Published in 2023
314 pages
Anne Massey is professor of design and culture at Huddersfield University and professorial fellow at the University of the Creative Arts, England. She is the author of The Independent Group: Modernism and Mass Culture, 1945–1959; Interior Design Since 1900; and six other books. She has edited five volumes, including A Companion to Contemporary Design Since 1945, and was founding coeditor of the journal Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture. She lives in London.
What is this book about?
A comprehensive history of women designers working internationally from 1900 to the present day.
The work of women designers has not traditionally been the focus of mainstream histories of design. By revealing the untold story of female design pioneers, this comprehensive introduction celebrates their crucial role in the history of modern processes of making.
Arranged chronologically, this guide considers the structural barriers to professional success and how women overcame these hurdles, charting the success of designers including Anni Albers at the Bauhaus, the architect Eileen Grey, interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe and fashion icon Mary Quant, focusing on the key subjects of architecture, craft, fashion, furniture, graphics, interior, product and textile design. The link between early twentieth-century revolutionary design and lifestyle is explored, as well the ideas of shopping and consumerism as a liberating activity. The important contribution of designers during and after the Second World War is also discussed, along with design activism, design collectives and the current success of women working transnationally in architecture and design.
