History of Design

Shortlisted for the Design History Society Scholarship Prize 2001-2002What do things mean? What does the life of everyday objects after the check-out reveal about people and their material worlds? Has the quest for the real thing become so important because the high tech world of total virtuality threatens to engulf us? This pioneering book bridges design theory and anthropology to offer a new and challenging way of understanding the changing meanings of contemporary human-object relations. The act of consumption is only the starting point in objects lives. Thereafter they are transformed and invested with new meanings that reflect and assert who we are. Defining design as things with attitude differentiates the highly visible fashionable object from ordinary artefacts that are taken for granted. Through case studies ranging from reproduction furniture to fashion and textiles to clutter, the author traces the connection between objects and authenticity, ephemerality and self-identity. But beyond this, she shows the materiality of the everyday in terms of space, time and the body and suggests a transition with the passing of time from embodiment to disembodiment.

It appears that everything we do, see, hear and even feel is connected at some level to our experience as consumers. The increasingly high profile of debates on consumption, consumer culture, behaviour and rights reflects a world undergoing rapid change. Charting the nature of that change, this revealing book discusses why consumption has become so important, and what role, if any, it plays in underpinning social, economic and political transformation. Combining a helpful survey of contemporary approaches to consumption with papers on key aspects of practice, this multi-disciplinary collection includes contributions from sociology, anthropology, media studies and business studies as well as from major figures in consumption studies such as Warde, du Gay and Belk. It includes chapters on: * men's consumption and men's magazines * the changing profile of women as consumers * the representation of consumption on popular TV shows * consuming retro chic * the symbolic and emotional role of alcohol consumption. Drawing on fascinating case-studies throughout, this book will be essential reading for students and academics interested in the study of consumption.