Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A comprehensive guide to the design materials of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Four chapters trace the history of design materials from the origins of mass production in the Industrial Revolution to contemporary uses of wood, metals, and synthetics, and explores their potential roles in the future of the design industry. Each chapter is written by an expert in the domain.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• A Brief History (p. 6)
• Distant Past and New Materials (p. 8)
• Military Advances in Peacetime (p. 29)
• Groundbreaking Materials (p. 49)
• United They Stand: The Strength of Composite Materials (p. 57)
• The Virtual in a Material World (p. 70)
• Towards Ecological Design (p. 74)
• From Materials to Design (p. 88)
• Natural Materials (p. 92)
• Minerals (p. 134)
• Metals (p. 168)
• The Uncertainties of Research (p. 213)
• Shape Memory Materials (p. 214)
• Plastics (p. 216)
• Composite Materials (p. 245)
• Polymer Nanocomposites (p. 251)
• A Word About Stock-Removal Technique (p. 251)
• So Which Materials Should We Choose? (p. 257)
• Digital Material (p. 264)
• The Computer in the Service of the Designer (p. 269)
• The Digital Image in the Search for a Cultural Identity (p. 286)
• Slot Machines (p. 291)
• Interactivity (p. 292)
• The Designer in the Service of Computing: First, the Box... (p. 294)
• ...Then Software Design, the Art of the Interface, and the Icon (p. 297)
• Digital Material (p. 297)
• Silicon, a New Raw Material? (p. 310)
• Ecology Sells (p. 312)
• The Era of Industrial Design (p. 318)
• A Time of Questioning (p. 322)
• The Paradigm of New Materials (p. 326)
• Appendices (p. 340)
• Biographies (p. 340)
• Selective Bibliography (p. 344)
• Index (p. 348)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Sheathed in a silver and red cover with a silver-edged text block, this French publication's machine aesthetic speaks volumes about its subject: the history of industrial design narrated through the use of innovative techniques and materials. The four sections, each ingeniously illustrated with archival photographs and authored by a different industrial design specialist, comprise discussion of industrial design history, natural and synthetic materials, "digital material," and the greening of design. By foregrounding the materials used to create such objects as chairs, radios, and tables, rather than simply identifying their styles, the book presents a history running parallel to most design history works. Sections devoted to natural materials, minerals, and plastics provide useful information about the how the material came to be used in design and the names of designers who used them effectively, reversing the customary hierarchy that places designers at the top of the production pyramid. This method also serves an environmental purpose; focusing on materials makes readers aware of the consequences of consuming natural resources and adding industrial pollutants to the atmosphere. The role of the designer who manipulates materials, then, becomes crucial to the survival of the planet. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through faculty. K. Rhodes Hollins University