This encyclopedia first appeared in 1994 running to 612 pages and featuring 100 black and white illustrations. This new edition, created in consultation with “an international team of experts”, has 832 pages and 700 colour images, mostly derived from a recent digitisation project at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This collaboration has resulted in a wide‐ranging and magnificently produced work of reference.
There are now around 3,500 closely printed entries in a straightforward A‐Z arrangement, falling into categories that include designers, studios, consortia and partnerships, manufacturers, materials and styles or movements (e.g. Japonisme, Constructivism). Biographical entries include notes on training (the great Frank Hornby “left school at 16”), major works and exhibitions; most of the entries in all categories end with bibliographies, some including relevant web sites. Jewellery design has been dropped from the new edition and automobile design introduced, reflecting a MoMA speciality. Graphic and fashion design are generally excluded, though there are entries here on Paul Poiret and Jean‐Paul Gaultier. You will also find Le Corbusier, Norman Foster, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, Donald Judd and both Pablo and Paloma Picasso. The work's timetable extends from around 1870 (Aesthetic Movement) to the divorce between Pixar and Disney in 2004. An entry on Shaker furniture takes us back to 1747.
Byars is interested in “the design of an object that has a function”, and among the classes of objects beautifully illustrated here are ceramics, lighting, glassware, fabrics, domestic and industrial appliances, and toys. An entry on Steve Jobs and Apple refers the reader to no less than 20 further entries on Apple employees and the particular products with which they are associated. There is an entry on the German airship Zeppelin (which mentions the Hindenberg, but not its terrible fate). Lego, which we owe mainly to Godtfried Kirk Christiansen (1920‐1995), patented its “stud‐and‐tube” connected method in 1958, allowing for “almost infinite configurational possibilities”; 40 years on you could “build and program a robot from a box of pieces”.
The Design Encyclopedia is well bound and fairly compact at 10.25 × 7.5 inches, but weighed in at a good 2.5 kg. The cloth boards are sunshine yellow. In the light of its own beautiful design and the high quality paper, it struck me as moderately priced at £40. I think it will be essential for all libraries with a special interest in art and design or the history of engineering, and a great enhancement to general collections. An encyclopedia for the Lego era.
