California: Designing Freedom

(Paperback)

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Description

This book examines California's enormous impact on contemporary design, from 1960s counterculture to Silicon Valley's tech culture. On a more expansive level, it explores the idea that California has pioneered tools of personal liberation - from LSD to iPhones. This ambitious survey brings together political posters and portable devices, but also looks at how user interface designers are shaping some of our most common daily experiences. Californian products have influenced contemporary life to such an extent that in some ways we are now all Californians.

Reviews

"Explores the idea that California has pioneered tools of personal liberation - from LSD to surfboards and iPhones... Ambitious... Californian products have influenced contemporary life across the globe to such an extent that in some ways we are all now Californians. Put simply, 'Designed in California' is the new 'Made in Italy'."MrsD-Daily.com

"An illustrated book that would look chic on any California coffee table, yet one that packs an impressive heft with five original essays by design scholars and practioners."New Scientist

Author Bio

Justin McGuirk is a writer and curator based in London. He is the chief curator at the Design Museum and the head of Design Curating & Writing at Design Academy Eindhoven. He has been the director of Strelka Press, the design critic of The Guardian, and the editor of Icon magazine. In 2012 he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture for an exhibition he curated with Urban Think Tank. His book Radical Cities: Across Latin America in Search of a New Architecture is published by Verso.

Brendan McGetrick is an independent writer, editor, and designer. His work has appeared in publications in over twenty countries, including Wired, Art Review, Domus, and Vogue Nippon. His projects include the books MAD Dinner (Actar), Urban China: Work In Progress (Timezone 8), and Who is Architecture (Domus/Timezone 8). In 2011, he curated Unnamed Design, a component of the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale, in collaboration with Ai Weiwei. In 2014, he co-curated Fair Enough in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. From 2002 to 2006 he was head writer at the research studio AMO.