Starting out as a designer of bags and hats, Orla Kiely has built an international reputation based on her colourful and distinctive pattern designs. Today, her hugely popular 'Multi Stem' design can be found on dozens of products including kitchenware, stationery, furniture and wallpaper as well as fabrics. In this attractively produced book, she explores her influences, explains and illustrates her approach to pattern design and describes how she has built up her successful business.

The American-born Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954) was one of the outstanding graphic artists of his generation. Arriving in England, via Germany and France, in 1913, he chanced to meet Frank Pick, publicity manager for the London Underground, and began producing the posters for which he is now famous. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

One of several women textile designers at the Wiener Werkstätte in the 1930s, Josephine Groag (1903–86) fled anti-Semitism in Austria in 1939. Settled in London, she became influential in the renaissance of pattern design that began after the Second World War and continued into the 1950s and 1960s. This volume from the Textile Design series comprises illustrated essays on aspects of Groag’s work followed by a magnificent gallery of over 90 full-page reproductions of her designs.

In the Soviet Union the years 1927 to 1933 were ones of intense industrialization and collectivization, aiming to transform old Russia into a modern, mechanized society. Designers played their part and motifs such as gears, aeroplanes and locomotives, sports and agriculture appeared in fabrics, reinforcing industrial and social ideas. This book draws on the Lloyd Cotsen fabrics collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to examine this short-lived but intriguing experiment in thematic design.

Alexander Rodchenko (1891–1953) was a central figure in the Russian Constructivist art movement: a radical activist, a pioneer of photomontage and a theorist, re-examining the place of art in the post-Revolution, classless society. This volume focuses on his graphic work for book jackets, posters and advertisements. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

Edward Bawden (1903–89) was one of the most innovative graphic designers of the 20th century, whose work included ceramics, murals, book jackets and illustrations for the Curwen Press and Faber and Faber and advertising artwork, notably for Shell, London Transport, and Fortnum & Mason. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

The 1951 Festival of Britain was a celebration of the end of post-war austerity and a showcase for British arts, science and trade for the future. This book examines the objects and printed ephemera produced to commemorate the Festival and features work by major designers, including the many variants of Abram Games’s Festival emblem.The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

One of the most highly regarded of Britain’s 20th century artists, John Piper (1903–92) was also a designer in a variety of media, notably book jackets and illustration, including his Brighton Aquatints (1939), published by the Curwen Press; but also murals, textiles and stained glass. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

Harold Curwen and Oliver Simon jointly ran the Curwen Press during its heyday, commissioning illustration and jacket design from outstanding artists such as Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash and Edward Ardizzone. This volume looks at the whole range of books and printed ephemera it produced between 1915 and the late 1930s. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

Although known today mainly for his poster, costume and the stage sets for Nigel Playfair's 1920 production of The Beggar's Opera, Claud Lovat Fraser worked in a great variety of media including watercolours, caricature, fabric design, book illustration and the design of pattern-papers, particularly for the Curwen Press and Poetry Bookshop. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

FHK Henrion was one of a distinguished group of graphic designers – refugees from Europe during the 1930s – who brought cutting edge design to England. As well as poster and exhibition designs, this book covers his work in corporate identity, creating iconic logos for companies such as Tate and Lyle, Blue Circle Cement and the National Theatre. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

Best known for his cutlery and silverwares, David Mellor (1930–2009) referred to himself as an 'instinctive modernist' and his designs – particularly public commissions such as Abacus bus shelters, street lighting and litter bins – helped modernize the post-war British landscape. The Design series presents introductions to some of the great names in British book design, illustration and typography. Each book is exceptionally well illustrated, with fine reproductions accompanied by a concise and informative essay on a designer’s career or a significant moment in the history of 20th-century design.

In 1933, Stephen Tallents, who had been working on posters for the Empire Marketing Board, joined the General Post Office (GPO) to revitalize its public relations and advertising campaigns. He was to become a major patron of art and design, commissioning work by designers such as Edward McKnight Kauffer, Lewitt-Him and Frank Newbould. This volume describes the major personalities and themes of Tallents’s ambitious project.

A richly illustrated sourcebook, this journey through 3,000 years of pattern styles reveals geographical and cultural contrasts and connections from late Bronze Age metalwork motifs to 21st-century fashion design. Including a visual timeline, analyses of elements of pattern, biographies of the great innovators and examples from textiles, paintings, mosaics, engravings and architecture from around the world, the book provides an inspirational design resource and an expert guide to the history and development of pattern in art.

Arthur Sanderson set up as an importer of French wallpaper in London in 1860, but changing tastes and new technologies meant that he was soon producing his own designs and establishing a name that still stands for quality and taste in interior design today. This highly illustrated volume describes the development of the company and its products from the Arts and Crafts style of its early wallpapers to mid-20th-century, modernist-influenced designs and today's interpretations of classic patterns. Slightly off-mint.

Under the direction of the designer Shirley Craven (b.1934), Hull Traders was one of the most innovative and influential textile studios of the 1960s; its bold, vivid patterns perfectly captured the exuberance and iconoclasm of the era. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, this stylish book celebrates a remarkable creative partnership, and reproduces more than 125 vibrant fabrics by such celebrated artists as Eduardo Paolozzi (1924–2005), Ivon Hitchens (1893–1979) and Althea McNish (b.1933).

An ‘outbreak of talent’ was how Paul Nash described the group of students he taught at the Royal College of Art in 1924–5. Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman and Enid Marx formed the core of a network of artists, friends and lovers influenced by Nash. This group biography explores their lives and relationships from the 1920s to Ravilious’s death in 1942 and, with reproductions of over 200 examples, it examines their painting, illustration and a variety of work in commercial design.

The widely influential Art Deco style perhaps attained its highest expression in France, where the term was coined in the 1920s. With background essays, profiles of the leading artists and large-format photographs, this exhibition catalogue examines over 80 masterpieces from the collection held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Examples include furniture, textiles, interiors and decorative objects by French-based designers such as René Lalique, Jean Dunand, Raoul Dufy and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

Slightly off-mint and felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

This introduction to consumer goods, packaging and posters created in China follows the country’s design industry over the last century. An opening essay explores the role of product development in driving manufacturing and the economy, before a closer look at over 80 items including clocks, glassware and kitchen appliances reveals the changing needs of the population, as well as tastes and trends.

Slightly off-mint.