These 3 New Coffee Table Books Offer Up Design Inspo for Your Next Remodel
Update your library with the new crop of design-focused books hitting shelves this month. Just in time for spring renovations, get inspired with a close look at work from two of the most exciting architects in the industry today—Tokyo-based Shigeru Ban and New York’s Peter Marino. If your interiors need a boost, or you love to geek out on design history, a new book from Italian furniture brand Cassina celebrates the 50th anniversary of its iMaestri Collection, launched in 1973 to reissue pieces by some of the great design practitioners of the 20th century. Pick up one (or all three) for a lust-worthy dose of design that will have you rearranging rooms in your head before you even turn to chapter two.
Echoes, Cassina.
50 Years of iMaestri
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Launched in 1927, the Italian furniture brand Cassina has become one of the most respected in the industry. Initially manufacturing in-house designs—mainly cabinets and coffee tables—Cassina pivoted in 1948 when the company began to partner with outside architects and designers for new collections. Twenty-five years later, in 1973, Cassina codified its iMaestri Collection, a mix of previously out-of-production furniture, products that had never been realized before, and pieces that have never gone out of production—all by modernist design leaders.
In honor of the collection’s 50th anniversary, the brand presents Echoes, Cassina. 50 Years of iMaestri, a volume from Rizzoli New York that explores its history and development. Diving into the work and life of each of the 14 names in the collection—Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret, and others—the book includes historical materials (many previously unpublished) such as sketches, technical drawings, letters, and period photographs, all of which illustrate the craft, creativity, and innovation that made these designers superstars. Subverting the idea of a static historical archive, Cassina continues to add names to the iMaestri coterie: Its forthcoming partnership with Eames Office will include the launch of a lighting collection during April’s Milan Design Week.
Tiffany & Co.: The Landmark
In April 2023, New York’s Tiffany & Co. Landmark building reopened after a complete, multiyear renovation. This month, Assouline is releasing Tiffany & Co.: The Landmark, a title dedicated to the Fifth Avenue stronghold—and to the centuries-old legacy of craftsmanship that goes into pieces offered by the storied house, from its famous stained-glass lamps and silverwork to the jewelry in the iconic blue box.
Get an up-close look at the remodeling process and learn more about the inspiration behind the bright and airy interiors designed by architect Peter Marino. Covering 10 stories—including a new three-level exhibition and event space designed by Shohei Shigematsu of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture—the art-forward redesign transforms the brand’s flagship, which originally opened in 1940, beyond just a shopping destination: With works by Daniel Arsham, Sarah Sze, Rashid Johnson, Julian Schnabel, and dozens more, the Tiffany Landmark now reads like a who’s-who of the contemporary-art world, blurring the line between boutique and gallery in an elegantly thoughtful way.
Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses
Some people amass art and furniture, others go for houses and cars. Karl Lagerfeld collected it all. The late fashion designer and Chanel creative director is believed to have owned upwards of 20 properties in his lifetime; a recent release from Thames & Hudson, Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses, explores 13 of those homes in impressive depth.
Written by Patrick Mauriès and former Architectural Digest France editor in chief Marie Kalt, this publication is the first dedicated exclusively to Lagerfeld’s residences, most of which were in Italy and France. Using interiors to track the designer’s personal and stylistic evolution, the book includes dozens of images showing Lagerfeld’s spaces, as well as the exacting designer amid his many notable acquisitions, from an array of Art Deco furniture and Memphis Group pieces to the objects of his true passion: 18th-century furnishings and objets d’art. It is said that you can tell a lot about a person from the spaces they inhabit, and though Lagerfeld came across as rigid in public, Mauriès writes that he also “loved to be playful, not only with the spirit of the age but also with the spirit of places.”
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