A comprehenive historical overview of industrial design, now available in paperback
As Sir Terence Conran remarks in his foreword to Industrial Design: Reflection of a Century, "Every single thing made by man or woman since the beginning of time has been designed." Up until the nineteenth century, the design of everyday objects was largely the province of skilled craftsmen. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the new possibilities offered by mass production, design emerged as a new and important discipline, with far-reaching social, industrial and commercial implications. This volume provides a comprehensive historical overview of industrial design and an investigation of the key themes and issues that affect production and consumption.

Thirty essays by a team of international specialists trace the development of design, examine current trends and explore the factors which are shaping the course of design in the 21st century. Major currents in design, such as Art Deco, streamlining, the Bauhaus, functionalism, and Post-Modernism are perceptively analysed, along with the implications of technological breakthroughs in fields such as computer-aided design, virtual reality and synthetic materials.

Among the nearly 800 illustrations included in this book, a selection of design classics that have radically changed our lives is featured, from the Singer sewing machine and the Ford model T, to the miniskirt and the Apple Macintosh computer. An extensive illustrated chronology places the major technological inventions and products within the context of the cultural, political and artistic events of their period. Available for the first time in a fully updated paperback edition, this key publication, with its insightful texts, biographical information about designers and extensive visual and historical documents, provides an invaluable reference for design professionals and a fascinating guide for everyone interested in industrial design past, present and future.

Jocelyn de Noblet, Ph.D. is a historian specializing in the semiotics of design. He is the director of the Centre de Recherche sur la Culture Technique in Paris.