Aram 50th Anniversary Library

Furniture retailer Aram is celebrating 50 years in the business with an exhibition which is also a library of inspiration.

Wallpaper editor at large Henrietta Thompson has chosen The Art of  Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher
Wallpaper editor at large Henrietta Thompson has chosen The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher

Friends and colleagues of Aram Design have been invited to nominate a book that has inspired them or made an impact on their life or career.

The Aram 50th Anniversary Library presents the books along with the rationale for selection by the nominee and will open for public perusal next month.

Wallpaper editor at large Henrietta Thompson has chosen The Art of  Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher
Wallpaper editor at large Henrietta Thompson has chosen The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher

It will run until the end of the year when the collection will be donated to a design or architecture school.

Alex Lifschutz of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands has chosen Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek, a book first published in 1971 and since translated into 23 languages.

Alex Lifschutz has chosen Design for The Real World by Victor Papanek
Alex Lifschutz has chosen Design for The Real World by Victor Papanek

Papanek guides readers through how design can reduce pollution, overcrowding, starvation, and obsolescence, effecting real change. The main message is out with ‘fetish objects for a wasteful society’ and in with morally and environmentally responsive design.

Paul Smith has chosen A Visual Inventory by John Pawson
Paul Smith has chosen A Visual Inventory by John Pawson

Sir Paul Smith has chosen A Visual Inventory by architect John Pawson, published by Phaidon in 2012, while John Pawson himself has in turn chosen a book called Architecture of Truth by Lucien Hervé, also published by Phaidon, in 2001.  

John Pawson has chosen Architecture of Truth by Lucien Herve
John Pawson has chosen Architecture of Truth by Lucien Herve

Deputy director of the London Design Festival Max Fraser has chosen De Stijl by Paul Overy, which was first published by Thames and Hudson in 1991.

Max Fraser has chosen De Stijl by Paul Overy
Max Fraser has chosen De Stijl by Paul Overy

It is in essence a book about Dutch magazine De Stijl (The Style) and the name given to the design and architecture associated with the title.

De Stijl was founded in 1917 and gave a global perspective on modernism, bringing together movements like Bauhaus and Russian Constructivism in its pages.

Piers Gough has chosen Small Medium Large Extra Large by Rem Koolhaas
Piers Gough has chosen Small Medium Large Extra Large by Rem Koolhaas

Aram 50th Anniversary Library runs from 8 May until the end of the year at the Aram Store, 110 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5SG

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