EVERY THING DESIGN

EVERY THING DESIGN

A collector’s piece full of collector’s pieces: 800 pages of design classics in an unusual book-object.

 How is a design object perceived? How does this perception change over time? Why would a museum include it in a collection, and how is its significance and value established? The descriptive phrase “value change” is used to indicate, over the decades, recurring hallmarks of quality and alterations in the reception of everyday and artistic design culture.

Seven hundred objects—prints, handcrafted items, posters, designs—selected from the collection of the Museum für Gestaltung inZurich (founded in 1875), are organized according to various criteria and commented upon here. This results in surprising associations which reexamine the issues of trends, design, production, and reception. As a book, Every Thing Design itself is an extraordinarily unusual object created by Dutch designer Irma Boom, one of the most innovative book designers in the world. 

Edited by Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Christian Brändle, Verena Formanek, texts by Glenn Adamson, Paola Antonelli, Irma Boom, Christian Brändle, Verena Formanek, Renate Menzi.

Exhibition schedule: Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich, April 4–July 19, 2009