Overview

Shortlisted for the Design History Society Scholarship Prize 2001-2002 What do things mean? What does the life of everyday objects after the check-out reveal about people and their material worlds? Has the quest for the real thing become so important because the high tech world of total virtuality threatens to engulf us? This pioneering book bridges design theory and anthropology to offer a new and challenging way of understanding the changing meanings of contemporary human-object relations. The act of consumption is only the starting point in objects lives. Thereafter they are transformed and invested with new meanings that reflect and assert who we are. Defining design as things with attitude differentiates the highly visible fashionable object from ordinary artefacts that are taken for granted. Through case studies ranging from reproduction furniture to fashion and textiles to clutter, the author traces the connection between objects and authenticity, ephemerality and self-identity. But beyond this, she shows the materiality of the everyday in terms of space, time and the body and suggests a transition with the passing of time from embodiment to disembodiment.
ISBN-13

9781859733646

ISBN-10

1859733646

Weight

1.55 Pounds

Dimensions

6.14 x 0.75 x 9.21 In

List Price

$175.00

Edition

1st Edition

Format

Hardcover

Language

English

Pages

336 pages

Publisher

Berg Publishers

Published On

2000-12-01


View All Offers

Sort by:

Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
✨ Used, Very Good
Seller details
Midtown Scholar Bookstore
★★★★★

Harrisburg, PA, USA

Very Good-Crisp, clean, unread book with some shelfwear/edgewear, may have a remainder mark-NICE Sta...
$20.88

 Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026

Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
★★★★☆

Santa Clarita, CA, USA

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
$71.22

 Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026


Bookstores.com relies on cookies to improve your experience.