20th Century Pattern Design: Textile and Wallpaper Pioneers

Patterns-bold, colorful, muted, delicate, intricate, splashy, spare, figurative, abstract, dizzying, calming-are the subject in this comprehensive reference, the first to examine pattern as an essential part of twentieth-century design history. With stunning color plates and lively text, Lesley Jackson takes readers on a tour of the development of twentieth-century patterns from around the world. Organized by decade, Twentieth-Century Pattern Design details the technical innovations that affected the development of modern textiles and wallpapers. Focusing on surface pattern in the home, Jackson draws frequent parallels to the worlds of fashion, packaging, and graphics, and explores the interrelationship between painting and pattern design. The result is a book as inspiring as it is informative. Twentieth-Century Pattern Design is an invaluable resource for modern design enthusiasts and historians, collectors and interior and graphic designers.

Lesley Jackson is a freelance writer and curator specialisting in 20th-century design, and the author of three highly acclaimed studies of the post-war period: The New Look - Design in the Fifties (1991); 'Contemporary' Architecture and Interiors of the 1950s (1994); The Sixties - Decade of Design Revolution (1998). A regular contributor to magazines and newspapers, including The Independent and Crafts, she is also an expert on international modern glass. Her books in this field include Whitefriars Glass - The Art of James Powell & Sons (1996), and 20th Century Factory Glass (2000). Here most recent Mitchell Beazley publication, Robin and Lucienne Day - Pioneers of Contemporary Design (2001), accompanied a highly successful exhibition that she curated at the Barbican Art Gallery, London. In 2001 she also curated a major international touring exhibition for the British Council called 'Home Sweet Home - Contemporary British Design for the Home'.