The Sixties: Decade of Design Revolution
- Artist: Various
- Published: First published 1998
- Publisher: Phaidon, London
- Edition: -
- Format: Paperback with flaps
- Height: 29cm
- Pages: 240
- Illustrations: Includes 268 colour and 138 black & white illustrations
£24.95
Add to basketThe Sixties: Decade of Design Revolution
An inspirational sourcebook charting a radical decade in design history.
Design in the 1960s represented energy and fun: it was dynamic, cheap and cheerful and it prompted a consumer 'youthquake' revolution. Op Art fabrics, plastic chairs, inflatable houses, mini skirts, paper furniture, pop glass and psychedelic posters were all part of the design phenomenon. When Mary Quant launched 'the look' with her range of ready-to-wear fashions in the early 1960s, its style, like the Habitat interior look launched shortly afterwards, was immediately appropriated by the trendy younger generation.
The Sixties traces the transition from the organic, fluid lines of the 'Contemporary' design of the 1950s to the pure geometry of 'the look' and the styles that proliferated throughout the momentous events of the decade. In all fields of design - architecture, ceramics, glass, textiles and furniture - circular and rectilinear motifs were seen to represent futuristic space-age design. The many illustrations include contemporary and avant-garde advertising from the design magazines of the period through to the stunning architectural photography of Julius Shulman.
The book further examines the rise of the global design superpowers of the 1960s. While the United States undoubtedly led in the field of architecture, and the Scandinavian style remained a potent force in the applied arts, Britain, at the centre of the fashion and popular culture explosion, and Italy, adding a whole new dimension to furniture and plastics, were emerging as the two new international design superpowers.
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Authors Biography
Lesley Jackson is an independent writer and curator specializing in 20th century design. She is the author of many highly-acclaimed books on post-war design, including The New Look: Design in the Fifties (1991), ‘Contemporary’Architecture and Interiors of the 1950s (1994) and The Sixties: Decade of Design Revolution (1998). An expert on modern textiles, her recent books include 20th Century Pattern Design: Textile & Wallpaper Pioneers (2002), From Atoms to Patterns: Crystal Structure Designs from the 1951 Festival of Britain (2007) and Shirley Craven and Hull Traders: Revolutionary Fabrics and Furniture 1957-1980 (2009). In 2001 she curated the major exhibition Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design, held at the Barbican Art Gallery, London.
