Dirk Wynants (1964) is the founder and owner of Extremis, the innovative Belgian design label. He is also the company’s head designer and devised the powerful branding concept ‘Tools for Togetherness’. Extremis gained an international reputation as a trendsetter in outdoor furniture in just a few years, and this success story is closely linked to the inspired personality and ideals of its entrepreneur-designer. He considers contemporary design more than simply a matter of trendy and attractive objects; it is all about innovative solutions that can make the world a better place. Since 2007 Dirk Wynants Design Works or (dw)2 has been an independent entity and is open to design assignments from outside Extremis. Since Extremis was launched in 1994, Dirk Wynants has won countless international awards (e.g. the Henry Van de Velde Award, the iF and Red Dot Awards, Good Design, IDEA, DME and so on). The design critic Chris Meplon has been keeping a close eye on the Belgian and international design scene for years. Her purpose in this book is to discover the secrets behind the unique success story of the pioneering Extremis company.

Since the dawn of time, people have been fascinated by the idea of traveling to the stars, which is vividly illustrated by utopian and dystopian works of architecture, the visual arts, and cinematography. In many ways, the designs and symbols associated with space travel also found their way into popular culture in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states. Often spurned as propaganda by the West, they informed the design of mass-produced consumer goods and public art works in the USSR. While in our part of the world space travel largely turned into a political race as a result of the Cold War, its appeal found an aesthetic expression in everyday life in the East.

This book presents the results of in-depth research and extensive travels through a total of seven countries. Its prime focus is the impact of space exploration on everyday life in its pioneering age between the late 1950s and the 1980s and the persistence of related concepts and utopian ideas in today’s society. Told as a visual story, it combines artistic and documentary photography, portraits of contemporary witnesses, landscape snapshots, and historical documents. It is in part an historical investigation since many of the pioneers of the space age are no longer alive and many of the formerly ubiquitous items have disappeared.

Text in English and German.

Despite its trademark transparency, the Corum Golden Bridge is a wristwatch full of mystery. This new book describes the iconic linear timepiece’s fascinating history including the innovative mechanical invention conceived by a nonconformist autodidact and the difficult technical breakthroughs by two like-minded personalities needed to achieve the dream wristwatch. This story, chock-full of narrative substance, begins in Switzerland of the late 1970s, at a time when electronic timekeeping was threatening to overtake the magical mastery of mechanical ticks and tocks. The Golden Bridge, spanning the gap between mechanics and art, is an integral part of this era as luxury watchmaking teetered on the brink of extinction. The Golden Bridge additionally helped usher in the era of the independent watchmaker, as its very creation was rooted in shedding light on the work of the watchmaker in a way that no other timepiece before or after it ever would.

At the highest level, athletes (both men and women), do everything to peak at the right moment and go the extra mile to reach their top form. But this kind of intensity is not always possible in a job or in daily life, and it is not always healthy to go the extra mile. Egopreneur
helps you to assess your strengths in order to find more balance and resilience in your work and private life. This book is by a well-known sports and business coach, whose insights will help to maximize functionality and balance in this complex world.

Computational design is an evolving discipline that operates at the intersection of computer science, engineering, and design. It helps designers leverage technology to develop new strategies, tools, methods, and workflows for thinking about and creating the built environment. While computational design thinking and methods are considered transformative in the architecture, engineering and construction industries, the shift from promise to practice remains a challenge.This book documents the nexus of research and practical collaborations that form the basis of the Computational Design Education and Research program at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The diversity of projects outlined in this publication contributes to advancing an understanding of computational design as an interdisciplinary field that is capable of innovatively addressing real-world built environment challenges.

Contents: Computational Design Theory, Digital Fabrication and Construction, Gaming and Visual Representation, Responsive Environments, Smart and Ubiquitous Cities, BIM Modeling

How Many Is One encapsulates one of the fundamental questions at the core of art and design. This issue is highly pertinent to jewelry design as a language that seeks form through which to articulate ideas. The oeuvre of Deganit Stern Schocken (b. 1947) has delved into the socio-political question of place, creating works in which text is incorporated as an integral part of the object; in the process the artist has adhered to the classical language of jewelry while employing state-of-the-art technologies. The book explores the architectural-planning aspect in Stern Schocken’s jewellery. While each object stands in its own right (like a building), it is also part of a system (the city). The trial-and-error process of casting and the notion of ‘value’ also play an important role in the artist’s work, which alludes to local society and Israeli reality.

After the first Thai comic strip was published in 1907, comics flourished in Siam and developed in uniquely Thai ways. With diverse and leading artists working in each generation there is a wealth of material to consider. Gory horror tales, anti-communist propaganda and socially-engaged graphic novels bear witness to the country’s darker years. From 1990, Thai comics struggled to compete with the sudden influx of unlicensed Japanese manga and went through a hiatus, making a comeback in the late ’90s with a new and alternative scene that deserves wider recognition. Each page of The Art of Thai Comics opens a unique window onto Thai society – a distilled vision of its hopes, fears, delights and horrors. From 20th century interpretations of Jataka tales, which replay the Buddha’s various reincarnations, to tales of modern-day millennial angst. Thai comics past and present offer an entertaining and enlightening viewpoint onto the country’s history, culture and enduring creativity.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a generation of young Americans rejected the promise of prosperity and the suburban dream embraced by their parents. Furious about the war in Vietnam, fighting for civil rights at home, and eagerly exploring the effects of psychedelic drugs, the delights of free love, and the mystical teachings of eastern religions, thousands followed the advice to “turn on, tune in, drop out,” bringing about a counterculture in the process. For many American jewelers, these events and values found their way into the studio, as well as affecting how they lived, worked, and loved. Jewelers, like other studio craftspeople, rode the wave of popularity for the hand-made and authentic that was at the heart of the counterculture.

In Flux is the story of how their jewelry contributed to the raucous, contradictory, and enthusiastic clamour for a new kind of society that made the 1960s and 1970s so extraordinary.

Jewelry Stories highlights the Museum of Arts and Design’s unique, world-class collection of studio and contemporary art jewelry from the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia, a medium that comprises one-third of its permanent collection. Artists working in this field create jewelry rooted in sculptural experimentation and the concept of art as a wearable medium. The pieces featured represent the history of art jewelry as told from a largely US perspective. Jewelry artists are inspired by such subjects as found objects and materials, as well as by politics and pressing social issues, allowing for the development of unique, personal narratives in each piece. Each of the jewelry stories is written by an expert on the artist or subject, thus the book also celebrates the contributions they have made to the field.

Published to accompany an exhibition at Museum of Arts and Design, New York (US), on permanent display.

We live in turbulent times. In the future companies will have to take responsibility and try to provide a solution to social problems. The C A R E principles are precisely designed to help companies to stay relevant and moreover prepare for the increasingly demanding customer. This book inspires with numerous cases from all sectors, all over the world. From start-ups to multinationals. It shows that everyone, including companies, can show what they really care about.

Every entrepreneur dreams to find a success formula to quickly go viral with his/her product or service. Carole Lamarque believes that this formula for success exists, in nature. It’s called a Zoonotic: a virus that is spreading virally all over the world at lightning speed. In this book, she demonstrates with concrete examples how a zoonotic pandemic such as Covid-19 can inspire a successful viral business strategy.

Strategy execution is complex. Three out of four organizations fail to implement their strategies, despite consultancies, literature on the subject and all available best practices. But why exactly do most strategies fail? Based on leading research, real stories, case studies and practical tools, the author takes you into the world of values, beliefs, emotions and often hidden underlying motivational forces that influence individual and collective behavior in organizations. He shows how consciously and effectively dealing with these human dynamics, often neglected in the strategic process, has a major influence on the performance of your organization and the successful realization of your strategy. If you are serious about making your strategy a success, have the urge to keep asking “why”, and have the courage to take a less conventional approach, this book will inspire you.

The third volume in the ‘Car Racing’ collection, 1967 bears witness to the gradual appearance of color.

Photographers henceforth juggled rolls of both black & white and color film as they ventured as close as possible to the drivers and throngs entranced with speed and competition. Industries and automobile marques understood the full import of the tremendous platform motorsport offered them, and became ever more enthusiastic to share their stories and victories with the public. Many are mentioned in these pages, including Ford’s extraordinary epic with the Cosworth engine and triumph at Le Mans. This volume also showcases portraits of drivers from François Cevert to Bruce McLaren, and touches on the careers of legendary designers such as Jean Rédélé, Colin Chapman and Jim Hall… In their lively commentary, Johnny Rives and Manou Zurini take evident pleasure in recalling old acquaintances from the pitched fever of the track, joyfully sharing their knowledge through anecdotes and memories.

Text in English and French.

“If you didn’t manage to travel abroad this year, Homes for Nomads: Interiors of the Well-Travelled is just the ticket.”—Harrods Magazine

For the passionate traveler, a design book that features 20 gorgeous interiors that incorporate objects collected from around the world, bringing a touch of exotic and far away places into the home. The authors showcase unique objects – a Vespa, a tiki bar, a surf board, an African mask – that embody memorable and meaningful travels, and represent the nomadic spirit of the traveler in daily life. They reveal how these elements can be creatively and beautifully displayed, giving the sense of traveling at home without leaving home.

Text in English, French and Dutch.

With Japan’s unprecedented modernization in the last century, the demand for traditional boats (wasen) faded, leaving the last generation of boatbuilders with no one to teach. This is the story of the author’s apprenticeships with five Japanese masters to build their unique and endangered traditional watercraft. Brooks was the sole apprentice for each craftsman, and worked under a time-honored system in which apprentices first swept floors and sharpened tools, learning chiefly by observation with only limited direct instruction. The resulting book is part ethnography, part instruction, and part the personal story of a wooden boatbuilder fueled by a passion to preserve a craft tradition on the brink of extinction. It fills a large and long-standing gap in the literature on Japanese crafts, and will be of interest to boatbuilders, woodworkers, and all those impressed with the marvels of Japanese design and workmanship.