Anne Massey is a freelance design writer and researcher as well as Visiting Professor at Richmond, The American International University in London. She was Professor of Design and Culture at University of the Arts London until 2017. She has written eight books and has a particular interest in the ways in which histories and theories of design and culture are presented and represented over time.

A critical overview of contemporary design and its place within the broader context of art history
A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 introduces readers to a collection of specially commissioned essays exploring the complex areas of design that emerged through the latter half of the twentieth century, design history, design methods, design studies and more recently, design thinking.
The book delivers a thoughtful overview of all design disciplines and also strives to stimulate inter-disciplinary debate and examine unconsidered convergences among design applications in different fields. By offering a new perspective on design, the articles assembled here present a challenging account of the boundaries between design history and its cognate disciplines, especially art history.
The volume comprises five sections--Time, Place, Space, Objects and Audiences--that discuss environments for design and how we interact with designed objects and spaces. Notable features include:
* 24 new essays reflecting the current state of design history and theory, and examining developments on a global basis
* Contributions by eminent scholars and practitioners from around the globe
* Enriched throughout with illustrations
A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 provides a new and thought-provoking revision of our conception and understanding of contemporary design that will be essential reading for students at both undergraduate and graduate levels as well as researchers and teachers working in design history, theory and practice, and in related fields.

List of Illustrations viii
About the Editor xii
Notes on Contributors xiii
Acknowledgments xviii
Series Editor's Preface xix
Introduction 1
Anne Massey
Part I Time 7
1 Contemporary Design History 9
Sarah Teasley
2 Nostalgia 32
Elizabeth Guffey
3 Design Futures 51
Damon Taylor
Part II Place 73
4 Transnationalism for Design History: Knowledge Production and Decolonization Through East Asian Design History 75
Yuko Kikuchi
5 African Fashion Design and the Mobilization of Tradition 91
Victoria L. Rovine
6 Urban Sights: From Outdoor Streets to Interior Urbanism 111
Gregory Marinic
Part III Space 137
7 Virtual Space 139
Rina Arya
8 Interior Atmosphere 157
Lois Weinthal
9 Home Truths: Identity and Materiality in the Postwar Interior 173
Ben Highmore
10 Design of Contemporary Mega-Events 189
Graeme Evans
Part IV Object 215
11 The Vibrant Object 217
Alexa Griffith Winton
12 The Consumed Object 240
Jonathan Bean
13 The Object of Design History: Lessons for the Environment 260
Kjetil Fallan
14 The Fashionable Object 284
Christopher Breward
15 The Written Object: Design Journalism, Consumption, and Literature Since 1945 299
Grace Lees-Maffei
16 Destabilizing the Scenario of Design: Queer/Trans/ Gender-Neutral 326
John Potvin
Part V Audiences 351
17 Luxury and Design: Another Time, Another Place 353
Jonathan Faiers
18 Amateur Design 373
Paul Atkinson
19 The Professionalization of Interior Design 393
Mark Taylor and Natalie Haskell
20 Design Education in Higher Education 412
Vicky Gunn
21 Design Against Consumerism 436
Paul Micklethwaite
22 Guilty Pleasures: Taste, Design, and Democracy 457
Malcolm Quinn
Index 479