This lavish and beautifully designed book is the gift book for all car enthusiasts and design aficionados.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Bayley is one of the world's best known commentators on modern culture. In 1989 he was made a Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's top artistic honour, by the French Minister of Culture. Stephen Bayley has been a design consultant working on imaginative communications projects for Ford, Jaguar, Fiat, Audi and BMW amongst others, and wrote the creative strategy for Mercedes-Benz' advertisments. He has written extensively for Car magazine. Stephen was awarded PPA Columnist of the Year for his car column in GQ (which ran for about eight years) and he wrote very popular regular car columns for the Daily Telegraph and Management Today. He is also well-known as an outspoken commentator on art and design and has contributed to the Times, the Daily Mail, the Observer, the Evening Standard, the Guardian, the Spectator, the Los Angeles Times, High Life, New Statesman, the Independent, and the Independent on Sunday as well as many trade and professional publications.

Edition details

• Publisher: Conran Octopus Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1840915358
• ISBN 13: 9781840915358
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384