DESIGN QUARTERLY no. 60
SWISS DESIGN TODAY
Margit Staber [Guest Editor]
Margit Staber [Guest Editor]: DESIGN QUARTERLY 60: SWISS DESIGN TODAY. Minneapolis, MN: Walker Art Center, 1964. Original edition. Slim quarto. Saddle stitched thick printed wrappers. 44 pp. 90 black and white illustrations. Wrappers lightly worn and rubbed, but a very good or better copy.
8.5 x 11 staple-bound magazine with 44 pages and 90 black and white illustrations. All items [furnishing, tableware, toys, kitchenware, houseware, equipment] include a designer, distributor and manfacturer. Also includes a two-page spread on trademark design and an architecture section. From the introduction: "The strength and value of Swiss product design comes from a combination of seriousness and imagination, functional thinking and formal sensibility."
Designers, manufacturers and architects include Wilhelm Kienzle, Max Bill, Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, Willy Guhl, AG Mobelfabrik Horgen-Glarus, Hans Eichenberger, Robert Haussmann, Ulrich Wieser, Wohnbedarf, Wilhelm Kienzle, Gottfried Barben, Werner Blaser, Roberto Niederer, Kurt Naef, Karl Schneider, Ideal Standard AG, Sanitar Bedarf AG, Carlo Vivarelli, Eugen and Max Lenz, Hans Neuburg, Rudolf Bircher, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hofmann, Andreas Christen and Robert Maillart among others.
Design Quarterly began as Everyday Art Quarterly, published by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis starting in 1946. The editorial focus aimed to bring modern design to the masses through thoughtful examination of household objects and their designers. Everyday Art Quarterly was a vocal proponent of the Good Design movement (as represented by MoMA and Chicago's Merchandise Mart) and spotlighted the best in industrial and handcrafted design. When the magazine became Design Quarterly in 1958, the editors assumed a more international flair in their selection of material to spotlight.