Product Description

Scandtastic! (TASCHEN's 25th anniversary special edition) Scandinavians are exceptionally gifted in design. They are world-famous for their inimitable, democratic designs which bridge the gap between crafts and industrial production. The marriage of beautiful, organic forms with everyday functionality is one of the primary strengths of Scandinavian design and one of the reasons why Scandinavian creations are so cherished and sought after. This guide provides a detailed look at Scandinavian design from 1900 to the present day, with In-depth entries on featured designers and design-led companies, plus essays on the similarities and differences in approach between Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94275 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-26
• Format: Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

About the Author
Charlotte and Peter Fiell run a design consultancy in London specializing in the sale, acquisition, study and promotion of design artifacts. They have lectured widely, curated a number of exhibitions, and written numerous articles and books on design and designers, including TASCHEN'S Decorative Arts series, 1000 Chairs, Design of the 20th Century, Industrial Design A-Z, Designing the 21st Century, and Graphic Design for the 21st Century.

Customer Reviews

Scandtastic!
At last - a quality book about a neglected area of design. Charlotte and Peter Fiell have produced a fantastic guide to 20th century Scandinavian design which covers all areas of design - furniture, glass, ceramics etc and includes all major designers.Each entry includes a concise and well-written piece of biographical and analytical text( informative and at the same time just the right length to keep you interested) accompanied by superb colour photographs. The book also provides a brief history of Scandinavian design over the last century which highlights the differences and similarities in approach between each Scandinavian country.This is a book that can be read from cover to cover, dipped into or just enjoyed for its visual impact. I love everything about this book!

Huge variety of stylish furniture
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RIQ7V8L6HWQZJ Right at the start is an introduction to Scandinavian design. Included also is a brief history into each of the countries featured in the book, namely Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It looks at their design influence and trends.

This is an essentially a catalog book which showcase the many designers and their work. They appear alphabetically in the book. Each designer comes with a brief introduction.

There are hundreds of photos in this hardcover book. While this is a product design book, the focus is specifically on furniture. As such, there are lots of tables, chairs, lamps and indoor decorative objects.

There's a great variety of style to look at, although I can't personally distinguish the design differences between countries. It's a great book, recommended more to interior designers, furniture makers and product designers.

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Democratic objects
Another one of those excellent Fiell/Taschen overviews on design. This time, a huge 704 page, beautifully designed and printed pictorial collection of the essence of Scandinavian creativity. Although it covers the obvious furniture, metalware, glass, textiles and ceramics it also considers commercial products from companies like Fiskars, Hasselblad, IKEA, Lego, Saab, Volvo and nicely, even a company like Kompan, a producer of childrens playground equipment that is sold worldwide. I think this one reason for the commercial and creative success of Scandinavian products, they believe that good, simple design should be applied to everything and be available to all, the introduction calls these products democratic objects.

The book is a joy to look at. Each designer (or company with their logo) starts on a spread with a small head shot of the person, some text and the rest of the space, sometimes over several pages, devoted to photos. Interestingly with so many photos (more than 1600) many of which came from various sources, the colour values are very similar and they all blend together throughout the book. I think Taschen are to be congratulated on producing (yet again) a stunning looking book that covers the subject so well and anyone involved with craft creativity and design will be pleased to have a copy.