Pasta by Design

Description

This is not a cookbook; it is a totally fresh and idiosyncratic look at pasta. The pasta family tree reveals unexpected relationships between pasta shapes, their usage and common DNA. Architect George L. Legendre has profiled 92 different kinds of pasta, classifying them into types using 'phylogeny' (the study of relatedness among natural forms). Each spread is devoted to a single pasta, and explains its geographical origin, its process of manufacture and its etymology - alongside suggestions for minute-perfect preparation. Next the shape is rendered as an equation and as a diagram that shows every distinctive scrunch, ridge and crimp with loving precision. Superb photographs by Stefano Graziani show all the elegant contours. Finally, a multi-page foldout features a 'Pasta Family Reunion' diagram, reassembling all the pasta types and grouping them by their mathematical and geometric properties!

George L. Legendre is a partner at IJP Architects in London, and was shortlisted for the NY MoMA PSI pavilion in the summer of 2011. IJP's work has been featured on the cover of the RIBA Journal, Mondo Arc Perspective + and Icon Magazine. George has guest-edited a special issue of AD Magazine on the Mathematics of Sensible Things.

'Fun, quirky and sure to become a cult food and design publication ... utterly unique - and beautiful' - Dezeen.com 'Playful proof that immense variety and seeming complexity can be reduced to simple mathematical beginnings' - New Scientist ''Pasta by Design' not only examines the hidden genius of what makes great design but also embodies the explicit intention of what makes a great design book - a thoughtful cross section of art, science, and pragmatism delivered' - designersandbooks.com 'Of all the pasta taxonomies ever conceived, George. L. Legendre's is certainly one of the most original and poetic' - Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Museum of Modern Art