A Companion to Contemporary Design Since 1945

A critical overview of contemporary design and its place within the broader context of art history 

A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 introduces readers to a collection of specially commissioned essays exploring the complex areas of design that emerged through the latter half of the twentieth century, design history, design methods, design studies and more recently, design thinking. 

The book delivers a thoughtful overview of all design disciplines and also strives to stimulate inter-disciplinary debate and examine unconsidered convergences among design applications in different fields. By offering a new perspective on design, the articles assembled here present a challenging account of the boundaries between design history and its cognate disciplines, especially art history.

The volume comprises five sections—Time, Place, Space, Objects and Audiences—that discuss environments for design and how we interact with designed objects and spaces. Notable features include: 

• 24 new essays reflecting the current state of design history and theory, and examining developments on a global basis
• Contributions by eminent scholars and practitioners from around the globe
• Enriched throughout with illustrations

A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 provides a new and thought-provoking revision of our conception and understanding of contemporary design that will be essential reading for students at both undergraduate and graduate levels as well as researchers and teachers working in design history, theory and practice, and in related fields.

Anne Massey is a freelance design writer and researcher as well as Visiting Professor at Richmond, The American International University in London. She was Professor of Design and Culture at University of the Arts London until 2017. She has written eight books and has a particular interest in the ways in which histories and theories of design and culture are presented and represented over time.

List of Illustrations viii

About the Editor xii

Notes on Contributors xiii

Acknowledgments xviii

Series Editor’s Preface xix

Introduction 1
Anne Massey

Part I Time 7

1 Contemporary Design History 9
Sarah Teasley

2 Nostalgia 32
Elizabeth Guffey

3 Design Futures 51
Damon Taylor

Part II Place 73

4 Transnationalism for Design History: Knowledge Production and Decolonization Through East Asian Design History 75
Yuko Kikuchi

5 African Fashion Design and the Mobilization of Tradition 91
Victoria L. Rovine

6 Urban Sights: From Outdoor Streets to Interior Urbanism 111
Gregory Marinic

Part III Space 137

7 Virtual Space 139
Rina Arya

8 Interior Atmosphere 157
Lois Weinthal

9 Home Truths: Identity and Materiality in the Postwar Interior 173
Ben Highmore

10 Design of Contemporary Mega-Events 189
Graeme Evans

Part IV Object 215

11 The Vibrant Object 217
Alexa Griffith Winton

12 The Consumed Object 240
Jonathan Bean

13 The Object of Design History: Lessons for the Environment 260
Kjetil Fallan

14 The Fashionable Object 284
Christopher Breward

15 The Written Object: Design Journalism, Consumption, and Literature Since 1945 299
Grace Lees‐Maffei

16 Destabilizing the Scenario of Design: Queer/Trans/ Gender‐Neutral 326
John Potvin

Part V Audiences 351

17 Luxury and Design: Another Time, Another Place 353
Jonathan Faiers

18 Amateur Design 373
Paul Atkinson

19 The Professionalization of Interior Design 393
Mark Taylor and Natalie Haskell

20 Design Education in Higher Education 412
Vicky Gunn

21 Design Against Consumerism 436
Paul Micklethwaite

22 Guilty Pleasures: Taste, Design, and Democracy 457
Malcolm Quinn

Index 479

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