Dayanita Singh: Book Building
Dayanita Singh and Simrat Dugal
Design: The Whole Story takes a close look at the key developments, movements and practitioners of design around the world, from the beginnings of industrial manufacturing to the present day. Organized chronologically, it locates design within its technological, cultural, economic, aesthetic and theoretical contexts.
From the high-minded moralists of the 19th century to the radical thinkers of modernism – and from the emergence of showmen such as Raymond Loewy in the 1930s to today’s superstars such as Philippe Starck – the book provides in-depth coverage of a subject that touches all our lives. Iconic works that mark significant steps forward or that characterize a particular era or approach – such as Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair of 1925, Eliot Noyes’ corporate identity work for IBM in the 1950s and Matthew Carter’s Verdana typeface, designed to be read on screen – are analysed in detail, while the text sets out the framework of ideas, intent and technology within which differing approaches to design have evolved.
From the cars we drive and the products we buy to the graphics that surround us, we are all consumers of design. Design: The Whole Story provides all the information needed to decode the material world.
Dayanita Singh was born in New Delhi in 1961 and studied at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and the International Center of Photography in New York. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; the Art Institute of Chicago; Hayward Gallery, London; the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; and the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. In 2013 she represented Germany at the Venice Biennale. Bookmaking is central to Singh’s practice. Her books with Steidl include Privacy (2004), Chairs (2005) Go Away Closer (2007), Sent a Letter (2007), Dream Villa (2010), File Room (2013), Museum of Chance (2014), Museum Bhavan (2017)—Book of the Year at the 2017 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards and recipient of the 2018 ICP Infinity Award for Artist’s Book—and Zakir Hussain Maquette (2019).