Fewer, Better Things : The Hidden Wisdom of Objects.

Description

From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age. Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects that have nurtured human development for thousands of years. The objects are still here, but we seem to care less and know less about them. In his presentations to groups, he often asks an audience member what he or she knows about the chair the person is sitting in. Few people know much more than whether it's made of wood, plastic, or metal. If we know little about how things are made, it's hard to remain connected to the world around us. Fewer, Better Things explores the history of craft in its many forms, explaining how raw materials, tools, design, and technique come together to produce beauty and utility in handmade or manufactured items. Whether describing the implements used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the use of woodworking tools, or the use of new fabrication technologies, Adamson writes expertly and lovingly about the aesthetics of objects, and the care and attention that goes into producing them. Reading this wise and elegant book is a truly transformative experience.  Read more... Intro Half Title By the Same author Title Page Contents Introduction: Engaging with the Objects Around Us 1: Life on Pumpkin Creek 2: A Few Words on Craft 3: The Paper Challenge 4: Being "Hands On" 5: Tricks of the Trade 6: Tooling Up 7: Learning by Doing 8: Prototyping 9: One Thing for Another 10: Face to Face 11: Communities of Respect 12: Finding Our Way 13: The Contact Zone 14: The Paradise of Touch 15: The View from the Hardware Store 16: Time to Pay Attention 17: The Myth of the Dumb Object 18: Going Deep 19: The Way of Tea 20: All That Is Left 21: Small Worlds 22: Fewer, Better Things23: To Have and to Hold 24: Thinking Things Through 25: Material Science 26: Handle … with Care 27: Anchor Points 28: The View from Tucumcari 29: Thinking Inside the Box 30: Material Histories 31: The Itinerary of Plastic 32: A Book of Secrets 33: Facts, Not Opinions 34: Two Castes, One People? Epilogue: The Virtues of Things Acknowledgments Notes Index A Note on the Author Copyright