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Rachel Gotlieb and Cora Golden's lavishly illustrated
Design in Canada: Fifty Years from Teakettles to Task Chairs delivers a feel-good overview of Canadian industrial design highlights in a package that combines serious historical research with a droll appreciation for kitsch. The description of Hugh Spencer's revolutionary 1963 stereo console is typical: "In the sixties, Clairtone's Project G stereo was the epitome of 'bachelor pad' cool.... Frank Sinatra endorsed it ('Listen to Sinatra on Project G; Sinatra does'), and G series models appeared in films such as
The Graduate and
A Fine Madness, with Sean Connery. Hugh Hefner reportedly bought a unit for the Playboy mansion." The authors have taken full advantage of their unlimited access to Toronto's Design Exchange collection--where Gotlieb is curator--to trace the commercial and aesthetic trends influencing post-war Canadian design, not to mention the impact of government initiatives supporting the manufacturing and fine arts sectors. All the big hits are here, from the first all-plastic Thermos through the wedge-shaped 70s Contempra phone to Karim Rashid's award-winning, champagne-bucket-inspired Garbo garbage can. The period photos--like that of a beehive-coifed model stretching her legs on the ottoman of the 1967 Habitat chair--are priceless. This is much more than just a coffee table book.
--Deirdre Hanna
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Winner of the Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.
Now available in paperback.
With a new introduction by renowned Canadian designer Karim Rashid.
The first major book of its kind, Design in Canada is a richly illustrated, fascinating portrait documenting more than fifty years of rich contemporary product design in this country. From the radical Project G stereo that every well-appointed, "bachelor pad" had to have, to the wedge-shaped Contempra phone that quickly convinced homeowners to replace their boring black telephones, Canadian design has entered our homes and shaped our lives. For the first time, we can look at these products through the eyes of the cutting edge designers who created them, and celebrate their achievements.
