Designing Worlds

From consumer products to architecture to advertising to digital technology, design is an undeniably global phenomenon. Yet despite their professed transnational perspective, historical studies of design have all too often succumbed to a bias toward Western, industrialized nations. This diverse but rigorously curated collection recalibrates our understanding of design history, reassessing regional and national cultures while situating them within an international context. Here, contributors from five continents offer nuanced studies that range from South Africa to the Czech Republic, all the while sensitive to the complexities of local variation and the role of nation-states in identity construction.

“This highly interesting volume provides varied methodological approaches and contributions to new national design histories that will undoubtedly enhance research in global design studies.” • National Identities “…the contributions are valuable beyond question and the cases studied original. This book will therefore be a referent for future studies on national design histories.” • Journal of Design History “This is a lively, spirited, and imaginative volume whose editors have assembled an impressive range of contributions. It is likely to be embraced not just within design history but also by scholars working in comparative history, art history, spatial theory, and material culture.” • Peter McNeil, University of Technology, Sydney

Kjetil Fallan is Professor of Design History at the University of Oslo. He is the author of Designing Modern Norway: A History of Design Discourse and Design History: Understanding Theory and Method, editor of Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories, and co-editor, with Grace Lees-Maffei, of Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design.