Product Description

100 of the World's Most Exceptional Young Product Designers Selected by 10 Design Critics, Including Tom Dixon

"Designers have a responsibility to show the future as they want it to be--or at least as it can be--not just the way an industry wants it to be..." -Yves Béhar, designer

Five years after the success of the groundbreaking SPOON (2002), which featured a steel-covered spoon shaped book cover, Phaidon announces the publication of a follow up collection. AND FORK is a comprehensive global overview of new industrial design today. This generously illustrated volume presents 100 of the most exceptional product designers that have recently emerged on the international scene, selected by 10 of the world's top design critics including Chieko Yoshiie of Casa Brutus in Japan, Francesca Picchi of Domus, Tom Dixon from Habitat UK and Sang-kyu Kim, a Korea-based design curator.

AND FORK features 1,000 color illustrations of hundreds of innovative products created by the most forward-thinking young designers working today. A wide range of objects (including chairs, lighting, footwear, kitchen accessories and electronics) provide an up-to-date snapshot of the newest developments in the design world. The book will be an indispensable reference for students, designers, architects and the general public interested in learning about contemporary design in everyday life.

With the expertise of a highly knowledgeable group of design stars, AND FORK is set on the same table as Spoon. The 100 designers selected come from an impressive 24 countries including Brazil, Japan, Finland, UK, Denmark, Israel, Australia, South Korea and USA. Recent trends in design are revealed, such as a new generation of designers more concerned with social responsibility and the ethics of design, new product design that caters to our increasing dependence on portable and personal technology, and a rise in collaboration between young designers.

Some highlights from AND FORK include:
* D-Bros: The Japan-based design group is best known for their charming Hope Forever Blossoming Vase. It's a simple flat plastic bag, but when you pour water into it, it expands to take on both the look and behavior of a glass flower vase.
* Piet Hein Eek: Much of the Dutch designer's furniture is made from reclaimed scrap wood. He is an example of many of the young designers featured in AND FORK that are using environmentally-friendly or recycled materials and innovative manufacturing techniques. Eek says, "I like using materials that are worthless and acting as though they are precious."
* Jennifer Carpenter: The New York-based designer has made her most distinctive mark on children's products, designing an infant bed that easily converts into toddler furniture. She has said, "Let's face it, baby products are not the sexiest arena, some designers would rather be working on the next iPod...but the breast pump is what really needs the help."
* Simon Heijdens: Heijdens is fascinated with the way things evolve over time which inspired the Broken White project (2004). He designed a set of ceramic bowls and plates that are immaculate and white when new, but as they are used, delicate cracks appear in the glazing and with time slowly spread to form a decoration. In result, the most used, favorite items stand out portraying the intimate relationship between user and object.

Arranged in alphabetical order, AND FORK displays each designer on four pages that include photographs, technical drawings and text written by the curators on why the designer's work has been chosen and details on future design plans. Each curator has also chosen one piece of design, such as the Radio Ts2 or the Schwinn Stingray bicycle, for the 'Good Design' chapter of the book. These are classics that have made a significant impact on the design world, and still influence young designers today.

The pages of AND FORK illustrate superlative cutting-edge work from designers whose products often display subversive manufacturing techniques, exciting displays of materials or refreshing twists on the everyday object. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of design.

Emilia Terragni, Editorial Director at Phaidon Press, says in the book's introduction, "Good design has never before been so readily available, whether in products that make our lives simpler, or simply in those that make us smile. AND FORK is an invaluable reference book on an industry that continues to shape the way we live."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #473571 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 444 pages

About the Author
10 Curators featured in AND FORK:

Tom Dixon is one of the UK's most influential designers and the creative director of Habitat, the furniture retailer. His company TOM DIXON was launched in 2002 and since then has developed its own collection of contemporary lighting and furniture.

Maria Helena Estrada is a design critic and curator. She is currently the editor and publisher of ARC DESIGN, a magazine published in Brazil that focuses on new design.

Guta Moura Guedes is an industrial designer and the director of the Centro Cultural de Bellem and the National Design Museum in Lisbon. In 1999, she co-founded Experimentadesign - Bienal de Lisboa, a leading international event devoted to design.

Pierre Keller is the director of one of the most interesting European design schools, ECAL in Switzerland. Since he took up the post in 1995, the school, founded in 1821, has evolved from a regional school into an institute of global significance.

Didier Krzentowski is a design expert and the founder of galerie kreo, France. He is renowned for commissioning series of specially designed, limited edition objects.

Sang-kyu Kim works as a curator for the Hangaram Design Museum at the Seoul Arts Center in Korea. His curatorial works at the museum include: Archigram: No Design, No Style: Droog Design; Design Culture in Korea 1910-1960; and Good Chair.

Julie Lasky is editor-in-chief of I.D., the New York-based magazine of international design. She has contributed to The New York Times, Metropolis, Dwell, Surface, and NPR. Lasky is an adjunct faculty member of the MFA Design program at SVA.

Brian Parkes is associate director and senior curator at Object, Australian Centre for Craft and Design. His major curatorial projects include Akira Isogawa in 2002, Sydney Style in 2004 and Design Island. He is a regular contributor to international design publications.

Francesca Picchi is a design writer, curator, and the editor of Domus in Italy. She has published monographs on Enzo Mari (1999) and Alberto Meda (2003) and contributed to many other books on design, including KGID for Phaidon.

Chieko Yoshiie is a design critic and the editor-in-chief at Casa Brutus, a Japanese magazine focusing on the best new product design and architecture.

Customer Reviews

inspiring overview of new young designers
This book is a very inspiring book on new designers all over the world. It gives every designer a few pages with different products and a short charactarization of his/her work. Innovative use of new materials, surprising products and beautiful photographs. The only thing I would love is more detailed drawings of products and/or constructions.

And Fork etc.
For me as a photo-artist this is a book that really
inspires me!

Love this book! BUT the second time I opened it the binding just broke in half.
I have a very large collection of architecture and design books including Phaidon's ULTRA huge "Atlas Of Contemporary World Architecture" and never had any problems. I was very shocked at the the binding issue and contacted Phaidon directly. There was never a resolution or an answer if my book was an isolated quality issue. Disappointing.