American Contemporary Furniture

Rating:
Summary: Concise & Resourceful
Review: From the outset, this book is small compared with many other fine furniture books but its content doesn't lag behind & even surpasses many other offerings by its sheer resourefulness & succinctness. The layout could be defined as multi-media with clean fonts used, abundant of embossed pictures & diagrams used, highlighted quotes by prominent furniture designers. Even though this is an American Contemporary Furniture Book, which emphasises upon the trends of the West, the Middle, & the East of the States, the influential furniture designers originated from elsewhere (other countries) such as Karem Rashid, M. Ali Tayar, & many others. This book addressed the reason United States is still lagging behind its European counterpart is because of the majority Americans, which still cling to its colonial heritage; the lack of infrastructure, network, & the emphasis upon designers. Even though Karem Rashid is gradually going towards super stardom with support from Umbra, United States still doesn't have designers with superstar status equivalent to Philippe Starck, Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sotsass, & so forth. It then continued to say that United States is gradually warming up to contemporary futniture with the emergence of the "3rd generation", a hybrid between the modernism & the post modernism schools, & influenced by global consumerism & dematerialisation. Suffice to say that examples provided in this book is broad, index of designers & furniture & selected stores at the end of the book come in handy. To justify United States as a huge melting pot infused by many ideas from all fronts, which trascends into its contemporary furniture, we wouldn't have to wander far than noting the authors & editors of this book, who come from diverse backgrounds & interests. I thoroughly enjoyed this book & would recommend anyone who wants to have a general interest in the contemporary furniture movement in United States or simply furniture enthusiast to seek it out. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Concise & Resourceful
Review: From the outset, this book is small compared with many other fine furniture books but its content doesn't lag behind & even surpasses many other offerings by its sheer resourefulness & succinctness. The layout could be defined as multi-media with clean fonts used, abundant of embossed pictures & diagrams used, highlighted quotes by prominent furniture designers. Even though this is an American Contemporary Furniture Book, which emphasises upon the trends of the West, the Middle, & the East of the States, the influential furniture designers originated from elsewhere (other countries) such as Karem Rashid, M. Ali Tayar, & many others. This book addressed the reason United States is still lagging behind its European counterpart is because of the majority Americans, which still cling to its colonial heritage; the lack of infrastructure, network, & the emphasis upon designers. Even though Karem Rashid is gradually going towards super stardom with support from Umbra, United States still doesn't have designers with superstar status equivalent to Philippe Starck, Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sotsass, & so forth. It then continued to say that United States is gradually warming up to contemporary futniture with the emergence of the "3rd generation", a hybrid between the modernism & the post modernism schools, & influenced by global consumerism & dematerialisation. Suffice to say that examples provided in this book is broad, index of designers & furniture & selected stores at the end of the book come in handy. To justify United States as a huge melting pot infused by many ideas from all fronts, which trascends into its contemporary furniture, we wouldn't have to wander far than noting the authors & editors of this book, who come from diverse backgrounds & interests. I thoroughly enjoyed this book & would recommend anyone who wants to have a general interest in the contemporary furniture movement in United States or simply furniture enthusiast to seek it out. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Under The Table
Review: The content is worth only one star, but there are some nice photos, so I'll concede to two. Most of the book is conjecture, and opinion. There is very little evidence of any research going into this title. Not a single outside source, article or book is cited. I think you can learn more about contemporary American furniture design from browsing eBay furniture auctions or reading furniture store catalogs than reading this book.

The only good content is the occasional biography of current designers, and these are few and far between. The books places emphasis on upcoming "third generation" designers, but really fails to discuss where they will come from or what is in store for American design.

I felt like the editors just wanted to put together a fantasy catalog of items they would like to have in their homes, and the book lacks an altogether purpose.

And to top it all off, the design and layout is sub-standard for such a remarkable subject. I don't recommed it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Looking good
Review: The sleek American Contemporary Furniture convincingly asserts that our tables, chairs, bookcases,and wastebaskets are looking mighty handsome these days. The visually rich project offers plenty of representative proof that the current generation of American furniture designers are coming into its own. The earnest and sometimes lighthearted examples of modernist-inflected pieces are grouped regionally. New York, of course, is a focus - with nods to superstars like Karim Rashid, Maya Linn, and others - but S.F.-based coeditors Raul Cabra (whose graphic design studio created the eye-tickling look) and Dung Ngo wisely acknowledge how decentralization has affected the furniture design world. American Contemporary Furniture is notable for giving international props to a vital community of West Coast furniture makers, a good portion of them working in modest Bay Area workshops. The book's an extremely welcome showcase for designers such as Jeff Covey (whose cast aluminum stool graces the sets of a top-rated sitcom), Pablo Pardo, John Randolph, Jeff and Larissa Sand, and Bruce Tomb, who are among the core of San Francisco's vital and integrity-filled design community.