Atlas of Furniture Design by Vitra Design Museum

Hardcover. 2019.

At 1,028 pages, featuring 1,740 objects and spanning 237 years, this authoritative volume is without doubt the ultimate book on furniture design

The Atlas of Furniture Design is the most comprehensive overview of the history of furniture design ever published. The book documents 1,740 objects by 546 designers and 565 manufacturers, and features more than 2,500 images, from detailed object photographs to historical documentation such as interiors, patents, brochures and reference works in art and architecture.

The basis for the Atlas of Furniture Design is the furniture collection held by the Vitra Design Museum, one of the largest of its kind in the world, with more than 7,000 works. The collection is made up of pieces from key periods in design history and by the most significant designers and manufacturers of the past 200 years, including early industrial furniture in bentwood or metal, Art Nouveau and Secessionist objects, works by such protagonists of classical modernism as Le Corbusier, Gerrit Rietveld, Charlotte Perriand and Marcel Breuer, postwar figures such as Finn Juhl, Eero Saarinen and Achille Castiglioni, and postmodern and contemporary designers like Philippe Starck, Marcel Wanders and Konstantin Grcic, as well as the estates of design legends such as Charles and Ray Eames, Verner Panton, Alexander Girard, George Nelson and others.

Several years in the making, the Atlas of Furniture Design has employed a team of 71 authors and features in-depth essays providing sociocultural and design-historical context to the history of furniture design, as well as 551 detailed texts accompanying key objects. The book is enriched by a detailed annex containing designer biographies, bibliographies, a glossary of manufacturers and an index, along with information graphics offering a complementary visual approach to the history of furniture design. The Atlas of Furniture Design is both an encyclopedic reference tool and an indispensable resource for collectors, scholars and experts, as well as a beautifully designed object that speaks to design enthusiasts around the globe.