Modern Originals: At Home with Midcentury European Designers

2014 | Home & Garden

This gorgeously photographed volume features the under-published private spaces of both the icons and unknown vanguards of European mid-century architecture and design. In keeping with the functional beauty of mid-century design, Handcrafted Modern: Europe presents the innovative homes by some of the most compelling and influential European mid-century designers, including Le Corbusier, Robin and Lucienne Day, and Gae Aulenti, to name a few. This highly anticipated follow-up to Handcrafted Modern hosts gorgeously revealing photographs of important and influential men and women in the European midcentury design canon. Williamson has gained exclusive access to homes that are often closed to the public, and this intimacy is reflected in her incredibly detailed photographs. Featuring thirteen subjects, each chapter dedicated to a single home where the interiors are intact as they were lived in by their designers.

Examples include: exclusive photographs of drawings and works from inside the files at Studio Achille Castiglioni in Milan; the Helsinki home of Aino and Alvar Aalto with signs of Functionalism still preserved; Finn Juhl's Scandinavian farmhouse with warm woods with bursts of primary colors; and Carlo Mollino's eccentric Italian lair filled with his sensual shaped designs. This rare glimpse into the personal spaces is equal parts captivating and inspiring.

Leslie Williamson (Author)