A John Heskett Reader: Design, History, Economics

Description

A John Heskett Reader brings together a selection of the celebrated design historian John Heskett's key works, introduced and edited by Clive Dilnot of Parsons, the New School, USA. Heskett, who passed away in early 2014, was a pioneering British-born writer and lecturer. His research was foundational for the study of industrial design, and his research into the relationship between design, policy and economic value is still a regular reference-point for academics and students alike. This anthology represents well the great range of his work, covering such varied topics as the growth of Japanese industrialism, modernism in the Third Reich, and 1980's corporate design management. Including both hard-to-access and previously unpublished material like Crafts, Commerce and Industry and Economic Value of Design, the book demonstrates Heskett's passionate interest in exploring the relationship of design and making with economic value across the entirety of human history. Featured texts include, What is Design, Chinese Design: what can we learn from the past?, The 'American System' and Mass Production, The Industrial Applications of Tubular Steel, Creative Destruction: the nature and consequences of change through design, Reflections on Design and Hong Kong, besides many others.

Clive Dilnot is professor of Design Studies at Parsons The New School for Design, New York, USA. Recent publications include Ethics? Design? (2005) and, as co-author, Design and the Question of History (Bloomsbury, 2014).

The Heskett reader is a must for designers, historians, economists, and students who are considering the charged relationship between design and the world. In a remarkable collection, Dilnot has brought together essays that make Heskett's global and multidisciplinary reach evident. It is a pleasure to see Heskett's classic texts - along with some of his unpublished work - brought together in one marvellous book. * Dr David Brody, Associate Professor of Design Studies at Parsons, The New School, USA * John Heskett's personal voice, quiet intensity, and certain integrity bring to his writings on design an unshakeable sense of its profound implications. This collection encompasses early work in design history, reflections on design in business, and observations on design in Hong Kong, and also summarizes events of his substantial career. * Dr Jeffrey L Meikle, Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA * From design history's early years in the 1970s to governments worldwide reengaging with design in the 2000s, Heskett brought a clear, inimitable voice to design writing, thinking and practice and shaped how generations of designers and historians learnt to see design: embedded in economic and social structures, and having real social and economic impact. The readings collected here underscore the importance of design for policymaking, past and present, and show how economics and policymaking benefit from a historian's eye. His ideas are as fresh and important now as when first written. * Dr Sarah Teasley, Head of Programme for Design History at the V&A / Royal College of Art, UK * Heskett's distinctive contribution to the early shaping of design history introduced social, political and economic history as integral dimensions of study and research in the field. He later contributed insights into design economics, policy and management at a time when such terms were too often bandied about imprecisely. * Jonathan M Woodham, Professor of Design History at the University of Brighton, UK * Clive Dilnot's edition of A John Heskett Reader: Design, History, Economics is a curious anomaly to all of the above Reader categories. This is the first Reader in design history that is singularly arranged around the oeuvre of one of its pioneers...Dilnot's mission is to present a selection of Heskett's writing-not to pick it apart but to provide starting points for further enquiry. * Journal of Design History *