Influential Interiors : Shaping 20th-Century Style Through Key Interior Designers

Not the best... not the worst

I use this book for design classes I teach to give class members an overview to influential and iconic designers, some of who are still working today. 24 designers are classified under particular styles: opulent, classic, elegant, contemporary, eclectic and organic.The quality of images is excellent of the designers' rooms. There is a brief background on each designer with their quotes about their work. There is a great mix of European and American designers. With the popularity of Pinterest, many of the images of older designers' work is being distributed and interest is being raised in learning more about designes such as John Fowler, Sister Parish, Elsie De Wolfe and Michael Taylor, for example.There are many full-page pictures of rooms with some smaller images. If you're interested in background on which designers have most shaped the design world today, this book includes 24 of the most influential designers.

This book offers a very good overview of 20th century interior design by showing the work of some specific designers. Perhaps some readers will be disappointed that a favorite is omitted, however, as the list is not all inclusive by any means. Thirty eight designers are profiled in six chapter categories and some others are mentioned and pictured in association. A wide range of styles is shown with the work as diverse as Charles & Ray Eames to that of Sister Parish & Albert Hadley. The living are given preference, with up to six pages of color coverage, while the dead, such as Elsie de Wolfe, Jean-Michel Frank, Dorothy Draper, and Billy Baldwin, rate just one page and a black & white photo. U.S. readers will no doubt fail to see the significance in the work of British designers Jonathan Reed and Jenny Armit who rate four pages each. "Design Signatures" is one of the best features; the two page spread for some designers features a photo and sample layout that shows characteristic materials of their work. Despite the short-comings, INFLUENTIAL INTERIORS is a very good compilation and a handy reference for all those who are interested in the history of interior design. And there is good photographic representation for some of the lesser-published residential interiors of designers such as Yves Gastou and Peter Marino.

There were a lot of insights about specific designers, but not many graphics on more traditional styles - I'm not sure exactly what to make of the "elegant section" at all. I was fairly disappointed with the lack of information on how a non-professional could help immerse the professional techniques into their own style, or rather, into a contemporary lifestyle.

Excellent