All posts filed under: Things for Reading

Patented: 1000 Design Patents by Thomas Rinaldi

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Product design junkies will be in awe of Patented, a thick tome featuring 1000 design patent documents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The one-of-a-kind field guide includes patents from well-known names such as Louis Comfort Tiffany and Buckminster Fuller, to more surprising entries from celebrities such as Francis Ford Coppola (packaging for beverages – wine perhaps?) and Prince (guitar, obviously.) Author and architectural designer Thomas Rinaldi offers readers and future patent makers more than a century of product and industrial design that’s been organized chronologically from 1900 to 2020. The uniform aesthetic of the patent drawings means all 1,000 designs are illustrated in the same style — from bottle openers to bicycles. If you don’t have a shelf big enough for Patented, don’t worry. You can just go and design a patent for one. $35.95 U.S. Order from your local independent bookstore or at Phaidon All images courtesy of Phaidon.

Paul Smith Edition Three Lamp by Anglepoise

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The British lighting brand Anglepoise and renowned British designer Paul Smith have collaborated on a third edition of the Type 75 Desk Lamp that evokes the primary colors of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian’s De Stijl style. The lamp has been launched to coincide with the run up to next year’s De Stijl centennial. The lamp has had quite a history. Designed by Sir Kenneth Grange in 2004, the Type 75 lamp is inspired by a 1970’s version of the Anglepoise Model 90, which was in turn inspired by the Original 1227 design launched in the 1930’s. The lamp features a matte paint or brushed aluminum finish with an aluminum shade and utilizes Anglepoise’s constant tension spring technology. The UL-listed lamp is wired for the U.S. and is supplied with a 13-watt, E26 CFL bulb. $240. All images courtey of Anglepoise. Photos by Jake Curtis and Styling by Despina Curtis. Images shot on location at Paul Smith Westbourne House.

Little Free Library Design Competition

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A competition to design a new version of the Little Free Library touches on two of my favorite things in the world — product design and books. If you aren’t familiar with Little Free Libraries, they are small containers that are installed in front yards, community centers, and public spaces all over to world to help people exchange books for free. There are nearly 40,000 of these structures worldwide, and Chronicle Books. Little Free Library, and AIA SF are inviting architects and designers to rethink the structure and solve some problems cited by users in the field. Challenges that the new design should try to overcome include keeping the doors shut, making it accessible at night, keeping it water-tight and heatproof, and perhaps my favorite, serving small children and tall adults alike. The jury includes architects, editors, and designers, and the prizes include an architecture library from Chronicle Books and other goodies. If I designed one, I’d love a little solar panel on top that lights it up at night when the door opens and …

Dream of Venice

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Dream of Venice is a beautiful new book for Venetophiles and dreamers alike edited by JoAnn Locktov with photography by Charles Christopher, a New York native who currently works in Hollywood as a motion picture and TV still photographer. Printed on luxe Italian Garda Silk paper, the 96-page hardcover includes photographs by Christopher that have been carefully paired by Locktov with the words of writers, actors, poets, singers, and others who have fallen in love with this near-mythical city. I am one of them in fact. My poem Leaving Venice appears in the book alongside a forward by novelist Frances Mayes, and contributions by Woody Allen, opera soprano Sylvia Sass, and Venetian cookbook author Marcella Hazan, among others. I first visited Venice as a undergraduate in the early ’90s with a group of Italian language students attending a three week mini-session during our winter break. It was my first trip out of the country and the longest I had ever been away from my family. It was January, a time when the city belongs to the Venetians rather than tourists. One misty afternoon I remember walking through a campo (a …

Book Review: DesignPOP

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Hitting bookshelves this month, the neon pink, padded vinyl covered DesignPOP is a 216-page tome to contemporary product design written by designer and collector Lisa S. Roberts. Published by Rizzoli, DesignPOP includes 82 works created from 2000-2014 from Frank Gehry, the Campana brothers, Hella Jongerius, Philippe Starck, Ron Arad, Jasper Morrison, James Dyson, and other design icons. It includes 95% original photography, designer biographies, and a “where to shop” guide along with resources for each product. Though I haven’t handled the physical book and its retro-plastic cover (I was sent a PDF to review), the internal layouts with their oversized pull-quotes and high-quality photographs certainly make for a fun read for consumers. Even design-insiders should find enough new products to keep their interest. DESIGNPOP By Lisa S. Roberts HC w/jacket / 9 1⁄2” x 9 1⁄2” / 216 pages / 175 color illustrations US $35.00 / Can $35.00 / UK £25.00 Rizzoli New York All images courtesy Rizzoli.