From the blurb:

The developments in consumer design in the years since the Second World War have been numerous, dramaticand profound.

As the industrialized societies of Europe, the United States and Japan emerged from the chaos and economic strictures of wartime, their household products closely reflected the environment of change, upheaval and new-found freedom in which, and for which, they were designed.

Design Since 1945 is a comprehensive document featuring all the landmark works that signal the evolution of design from the style of the Bauhaus to Post-Modernism, and written by a group of leading designers and manufacturers who not only witnessed the sequence of events in their fields over four decades, but also have themselves helped to shape design history.

The general concerns of design during this period are first introduced by such well-known names as Max Bill, Philip Rosenthal and Marco Zanuso in a series of essays on design and theory, process, marketing, the consumer, technology, environment, society and government. A wide-ranging survey then illustrates major works in the areas of appliances, ceramics and glass, furniture, lighting, metalwork, plastics, textiles and wood, each presented by a leading specialist on the subject.

Biographies, with selected references for some 250 designers, and an extensive bibliography, make this superbly produced book a unique reference tool for students, practitioners in the field, those interested in design history - as well as anyone interested in understanding the origins of key aspects of the modern environment.

With 530 illustrations, 80 in colour