Nomadic Furniture collects both volumes of Victor Papanek and James Hennessey's mid-1970s DIY manifesto in a single edition — a foundational text in sustainable, user-made design that reads as urgently now as it did fifty years ago.
About This Book
When Papanek and Hennessey published Nomadic Furniture 1 and Nomadic Furniture 2 in the 1970s, they were arguing that ordinary people — not manufacturers — should control how they lived. This combined reprint reproduces both books in full, presenting step-by-step instructions for building beds, chairs, sofas, stools, and tables from inexpensive and recycled materials. Every piece folds, stacks, inflates, knocks down, or is designed for disposal. The underlying proposition is as much political as practical: democratic design, a reduced household footprint, and the creative agency that comes from making your own environment. For anyone working at the intersection of sustainable design, low-cost housing, or material culture, this is essential source material.
Key Features
- 304 pages of step-by-step DIY instructions, photos, and line drawings across 586 illustrations
- Authors: Victor Papanek and James Hennessey
- Complete reprint of both Nomadic Furniture 1 and Nomadic Furniture 2 in a single volume
- Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd, ISBN 9780764330247
What You'll Discover
- How Papanek and Hennessey framed DIY furniture-making as an act of environmental and economic self-determination
- Construction methods for a full range of domestic furniture using recycled and inexpensive materials
- A design philosophy built on portability — every object folds, stacks, inflates, or disassembles for easy transport
- Why the lightweight, low-footprint principles of 1970s nomadic design remain relevant to contemporary sustainable living debates
About the Author
Victor Papanek was a designer, educator, and author whose work centred on socially and environmentally responsible design. He collaborated with James Hennessey on the original two-volume Nomadic Furniture series, which became influential texts in the DIY and sustainable design movements of the 1970s.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 304
- Dimensions: 27.9 x 21.6 x 3.18 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780764330247
- Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Designers, architects, and students interested in sustainable design, material culture, and the history of democratic or DIY approaches to the built domestic environment.