Material ConneXion (The Global Resource of New and Innovative Materials for Architects, Artists, and Designers)

Title Material ConneXion (The Global Resource of New and Innovative Materials for Architects, Artists, and Designers)

Author George M. Beylerian and Andrew Dent

Publisher John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Description 

Materials underpin all that is most innovative in twenty-first-century architecture and design, as well as play a vital role in the work of many contemporary artists. Just as the Second World War fueled technological progress, enabling postwar designers to transform everyday life, so the high-tech industries of today are unleashing hitherto undreamt-of creative possibilities.

This brilliantly illustrated volume identifies the key trends in the field, looking to the future and highlighting materials with the most potential for development. In each of the book’s seven main sections – metals; glass; ceramics; polymers; natural and naturally derived materials; carbon-based materials; and cement-based materials – the authors define substances according to their base compositions rather than their current uses, which leads the reader to a clearer understanding of each material’s potential and applications.

An additional feature is a selection of interviews with leading international designers, architects and artists, in which they reflect on the key role of materials in modern design, and identify their favorites. Italian design guru Ezio Manzini, for example, looks forward to dream materials – one that will last forever, continuously recycling into different shapes and functions, and one that will last just long enough to be useful before disappearing completely.

Throughout the book, full-color illustrations of contemporary designs and products encourage further ideas. A detailed reference section provides a glossary of technical terms and lists of relevant books, professional periodicals, and industry trade shows.

The “X” in ConneXion is the perfect symbolic crossroads: this is a book that connects material to designer. For all interior, product, graphic, and fashion designers, for anyone connected with packaging , design, architecture or the environment, and for artists and sculptors, Material ConneXion will be essential – and inspiring – reading.