Book Description:
In 1893, as design progressed towards the 20th century, a specialist publication the 'Studio Magazine' was founded focusing on innovative fine and decorative art. In 1906 it produced its first 'Decorative Art Yearbook'; its last in 1980. These Yearbooks became invaluable sources of inspiration for designers, as well as comprehensively tracing the history of the many fields covered architecture, interior design, furniture, ceramics, metalware and glass design. These TASCHEN reprints have carefully reproduced the original layouts, selecting the key pages from each year and grouping the disciplines, providing the professional and the enthusiast with an essential overview of trends and styles in each decade. The spirit of optimism and the fervent consumerism of the 1950s found themselves reflected in the design of the times. Technology and construction had been enervated by research during the war and these discoveries could now be applied in peacetime. As plastics, fibreglass and latex were popularised, they literally reshaped the decade. Rising incomes and post war rebuilding on both sides of the Atlantic led to a massive housing boom in both the suburbs and inner cities, and these abodes were furnished and decorated in the new way. While European design was extraordinarily inventive, American design was looking to an idealised vision of the future between them a modern idiom was developed that can be seen vividly on the pages of 'Decorative Art,' from such famous innovators as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Hans Wegner and Gio Ponti.
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