Product Description

From the largest global resource of new materials comes this innovative new book that connects materials to designers' needs. In each of the seven main sections, this highly illustrated book identifies key trends, looks to the future, and helps design professionals select materials with the most potential for their specific projects. By defining a material based on its base composition rather than current use, Material ConneXion allows a designer to fully understand the potential and limitations for a material while conceiving of its new application. Organized to follow the model of the Material ConneXion library, the book's chapters are organized on seven base compositions including: Metals, Glass, Ceramics, Polymers, Natural and naturally derived materials,Carbon-based materials, Cement-based materials.

The book includes quotes from 54 leading designers, architects, artists and thinkers worldwide, including Wolfgang Joop, Karim Rashid, Peter Marino, Greg Lynn, Gaetano Pesce, and Philippe Starck, that reflect upon the role of materials in contemporary design and identify their favorite materials. Additionally, the book includes an important reference section with a bibliography, glossary of technical terms, and lists of trade show and professional publication web sites.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #317217 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
"Those involved in crafts and designs will find this invaluable book is both practical and inspiring." (Bellaonline.com, April 20, 2006)

Review
"If you see a new material, it’s like a key that opens a door. Behind the door there’s a kind of new world, filled with new people, new figures, new ideas, new visions."
—Wolfgang Joop, Fashion Designer, Hamburg, Germany

"My favorite materials are one that can be almost immaterial in appearance – glass or plastics. Plastics provide the most varied performances, finishes, and diverse properties. They inspire me to create fluid, soft, organic, almost human form."
—Karim Rashid, Industrial Designer, New York

"Materials are the building blocks… Innovation in Materials is Innovation in Architecture and Design."
—Peter Marino, Architects and Interior Designer, New York

"Each new material allows you to bring life to a new concept."
—Philippe Starck, Designer, Paris, New York, London

From the Inside Flap
Materials underpin all that is most innovative in twenty-first-century architecture and design, as well as play and vital role in the work of many contemporary artists. Just as the Second World War fueled technological progress, enabling postwar designers to transform everyday life, so the high-tech industries of today are unleashing hitherto undreamt-of creative possibilities.

This brilliantly illustrated volume identifies the key trends in the field, looking to the future and highlighting materials with the most potential for development. In each of the book’s seven main sections-metals; glass; ceramics; carbon-based materials; and cement-based materials-the authors define substances according to their base compositions rather than their current uses, which leads the reader to clearer understanding of each material’s potential and applications.

An additional feature is a selection of interviews with leading international designers, architects and artists, in which they reflect on the key role of materials of modern design, and identify their favorites. Italian design guru Ezio Manzini, for example, looks forward to two dream materials-one that will last forever, continuously recycling into different shapes and functions, and one that will last just long enough to be useful before disappearing completely.

Throughout the book, full-color illustrations of contemporary designs and products encourage further ideas. A detailed reference section provides a glossary of technical terms and lists of relevant books, professional periodicals, and industry trade shows.

The “X” in ConneXion is the perfect symbolic crossroads: this is a book that connects material to designer. For all interior, product, graphic and fashion designers, for anyone connected with packaging, design, architecture of the environment, and for artists and sculptors, material ConneXion will be essential-and inspiring-reading.

Customer Reviews

use the website
the book is great IF you like looking at pictures. however, i purchased to book as a resource guide for where to find these materials, not just pictures of them. i ended up purchasing a subscription to their website (at the steep price of $200/year). The website is good, there are some flaws and some incorrect links and product codes but all in all its a good resource.

The point of this review is: if you need products, use the website and leave the book alone.

A Waste of Money
I agree completely with the previous review . . . this book doesn't provide information about where to actually purchase the materials because they are trying to get you to sign up for their membership. If you would like a simiar book with great resources you are better off with "Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials that Redefine our Physical Environment".