Furniture Books

Generous use of photography and well wrought text lend justifiable props to the Anglo forbears of the movement in this well presented survey of the furniture form. If you're a lover of the style and yearn to sip from a well frequented by English craftsmen then you'll not be disappointed with this volume.

Drink deeply!

All of the Arts and Crafts furniture pictured in over 250 clear color photographs of varying sizes and detail exhibit the qualities of "careful proportion, fine painstaking cabinet work, attention to detail, [and] excellent materials" while nonetheless intentionally designed in tune with the "vernacular" idiom. There's a brief history of the beginnings and path of the Movement. But what is of most interest is the many chapters on individual craftsmen--and a few women--and designers and commercial makers of the furniture. Individuals and companies in both the United States and England are included. There are more than 30 chapters on these with enough description and commentary and visual material for guidance in identifying pieces by respective artists, artisans, and manufacturers. This volume of material with its innumerable details is kept from being confusing or overwhelming by the book's expert organization, no doubt guided by Andrew's expertise and discrimination in the Arts and Crafts Movement. British antique furniture and a general work on collecting antique furniture have been previous books by this author. The influence of Eastlake and William Morris and the work of Stickley and Wright are given ample due, to be sure; but Andrews also covers many not so well known figures and groups, including The Women's Guild of Artists, Gordon Russell, James Henry Sellers, the Glasgow firm of Wylie and Lochhead, and also a group of "Unknown," to name only a few. With the many individuals plus the companies making the Arts and Crafts furniture and the precedents and history, the work is a comprehensive, handsomely illustrated treatment of this area of antique furniture which continues to hold its desirability and value.

the book discuss the evolution of chair, and then studies the different type of furniture such as chairs, beds, tables, cabinets, screens, and stands. each have very good examples and explanation of its origin.
however, I have to point out the very first line of this book "china was the only nation in East Asia, indeed the only nation outside the West, to adopt the chair-level mode of living before the modern period." is incorrect. In late Shilla and Koryo period of Korea, Korea have also adopted chair for government palaces and other government offices, but decided not to use for residences (probably because of extreme cold and space, and preferred the "ondol" floor heating system).
Western scholarship still lack proper viewpoint of China, Korea, and Japan. However, this book is quite very good, and much better than her other book "Ming Furniture in Light of Chinese Architecture".

Essential reading for all interested in fine design (East, West, North, or South), this work may well be the most beautiful book published this year.

While it is nice to see the completed projects with full plans, the most important thing we took away from this book is technique. We feel we can pretty much mosaic anything that comes across our path now! As a result, we looked at a particularly ugly cement slab that was under an outside faucet and saw an opportunity. We mosaiced it (that's mom and her 7 year old) and it is now a focal point instead of a eye sore.

If you're just getting started this is a great way to go. It worked with us!

This book is an excellent sequel to Ms. Sheerin's first offering, Mosaics In an Afternoon. If you haven't had the opportunity to peruse either book, you are missing out on the chance of a lifetime to add pizazz to your home!

Most of the projects offered in this book would make excellent gifts, art pieces for sale, or decorations to grace your own home. Not only will you find the complete instructions for each project, you'll find informative lessons on how to be a mosaic designer yourself!

Highly recommended book!

Brian Mertens, author of Bangkok Design, moved to Bangkok in 1997, the same year in which Thailand suffered financial meltdown. Prior to this Mertens had lived in Japan, which had been in economic recession for the best part of the nineties. Mertens observed that unlike Japan, where the depressed economy resulted in general malaise, in Thailand it had the opposite effect, unleashing a tide of creativity in many areas; no more so than in design.

Whilst performing admirably as coffee table book, Bangkok Design is much more than that. As a Bangkok based writer on Asian art and culture since 1997, Mertens has been ideally placed to observe and analyse how a young contemporary design industry has risen from the ashes of the financial crisis and has done so with such swiftness. Bangkok Design, as much as it is attractive to flip through, is, at its most crucial, a fascinating chronicle of this period and as such could well prove to be a pivotal document, which helps to consolidate Thailand, and Bangkok specifically, as the centre of a contemporary design scene in S.E. Asia.

The main part of the book is essentially split into 5 sections - Furniture, Accessories, Pop&Kitsch, Textiles and Custom Designs. Each of the sections focuses on specific designers or design companies with 4 - 6 pages dedicated to each. Furniture features most prominently with a total of 14 entries the remaining 18 split between the other four. Interestingly of these 32, three are foreigners, which perhaps gives some indication of an outward looking and internationally interested culture.
The final two sections of the book - Local Legacies and Local Initiatives look at how elements of Thai culture influence and fit into the design landscape. Included in Local Legacies for example are pages devoted to colour, flowing lines, floor seating, natural and reclaimed materials, woven construction etc. Local Initiatives on the other hand turns the spotlight on successful local industries such as the development of water hyacinth as a weaving product, Jim Thompson silk, the Thailand Creative and Design Centre and woven textiles in Chiang Mai: There is even a section here on how visual fine artists fit into the design picture. A preface, which leads with the quirky account of how an old Buddhist monk established an academy of design in his `backyard' (the grounds of the temple where he was abbot), followed by a comprehensive but succinct introduction neatly, binds and completes the volume.
It's perhaps important to note that the book does not try to do too much and therefore focuses solely on textiles and furniture as noted in the subtitle. Other design related disciplines such as architecture, graphic design etc., which no doubt have as large a part as any in the Thai design revolution, are therefore not included. Hopefully there will be follow up volumes, which will cover these areas.

If Bangkok Design has any weaknesses at all it could be the initially jarring pastel layout. Once inside the book we learn that vivid hues are an integral part of Thai culture with roots stretching back to Indian influences. On learning this, the bright colour combinations, which recur throughout the book, start to make sense. Nevertheless, to the uninitiated i.e. the casual browser, there remains the risk of mis-interpretation with the product appearing `cheapened' as a result. This would be unfortunate given the informative and detailed nature of the work.

In short Bangkok Design is a thorough and intimate account of an up and coming contemporary Asian design industry, which given the right conditions could have a significant impact on design not only in the region but also globally. With an emphasis on resourcefulness, creativity and sustainability, Bangkok Design should not only appeal to a specific design audience but to anybody with an interest in these issues and Thai culture generally.

(This review first appeared in the Singapore Art Gallery Guide in December 2007 and later in its sister publication the Bangkok Art and Design Guide. Nick Charnley is a British freelance artist and writer based in Singapore. He is also joint creative director of Little Red Dots - www.little-red-dots.com, a Singapore based design agency he co-founded in November 2004 with American artist Nathaniel Walters. )

I bought this product as a Christmas gift so I was extremely happy that it shipped on time(to Canada and it got there before the estimated date). Best of all was the fact that the book was in the condition they said. Brand New. My fear is that I will not get it in the condition it is advertise as, but so far, with all my purcashes, I have received exactly what I ordered. Successful purchase

I was actually looking for a nativist type manual on snowshoes, so I was not too taken with the idea of using nylon cord instead of rawhide for the webbing, but the illustrations are superb. If you are perplexed on how to "weave" snowshoes, this book is great. Also the author recommends boiling wood to soften it for shaping, instead of the more conventional steaming approach, and seems to not notice that boiling changes the structure of wood much more than steam. Good/Great descriptions of the various styles of snowshoes, furniture ideas are OK but not innovative. A good resource for starting out, not as much "needed" for experienced woodworkers.

Great detailed information on a nearly dead art form, making snowshoes. The sections on snowshoe furniture are terrific, tons of example and ideas. Detailed, concise information on the best wood, drawing and plans for the molds and information on "How To" do instead of just pictures of completed product. The most complete resource I've found anywhere!

A good book for ideas and plans for tool chests. As a beginner I was hoping for a little more detailed instructions on the more complicated chests as that is what I need to build.

I am presently building a machinist's toolchest, which I designed myself, using ideas from Jim Tolpin's "The Toolbox Book" and a bunch of pictures and data from the internet. I'm happy with the results so far and confident of completing my first effort. However, if I'd had Jim Stack's book, I might have started my project a lot sooner. "Building the Perfect Toolchest" is a book of projects--15 of them--that covers almost the same RANGE as Tolpin's, but obviously not in such glorious and varied detail.

The first project is a simple plywood box with all mitred joints. Then we see a similar flip-top chest with frame and panel construction. From there we move on to a suit-case style caddy with a few simple drawers. Then, progressively, we go through multi-drawer chests, rolling tool carts, open totes and wall-mounted storage, culminating in a full-sized, professional standing cabinet in two pieces that could hold almost all you would need.

Every chapter includes complete cutting and hardware lists for duplicating the projects exactly. (A nice touch is the inclusion of inch AND metric dimensions!) The color photos are superb, the directions clear and simple and the suggestions for variations of design are very helpful.

There is a great emphasis on machining and it almost goes without saying that the router and tablesaw are used throughout the book. There are clear explanations of all fixtures, jigs and gadgets and even old hands will pick up a couple of useful tricks here. I believe the best feature of the book is its user-friendliness. Even real newbies should have no trouble working confidently, accurately and safely by following the text. Your only problem will be getting to keep any of your first efforts for yourself!

This has a lot of great material - both ideas for how to use space and how to build the things they describe. I've found this one of the better For Pros by Pros books in terms of completeness of the "how to" part and useful new ideas.

A lot of the examples given in this book don't apply or do not easily apply but it does give some very good ideas. It sparks a lot of "What if" situations. This book was very good for getting ideas and sparking new ideas.

I ordered through Woodworkers Supply as the previous rater suggested. I got both Early New Mexican Furniture and Classic New Mexican Furniture for $21.27 including shipping. The book consists of photos of furniture from private and mueseum collections. It also includes a mechanical drawing including incomplete dimentions. And a small section on how to carve some of the details. Both the detail work and the dimensions are imcomplete. There are no instructions for jointery technique nor any imformation on where or how to aquire hardware. Still the pictures allow an advanced woodworker enough information to craft near copies of the furniture.

This book is a great survey of the methods for constructing and styling your own furniture in the New Mexican/Santa Fe style. You can obtain copies of this book for list price ($15 - $19) from Woodworkers Supply (www.woodworker.com). Don't pay the outlandish $110 + prices the people listing used copies are charging.

Buy this book rather than the one on Vernacular furniture by Andrea and Lynde McCormick. Interestingly this book discusses Kai Yin Lo's own collection - but this is no vanity publishing, this is a work of some scholarship and the contributors, all of whom approach the topic from a different angle are well respected in the field. The illustrations are excellent and the furniture and how it would be used, is put properly in context. No silly price guides, which would be out of date the moment it is published and the dating is pretty accurate. If Chinese furniture is of interest to you, I highly recommend it.

Other than a misleading "by Wang Shixiang" (the book is actually by Kai Yin Lo), this is an excellent collection of examples of antique Chinese furniture in various woods, many not seen in other books, from the author's private collection. Useful information on different furniture woods and their origin from various provinces in China, as well as a fairly complete list of asian furniture woods in Pinyin, chinese characters and English names. A useful addition to anyones collection of books on Chinese antique furniture.

Probably because it is one of the newer books on Shaker furniture, this one seems to be the most accurate on the provenance of the many surviving Shaker items. It appears they have done an excellent job of deciphering where a piece was made regardless which village it was found.

THERE IS WARNING HOWEVER! Don't be fooled by what they mean by "The Complete Book." They use the word complete to mean, that in addition to covering the "Shaker Golden Years" of 1830 to around 1850, they have included items from the 18th to the 20th century.

With approximately 400 beautiful illustrations, they can't possibly cover every important piece of Shakerdom. To my disappointment, they did not discuss the particular 12 to 20 foot benches of two slightly differing styles that I have seen pictured in the meeting room at Sabathday Lake. Nor did they show the small wall clock at Sabathday Lake that I wanted to know about.

The authors certainly accomplished their goals of descibing the various, differing forms used by the different locatations over the approximate 150 years covered.

For me the final test is, would I buy it again -- Abosolutely.

I'm obsessed with Shaker furnitue and architecture. I'll get around to reviewing all of my books in time. I think I have every Shaker book printed!

This one isn't "Complete" but there's an aweful lot in here. I look at "complete" more or less as meaning "most" variety of furniture. I didn't take it literally.

This is one book that gives a lot of weight to Shaker built-ins as well. Of which I'm trying to re-create so I've been referencing this book a lot lately.

I do have other books, some of which focus more on details and drawings with potential variety in drawer configurations for example, others more on color and simple photos etc.

So far it 's been one of my favorites in terms of the wide variety of material it contains. An overall wonderful photo and text reference to existing furniture.