Skip to main content

Distributed for Reaktion Books

Modernism in Design

Ten new and important essays on design cover Modernism’s fortunes in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Britain, Spain, Belgium and the USA; they range in subject matter from world fairs and everyday domestic objects to American West coast architecture and French and Italian furniture.

With essays by Tim Benton, Gillian Naylor, Penny Sparke, Wendy Kaplan, Clive Wainwright, Martin Gaughan, Guy Julier, Mimi Wilms, Julian Holder and Paul Greenhalgh.

"The object of this book is to diffuse myths. If modernism has, in the past, been both absurdly praised and absurdly damned, Modernism in Design seeks to lift it out of this cycle, and to demonstrate that the modern movement could offer neither Jerusalem nor Babylon ... In this, the book succeeds admirably."—Designer’s Journal

"While this collection of essays is aimed primarily at design historians and students of design history, hard-pressed practising designers and architects should make room for it on their bookshelves."—Design

Distribution by the University of Chicago Press only to customers in the USA and Canada. Customers elsewhere should visit the UK website of Reaktion Books.


248 pages | 6 x 9

Critical Views

Architecture: Architecture--Criticism

History: General History


Reaktion Books image

View all books from Reaktion Books

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press