Art + Design

Architects of the Dwell House, Resolution: 4 Architects has designed and built more than fifteen prefab homes. Instead of designing "the home" and then trying to invent a system of production, Resolution: 4 Architecture developed "a system of design," the MODERN MODULAR, based on their prefab research and residential experience.

Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) was one of the most innovative and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Best known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller sought out long-term, technology-led solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.

From the imaginative designer behind the bestselling alphabet book ABC 3D, this visually dazzling exploration of numbers is equal parts playful pop-up book and work of art. This creative twist on the classic counting book reveals how the most basic shapes—just a single line and a circle—become the building blocks for every number. We begin with the two simplest digits: 0 and 1. With each turn of a page, the same shapes slide into place to form 2, then 3, all the way up to 10. A tour de force of creative engineering, Numero is a treat for the whole family: children will delight in the magical transformations, while art lovers will cherish the simple brilliance of the book’s design.

This extraordinary volume examines the life and animation philosophy of Maurice Noble, the noted American animation background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry span more than 60 years and include such cartoon classics as Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, What’s Opera, Doc?, and The Road Runner Show.

Drawing has always been a fundamental skill and good drawing skills allowed artists to grasp the reality around them. At the turn of the millennium, however, the general impression was that with the wide availability of computers, scanners, digital cameras and image software, drawing would dwindle into a marginal activity. In fact, the opposite happened: the enthusiasm for digital imagery died down and the ability to draw has become a treasured skill.

This illustrated guide compiles over 2,000 collective nouns and brings them to life in stunningly colorful, graphic artwork from the design dynamos at Woop Studios. Chock-full of treasures of the English language, the diversity of terms collected here covers topics from plants and animals (a parade of elephants, an embarrassment of pandas) to people and things (a pomposity of professors, an exultation of fireworks) and range from the familiar (a pride of lions) to the downright obscure (an ooze of amoebas).

Creating stylish sketches by hand is easy and fun with this inspiring guide. Freehand breaks down basic drawing techniques into bite-sized chunks, and reveals their practical application in dazzling examples by today’s coolest artists. Over 200 innovative works of art demonstrate all the fundamentals—line, tone, composition, texture, and more—and are presented alongside friendly text explaining the simple techniques used to achieve each stylish effect. The final section of the book offers aspiring artists essential reference materials to hone their drafting skills and practice what they’ve learned. Petite in size but comprehensive in scope, this hip handbook will teach artists of all skill levels how to find their personal drawing style and start making amazing sketches.

A treasure of a gift for the well-read woman, this collection brings together 50 stirring portraits, in watercolor and in word, of literature’s most well-read female characters. Anna Karenina, Clarissa Dalloway, Daisy Buchanan...each seems to live on the page through celebrated artist Samantha Hahn’s evocative portraits and hand-lettered quotations, with the pairing of art and text capturing all the spirit of the character as she was originally written. The book itself evokes vintage grace reimagined for contemporary taste, with a cloth spine silkscreened in a graphic pattern, debossed cover, and pages that turn with the tactile satisfaction of watercolor paper. In the hand and in the reading, here is a new classic for the book lover’s library.

Artists around the world have lately been turning to their bookshelves for more than just a good read, opting to cut, paint, carve, stitch or otherwise transform the printed page into whole new beautiful, thought-provoking works of art. Art Made from Books is the definitive guide to this compelling art form, showcasing groundbreaking work by today’s most showstopping practitioners. From Su Blackwell’s whimsical pop-up landscapes to the stacked-book sculptures of Kylie Stillman, each portfolio celebrates the incredible creative diversity of the medium.

This valentine of a book is brimming with hip contemporary art celebrating matters of the heart. Flowers, hearts, doilies, chocolates, and couples holding hands are all reinvented here with a cool modern twist to create a new visual vocabulary that expresses all those tender sentiments we can’t quite find the words for. Featuring contributions by such beloved artists as Gemma Correll, Julia Rothman, Rifle Paper Co., and many more, this showcase of creative talent will tug at the heartstrings and delight the eyes. Chock-full of page after page of inventive ways to say “I Love You,” this little treasure will win the heart of any art lover and the heart of that special valentine.

In Animation Sketchbooks, fifty of the leading contemporary talents working in independent animation offer a glimpse into their private sketchbooks. During the conceptual stages of their projects, these groundbreaking and award-winning artists employ a variety of mediums to exercise their creativity, including pencil, paint, collage, puppetry, and photography. Each artist shares a selection of their craft along with personal insights into their influences and the artistic processes behind their unique sketches, character studies, storyboards, and doodles. The range of visions and techniques on display provide endless inspiration and allow a rare insight into the scope of the animator’s art.

Sticker Fashionista: A Year in Fashion gives fashion sticker books a makeover. Following the fashionistas through a year of stylish events, this book is a covetable follow-up to Sticker Fashionista. With gorgeous illustrations of amazing clothes, it should appeal to fashion lovers of all ages.

This is the first book to look at an increasingly popular form of street art: the “wheatie” or wheat paste-up. Many street artists don’t graffiti or stencil any more but use pre-prepared paper images that can be taken down, thereby avoiding a vandalism charge.

Whether for protest, religious congress, companionship, eating, or comfort, sitting communally remains one of the most powerful and prevalent of human social activities. This simple act held special significance in numerous utopian communities that emerged in nineteenth-century America, and was given physical presence in the form of a variety of styles of wooden benches.

Artist, craftsman, engineer, ethnographer, psychologist, entrepreneur, agent of change – is a designer one of these or a blend of all? What is a designer’s role in our current global and social landscape? The Design Incubation Centre was established to explore and probe these questions in depth within a rigourous and research-oriented context in the Division of Industrial Design at the National University of Singapore.

My Monster Bubblewriter Book is an activity book to inspire and encourage creativity with both words and drawing. It teaches children how to create cool hand lettering, using their imaginations to create crazy alphabets—from monster-inspired scripts to patchwork letters.

This sewing book shows you how to create your own feminine wardrobe, full of super-cute dresses and tops. The clothing features wonderful, exaggerated bows and elegant frills to give you a uniquely feminine look. There are three themed chapters—town, party, and resort—containing stylish clothes to take you effortlessly from the city to the beach. The visual, stepby- step instructions are easy to follow, and will enable you to make any of the 21 projects with ease. A paper pattern is included in the back of the book.

Whether located in the heart of a metropolis such as Chicago or on sprawling fields in the countryside, sculpture parks and gardens have become increasingly popular destinations for art and nature lovers alike.

Aimed at fashion and textile students, Fashion A to Z fills a gap in the market for an affordable, accessible, and up-to-date guide to fashion terminology. The book contains over 2,000 entries, arranged alphabetically. Illustrated by renowned fashion illustrator and designer Zakee Shariff, this unique fashion dictionary is quirky and fun, but provides invaluable definitions of all the words a fashion and textile student needs to know.

From scriptwriting through to production, this introduction to animation for students surveys key technical processes and examines a variety of stylistic approaches. The book includes visual examples from key animators and illustrated features on how to create exciting animation for a variety of audiences.

Following the success in 2000 of Seas, Cities, and Dreams, the authors return with a second volume on the works of this remarkable 19thcentury master who raised European maritime painting to a new level.

Stylish Dress Book features an A to Z of cool tops and tunic dresses that you can wear anywhere. Using simple shapes and individual details, the book shows you how to craft a stylish collection of garments to your own taste. For anyone who knows the frustration of going to the mall and finding racks of identikit clothes in cheap fabrics, this book will offer a fabulous home made alternative. As every sewist knows, DIY fashion is the only way to be stylish.

The Purple Book is a luxurious compendium of contemporary illustration that explores fantasy, sensuality, and the erotic imagination. It highlights visual art and the written word as media for representing human desire’s relationship with the dream-state, make-believe, and symbolism.

The Design Book brings together the best in contemporary design for the home, presenting a huge range of striking new products: tables and chairs, sofas and beds, storage, kitchens and bathrooms, tableware, textiles and surfaces, lighting, electronics, and more.

Journeys can be life-changing, whether they are literal— traveling from one place to another—or personal, like the quest for self-discovery. This meditative picture book explores both, following a young child on a train ride from the city to the country.

Watercolor is taking the art, fashion, and home décor worlds by storm. The result is an explosion of amazing new work by contemporary artists. This volume surveys the current revival of this loveliest of mediums, in portfolios from more than 20 of today’s top watercolor artists from around the globe.

The Designer Says is a compendium of quotations from more than one hundred of history's leading practitioners. Paired on page spreads like guests at a dinner party, a designer from the nineteenth century might sit next to one working today or two contemporary designers may strike up a conversation. This portable collection makes the perfect gift for designers, students, and anyone curious about the ideas and personalities that have shaped the art of visual communication.

This enchanting tour of America’s most cherished birds and flowers is an intimate collection of lovely images from beloved letterpress studio Dutch Door Press. Each state’s emblematic flora and fauna are paired in winsome vintage-inspired compositions and accompanied by fascinating facts about the states, the plant and animal species, and how they came to symbolize their regions.

In his fifty-year career as an architect, Hugh Hardy has built and reshaped America’s cultural landscape through work for some of its most beloved institutions. Theater of Architecture gathers twenty projects from within New York City and beyond—from the magnificent restored Radio City Music Hall and the revived New Victory and New Amsterdam theaters near Times Square to state-of-the-art facilities such as the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in Fort Worth.

Paris Sketchbook is a stunning gift book from leading international fashion illustrator Jason Brooks. Although he is best known for his beautiful fashion imagery, which has regularly graced the pages of Vogue and Elle magazines, travel has been a recurrent theme in his work and his adventures continue to inspire and inform his visual repertoire.

Fashion illustration is and always has been about far more than pretty drawings of pretty dresses. This lavish celebration of today’s leading artists in the field showcases the timeless craft and amazing diversity that characterize the genre.