This informative and attractive book will provide education and inspiration for design professionals and students alike.Materials for Inspirational Design provides today's designer with a myriad of material possibilities. The book introduces the properties of wood, metal, glass, ceramics and plastic, all in an informative and inspirational format. The book covers a wide range of information its inclusion of both everyday, familiar products and those that are new, exciting and unexpected.The book is highly informative in that each application is introduced with detailed authorial comment, and numerous interviews with the designers and manufacturers are also included. The book covers a wide range of areas, exploring the application of materials in architecture, interior design, product design, furniture design, fashion and applied arts, all combined with solid technical information.

The Plastics Handbook

by Chris Lefteri

Published 19 December 2001
From plastics with the strength and durability of metal, to mass-produced skins, sensuous plastics, and rental DVDs that expire 48 hours after you've opened the packaging, "The Plastics Handbook" offers a fascinating insight into the most innovative and unusual plastics for designers and manufacturers throughout the world. This book gets under the skin of products and materials to reveal the hidden qualities of plastics, exploring the materials that surround us today, and those that will surround us tomorrow, together with their practical applications. "The Plastics Handbook" is your essential guide to who is making what, from contemporary designer materials to the products of the future, featuring facts and applications for hundreds of new plastic products and materials. The book also has an extensive resources section, including a glossary, a guide to different types of plastics, diagrams of standard manufacturing processes, plus useful website addresses.

Ceramics

by Chris Lefteri

Published 25 July 2003
Exploring the myriad possibilities of materials for today's designers, each book in the series "Materials for inspirational design" introduces the properties of a material and demonstrates some of its extraordinary possibilities. This title on ceramics includes gorgeous images of classic and new products and applications combined with solid technical information and practical advice. It introduces a wide range of ceramic materials, concentrating not on the predictable craft areas but the more advanced and surprising applications of interest to professional designers. Featured items are basins and toilets, scissors and knives, heat protection tiles as used on space shuttles, composites, conductive and wearable materials and advanced building components.

Glass

by Chris Lefteri

Published 31 October 2002
Glass is one of the oldest and most traditional of materials. The examples here range from Murano's 1000-year-old millefiori method to the processes which customise architectural glass. Applications covered range over furniture and lighting, mosaic, sandblasted, etched and moulded glass.

Wood

by Chris Lefteri

Published 29 January 2003
Wood has long been a traditional material for furniture and architecture. It is used today more for its aesthetic qualities and is currently enjoying renewed status as a highly fashionable and desirable material. Wood features classic wooden products, along with unusual contemporary applications...veneered wall coverings, Norwegian sustainable housing, musical instruments, boats, and even a bath and bicycle all make appearances. Numerous processes are covered - including carving, staining, veneering, moulding, and pulping - and all types of wood, from oak to lime, are represented. Each page features a bite-sized introduction to the material, application and techniques used, plus essential information for designers on where to look on- and offline for further information. Like other titles in the acclaimed 'Materials for Inspirational Design series' Wood is cross-referenced for ease of use, and features an invaluable, authoritative reference section.