Description

Book Synopsis
This title includes an introduction by Martin Pawley. This book presents for the first time in English an array of essays on design by the seminal media critic and philosopher Vilem Flusser. It puts forward the view that our future depends on design. In a series of insightful essays on such ordinary 'things' as wheels, carpets, pots, umbrellas and tents, Flusser emphasizes the interrelationships between art and science, theology and technology, and archaeology and architecture. Just as formal creativity has produced both weapons of destruction and great works of art, Flusser believed that the shape of things (and the designs behind them) represents both a threat and an opportunity for designers of the future.

Trade Review
There is nothing difficult or obscure about these essays. They are as sharp and lucid as precious stones because they proceed not by argument but poetically, by metaphor, story telling and myth. Architects' Journal 'Books of the Year'

Table of Contents
Introduction by Martin Pawley About the Word Design Form and Material War and the State of Things About Forms and Formulae The Designer's Way of Seeing The Factory The Lever Strikes Back Shelters, Screens and Tents Design: Obstacle for/to the Removal of Obstacles Why Do Typewriters Go 'Click'? The Ethics of Industrial Design? Design as Theology Wittgenstein's Architecture Bare Walls With As Many Holes As a Swiss Cheese The Non-Thing The Non-Thing Carpets Pots Shamans and Dancers with Masks The Submarine Wheels Biographical Note

The Shape of Things: a Philosophy of Design

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    A Paperback / softback by Vilém Flusser

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      Publisher: Reaktion Books
      Publication Date: 01/10/1999
      ISBN13: 9781861890559, 978-1861890559
      ISBN10: 1861890559

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      This title includes an introduction by Martin Pawley. This book presents for the first time in English an array of essays on design by the seminal media critic and philosopher Vilem Flusser. It puts forward the view that our future depends on design. In a series of insightful essays on such ordinary 'things' as wheels, carpets, pots, umbrellas and tents, Flusser emphasizes the interrelationships between art and science, theology and technology, and archaeology and architecture. Just as formal creativity has produced both weapons of destruction and great works of art, Flusser believed that the shape of things (and the designs behind them) represents both a threat and an opportunity for designers of the future.

      Trade Review
      There is nothing difficult or obscure about these essays. They are as sharp and lucid as precious stones because they proceed not by argument but poetically, by metaphor, story telling and myth. Architects' Journal 'Books of the Year'

      Table of Contents
      Introduction by Martin Pawley About the Word Design Form and Material War and the State of Things About Forms and Formulae The Designer's Way of Seeing The Factory The Lever Strikes Back Shelters, Screens and Tents Design: Obstacle for/to the Removal of Obstacles Why Do Typewriters Go 'Click'? The Ethics of Industrial Design? Design as Theology Wittgenstein's Architecture Bare Walls With As Many Holes As a Swiss Cheese The Non-Thing The Non-Thing Carpets Pots Shamans and Dancers with Masks The Submarine Wheels Biographical Note

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