Phaidon Design Classic volume 2

Abstract

The 999 design classics included in this book have been chosen in consultation with a wide range of international design-world insiders. Academics, critics, historians, curators, journalists, designers and architects were asked to select industrially manufactured objects that conform to our definition of a Phaidon Design Classic, as specified on the cover. Every object selected meets at least one of the criteria within our overall definition and many of them meet more than one. The final choice of objects illustrated in this three-volume set is the result of a rigorous selection process and meticulous research. The collection includes a huge variety of consumer products, ranging from chairs to aeroplanes, which date from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. Garments, fashion accessories and objects that have been designed for highly specialist use, are not included. Most of the objects are still in production and the majority of them are available to buy. When something is no longer manufactured, it is not usually because the design itself has become obsolete, but rather because the technology it was designed for has since become outdated. To make the book as contemporary as possible we have also included objects created more recently. It is, of course, more difficult to judge which of the products created in more recent decades will eventually be regarded as classics, but we have included those we consider to be the 'classics of tomorrow' according, once again, to our definition.