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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The Nature and Art of Workmanship

The Nature and Art of Workmanship

$29.95 USD
$29.95 USD
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A must-read book on David Pye's theory of craftsmanship and design.

In this thoroughly mechanised age, what is the point of craft? Does it make any sense to work with hand tools when machines can do the same job faster, and in many cases better? What visual richness do we lose by embracing a mass-produced world?

The Nature and Art of Workmanship explores the meaning of skill and its relationship to design and manufacture. Cutting through a century of fuzzy thinking, David Pye proposes a new theory of making based on the concepts of 'workmanship of risk' and 'workmanship of certainty'. And he shows how good workmanship imparts all-important diversity to our visual environment.

No-one who works with tools and materials, or who designs things for others to make, can afford to be without this penetrating book. This newly revised edition includes an illustrated foreword by John Kelsey, former editor of Fine Woodworking magazine, on David Pye's own turned and carved vessels of wood - beautiful, insightful pieces that embody the truth of Pye's ideas.

About the Author

David Pye OBE (1914-1993) was Professor of Furniture Design at The Royal College of Art, UK, from 1964-1974. Pye was an accomplished wood-turner and carver, as well as an important writer on the theory of design and handcraft. The Nature and Aesthetics of Design, first published in 1964, and The Nature and Art of Workmanship, first published in 1968, were both hugely influential for the development of craft studies and design history.

Ezra Shales is Professor in the History of Art department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA. He teaches craft and design history and is the author of The Shape of Craft (2017) and Made in Newark: Cultivating Industrial Arts and Civic Identity in the Progressive Era (2010). He has also contributed chapters to publications such as Craft Economies (Bloomsbury, 2018) and The Ceramics Reader (Bloomsbury, 2017). He has written widely on contemporary artists and modernist ceramicists, and his work has appeared in exhibition catalogues and journals such as Journal of Design History and Journal of Modern Craft.

Book Details

ISBN
9780713689310
Binding
Paperback
Authors
David Pye
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published Date
July 2, 2008
Language
English
Pages
144
Physical Info
10.8 in L x 8.2 in W (0.78 lb)
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