Safe: Design Takes on Risk

Modern designs to keep us safe, from self-defense to shelter

Safety is an instinctive need that has guided human choices throughout history. Now more than ever, it has become not only a focus, but almost an obsession. Designers are trained to mediate between disruptive change and normalcy and can soothe people's anxiety. When scientific revolutions happen, they translate them into objects that people can understand and use. Good design provides protection and security without sacrificing the need to innovate and invent. This book and the exhibition that it accompanies document the unique objects that designers have created to answer people's needs, both physical and psychological. Physical objects include shelters for victims of disasters and homeless people, hideaway furniture and personal armor and protective gear, while psychological objects include those that thwart identity theft, offer self-defense, and provide comforting reassurance. The objects presented here reflect how good design goes hand-in-hand with personal needs.

This book includes an introductory essay by Paola Antonelli, Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York; an essay by Phil Patton on cars; another by Marie O'Mahony on materials and technologies; and a third by Cameron Sinclair on design for refugees and third-world facilities. The issues addressed by each of these authors will find resonance in people's minds and souls.

Paola Antonelli joined The Museum of Modern Art in 1994, where she is a Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design.