A stunning visual record of a great American design team (5/5)

Another Eames book worth checking out is The world of Charles and Ray Eames (ISBN 978 0847847655)

I've always enjoyed looking through this book because of the editorial format, It reveals the work of Charles and Ray from the perspective of the year it was created. Starting in 1941 with their experimental molded plywood seating and running right through to 1984 with a teak and leather sofa for Herman Miller's Swiss company Vitra.

The creative output for each year is revealed with captioned photos and graphics (over 3500 with plenty in color) and an essay about the work. Nicely there is a list of all the people in the Eames office who worked on each product. It's possible to follow the couple's initial work on molded plywood then into toys, graphics, architecture, exhibition design, books and short educational films but year after year they created seating designs for Herman Miller.

The book is incredibly comprehensive (though it lacks an index) and handsomely designed by John and Marilyn Neuhart, which I think adds to its appeal.

 REVIEW NOTE Many of the pages in the book are devoted to the short films Charles and Ray created, you can get thirty-five of these on a wonderful six DVD box set 'The Films of Charles & Ray Eames' (ASIN B0009S2K92) they are available individually but cost a lot more than the box set.

 

LA buildings deserve much better than this (1/5)

I should have known this book was an also-ran. It cost a bit less than the postage and arrived still shrink-wrapped..so new. I recently reviewed Mike Kelly's excellent 2019 published book on contemporary LA architecture (ISBN 9783791384771) he photographed fifty buildings, some of which are in LA 2000+ but his photos beautifully capture the essence of the exteriors and interiors. 

This book, from 2006, is full of photos that do very little to help the reader appreciate the city's remarkable architectural creativity. Mostly they are taken at odd angles and confusing close-ups. Another problem is the hopeless layout. Colored panels run across pages with the copy in almost page width lines. Photos butt together, headings on colored panels run over photos despite plenty of white space for the heading.

No wonder the book was so cheap to buy. It'll not stay long on my shelves.