Just bought Walker & Tolpin's By Hand and Eye. I'm very interested in learning about proportions and other key design principles. Can you folks suggest another good "beginner's" design book. (Most of my stuff is square and boring.)
Thanks,
Fred
Just bought Walker & Tolpin's By Hand and Eye. I'm very interested in learning about proportions and other key design principles. Can you folks suggest another good "beginner's" design book. (Most of my stuff is square and boring.)
Thanks,
Fred
By Hound & Eye from Lost Art Press has some great lessons and exercises on proportion.
I just checked out Fine Woodworking's "Practical Furniture Design" from the library, and was enjoying it. (I'm not an expert, so browse the table of contents online, to see if it is what you are looking for.)
Any of Asher Benjamin's books are good.
Photos of home interiors of Pompeii and Herculanium and the work of the Adam brothers. The Adams said that Roman exterior designs had been inappropriately used for interior design so they designed modern interiors based on the ancient interiors but different and original. Gives you a feel for personal view point in design and the difference between old designs and their ongoing reinterpretations.
'A Pattern Language' is a good read.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
I have found that the OLD books written back in the turn of the last century are the best. Some of the utter ghastly bad things that some magazines publish as fine work are just crazy.It causes me to quickly lose interest in renewing my subscription!
If those same publishers put out books on design,I'm staying away from them!
To tell the truth,I really do not know where a person can get a good education in design these days. I was lucky. Just plain lucky.
I have to pick and choose things for inspiration these days. But,I already know good design. That's the problem.
Last edited by george wilson; 10-08-2015 at 9:27 AM.
Frank Gottshall has some good books on design, I believe he was a shop teacher in the 1940's? This is a good one.
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Craftsm...brkr=54f54c14#
George, if you havent read Soetsu Yanagi's book 'The Unknown Craftsman' you might enjoy it. It's somewhat inline with what you are saying, the craftsman who has been creating beautiful works for many years, knows intuitively what is good design. It's not until it becomes a thoughtless process that it actually does become good. He uses pottery as example, but it applies to practically all works.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
I have been blessed with an intuitive sense of good design too,Brian. I do many things without thinking them through. I guess this sounds like bragging,but it is the truth. There are other areas where I am severely lacking!
Your work is incredible George, it certainly is not bragging.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Thanks for the recommendations guys! I'll dig into these after I finish By Hand and Eye.
George - we all admire your work. It ain't braggin' when you can back it up, Sir. Wasn't it you who posted a picture of a small chest you made for The Queen? That was magnificent. We're blessed to have your advice on this forum!
One interesting design element used in many things is the golden mean. Here is a drawing for making a gauge:
https://www.quantumbalancing.com/goldenmeantemplate.htm
My last one was made by first drilling the holes in a piece and then ripping out the separate pieces.
Here is my post:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...at-s-in-a-Name
It seems fibonacci gauges come up often here on SMC.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
My favorite design book is simply a book detailing Ming furniture called "classic chinese furniture'
But I have and have read:
-Genius of japanese carpentry - Brown
-Art Deco Furniture - Duncan
-soul of a tree - Nakashima
Upholstered furniture - Fabbro
Timberframe home - Benson
The home cabinetmaker - Burch
The Unknown Craftsman - Yanagi
Tansu - Heineken
Architecture - Ching
Architecture - Hymann
Mouldings in Practice - Bickford
LeCorbusier and the concept of self
LeCorbusier the noble savage
LeCorbusier The poetics of the machine and metaphor
A pattern language
The Art of Japanese joinery - Seiki
Japanese woodworking tools - Odate
Shoji and Kumiko - King
Crafting a Modern world - Raymond
Poul Kjearholm furniture architect
Nature Form and Spirit - Nakashima
Not quite design books but helpful;
A moveable feast by Hemingway
History of Italian Renaissance art - Hartt
Masterpieces of Japanese Prints -
Uffizi gallery
The moment of Caravaggio
Bumbling forward into the unknown.