Johan & Levi publishing house launches a series dedicated to design

The publishing house Johan & Levi, known for its quality production on art, is today launching a new series dedicated to design: it is called The Amateur’s Library and features two great names in the history of design, Charlotte Perriand (Paris, 1903 - 1999) and Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, 1917 - Milan, 2007), as the protagonists of its first two issues. The series will explore major figures of the 20th century in the fields of architecture, design and decorative arts, in collaboration with French publisher Les Arènes. Through a series of monographs, the series presents the work of world-renowned personalities alongside lesser-known names who have influenced, each in their own way, the evolution of styles.

In paperback format to appeal to a wide audience of enthusiasts, each book offers rich color illustrations and an introductory biography framing the historical and chronological context. The rigorous selection of images and texts, combined with the elegance of the graphics and the quality of the paper, make the books in this series collector’s items.

The book on Charlotte Perriand, with texts by Anne Bony and Kengo Kuma and translation by Ximena Rodríguez Bradford (168 pages, 77 color images, 20 euros, ISBN 978-88-6010-342-0) tells the human and professional biography of a free woman who devoted her entire existence to a mission: to sculpt space, light, and matter with a simple and functional approach, shaping an art of living that is more relevant today than ever before. Architect, designer and emblematic figure of modernity, Charlotte Perriand devoted her life to the art of living. After a long association with Le Corbusier, she developed a uniqueness of outlook with which she succeeded in making her mark in an all-male world. A passionate militant and daring designer, she worked to make accessible to all the iconic objects that revolutionized the history of twentieth-century design by their criteria of utility, functionality and beauty, combining the use of natural materials and industrial production. Through a rich selection of images, a text by Anne Bony and an afterword by Kengo Kuma, the book traces the extraordinary parable of a free and independent woman whose example is more relevant than ever.

Also in the book on Ettore Sottsass, with texts by Emmanuel Berard and Marion Bley and translation by Riccardo Rinaldi (168 pages, 77 color images, 20 euros, ISBN 978-88-6010-343-7), the existential parable of an undisputed protagonist of 20th-century design, a staunch defender of total freedom, who inspired entire generations of artists with his crazy and colorful inventions, is recounted. An architect, designer and photographer, Ettore Sottsass left a profound mark on the international design scene with his unmistakable visual vocabulary of unprecedented combinations of materials and unprejudiced research into color. After his prolific association with Olivetti, he became an avant-garde icon in the 1980s with the Memphis Group and then devoted himself entirely to architecture. His indispensable freedom, in work as in life, is accompanied by an insatiable curiosity that leads him to explore places and cultures, instilling the same enthusiasm in all his collaborators. A rich introduction by Emmanuel Berard and a self-portrait written and drawn by Sottsass himself, together with photographs and projects, restore the fascinating and restless creative path of a great master of Italian design, still a point of reference for new generations.

For more information or to purchase the books, you can visit the Johan & Levi website.

Johan & Levi publishing house launches a series dedicated to design

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