Global Design History

<p>Globalism is often discussed using abstract terms such as ‘networks’ or ‘flows’ and usually in relation to recent history. <em>Global Design History</em> moves us past this limited view of globalism broadening our sense of this key term in history and theory. </p><p>Individual chapters focus our attention on objects and the stories they can tell us about cultural interactions on a global scale. They place these concrete things into contexts such as trade empire mediation and various forms of design practice. Among the varied topics included are: </p><ul> <ul> </ul> <li>the global underpinnings of Renaissance material culture</li> <li>the trade of Indian cottons in the eighteenth-century</li> <li>the Japanese tea ceremony as a case of ‘import substitution’ </li> <li>German design in the context of empire </li> <li>handcrafted modernist furniture in Turkey </li> <li>Australian fashions employing ‘ethnic’ motifs </li> <li>an experimental UK-Ghanaian design partnership</li> <li>Chinese social networking websites </li> <li>the international circulation of contemporary architects.</li> <ul> </ul> </ul><p>Featuring work from leading design historians each chapter is paired with a ‘response’ designed to expand the discussion and test the methodologies on offer. An extensive bibliography and resource guide will also aid further research providing students with a user friendly model for approaches to global design. </p><p><em>Global Design History </em>will be useful for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students academics and researchers in design history and art history and related subjects such as anthropology craft studies and cultural geography.</p>