Endorsements

Design, it is often said, is a profession in crisis. Taking a fresh look at its past to connect with present-day features, this book revisits the history of the industrial design profession. Exploring the design profession as a socially constructed practice, the book identifies points of transition, friction and flux that have steered representation and identity in this field since the early twentieth century. Its analysis focuses on the period between 1930-1980, starting from the moment British and American industrial artists and designers self-consciously chose to pursue the path to professionalization, to establish visible public status as professionals alongside the architect and engineer. From here, the book explores the internal dramas, hopes, aspirations, insecurities and failures of men and women working as industrial designers between 1930 and 1980, a period of immense cultural and social change. Bringing new perspectives to the gendered dynamics of professionalisation and the history of design, it examines the representation of the industrial designer over time through the lens of the museum and gallery, television and film, magazines and print press, in the studio, boardroom and the home. Each chapter of the book captures moments of transition through these platforms, which give agency to the identity of design, a profession in a constant state of invention.