Mid-Century Modern Designers is an A-Z compendium of 300 figures — from canonical names to largely overlooked practitioners — who collectively shaped one of the twentieth century's most enduring design movements.
About This Book
More than half a century on, mid-century modernism shows no sign of loosening its grip on designers, collectors, and historians. This volume by Dominic Bradbury accounts for why: the movement was never monolithic. Spanning furniture, glassware, lighting, textiles, ceramics, and tableware, the book maps the remarkable cross-pollination of ideas that defined post-war design across continents. Alongside well-documented figures — Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames, Gio Ponti, Florence Knoll — the book restores visibility to lesser-known designers whose contributions have too often been marginalised. For anyone serious about design history, it is an essential reference.
Key Features
- 352 pages of detailed designer profiles alongside hundreds of post-war design images spanning furniture, ceramics, textiles, lighting, and glassware
- Written by Dominic Bradbury
- Profiles include Alvar Aalto, Lina Bo Bardi, Tony Duquette, Charles & Ray Eames, Pierre Jeanneret, Florence Knoll, and Gio Ponti, among 294 others
- Published by Phaidon, ISBN: 9781838669270
What You'll Discover
- How mid-century modernism operated as a global phenomenon rather than a regionally contained style, with designers working across vastly different cultural contexts
- The breadth of disciplines encompassed by the movement — from architectural-scale furniture systems to the intimacy of tableware and glassware design
- The network of influence and exchange between designers who defined the era's aesthetic, revealing modernism as a collective conversation rather than a series of isolated achievements
- Lesser-known practitioners whose work sits alongside — and often complicates — the canonical figures, offering a more complete picture of mid-century design history
About the Author
Dominic Bradbury is the author of this volume. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 352
- Dimensions: 310 x 230 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781838669270
- Publisher: Phaidon
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Design historians, architects, interior designers, and collectors with a serious interest in post-war design culture and mid-century modernism