Form Follows Function? (Design in the 20th Century)

This book is one of a series related to the 20th Century Gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Museum of Art and Design, London. The Gallery is international and comes right up-to-date.
Form Follows Function? explains and then challenges the notion that form in architecture and product design is derived solely from practical functions. The text sets the role of function in a historical perspective quoting extensively from the writings of theorists and designers. The 70 illustrations include works of the Arts and Crafts movement, Modernism, Street Style and recent Italian and Japanese design. They highlight the symbolic, associative and decorative functions of objects, challenging many traditional assumptions.

Susan Lambert is Head of the Prints, Drawings and Paintings Collection at the Museum and led the team which set up its new 20th Century Gallery.