The Material of Invention: Materials and Design

Manzini, Ezio; Cau, Pasquale; Fiore, Leonardo; Gianotti, Giuseppe; Meda, Alberto; Santachiara, Denis

ISBN 10: 0262132427 / ISBN 13: 9780262132428

Published by The MIT Press, 1989

About this Item

First American edition. Sticker on rear jacket panel, lightly toned. 1989 Large Hardcover. 255 pp. New materials have radically altered the options available to industrial designers. The Material of Invention examines these new options and suggests what they might portend for the future. A different sort of design history, it focuses almost exclusively on the materials that form the basis of innovative design. The text and nearly 400 illustrations are the product of a large scale collaboration embodying the philosophical and aesthetic responses of Italian designers to the possibilities, limits, and design implications of this challenging new world of materials. The book is in five parts, The first, Matter and Ideas, is theoretical. The second, Portraits of Families in Motion, is historical. The third, Playing with the Possible, is analytical and forms the core of the book; it examines the new possibilities for products that are lightweight, heat resistant, elastic, transparent, and with diverse surface qualities. A fourth part, Exercises in Invention offers a portfolio of design experiments; while the last part consists of a technical appendix, glossary, and bibliography.

Seller Inventory # 2325711

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Material of Invention: Materials and Design
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262132427
• ISBN 13: 9780262132428
• Binding: Large Hardcover
• Edition: First American Edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Weight: 43 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

Examines the possibilites for using new materials to design products that are lightweight, heat-resistant, elastic, transparent, or have special surface qualities. Includes sections on theory and history, examples ranging from hot water bottles to public parks, a technical appendix, and a glossary, but no index. The book is large (12 1/4>x 8<3/8><"> and highly illustrated; the text is non-technical, more for inspiration and enjoyment than for specific information. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

About the Author

Ezio Manzini is professor of industrial design at the Polytechnic of Milan; director of CIRIS, an Interdepartmental Centre of Research on Innovation for Sustainability; co-ordinator of the "Dottorato in Disegno industriale" (Ph.D. in Industrial Design); director of the master in strategic design. Currently he is also chair professor of design under the distinguished-scholars scheme at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His work focuses on innovative processes in the system of production and consumption and, in particular, on the relationship between product strategies and environmental policies in the perspective of sustainable development. He is member of the Editorial Board of: Journal of Industrial Ecology (USA), Journal for Sustainable Product Design (UK), Design Issues (USA) and Design Recherche (France), Pluriverso (Italy).