Crafting a Modern World

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Architecture

ISBN: 9781568985831
English edition
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover, 352 pages
21,6 x 27,9 cm
colour/black & white
November 2006
€57,00 (excl. VAT)

Crafting a Modern World

The Designs of Antonin and Noémi Raymond

Kurt G. F. Helfrich, William Whitaker

Crafting a Modern World is the first comprehensive book in English on the duo that creatively transformed design from 1917 to 1966. Best known for a series of finely detailed structures built in Japan during the 1930s, the Raymonds, Antonin and Noémi, had prolific careers that included designs for factories, office buildings, churches and schools, as well as furniture, fabrics and graphic design.

They combined their European modern roots with the vernacular craft traditions of Japan, India, and rural Pennsylvania and collaborated with some of the 20th century’s leading thinkers and artists, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi, George Nakashima, and Fernand Léger. Inspired by the conventions of traditional Japanese buildings, they brought a high level of attention to craft to all their work, from churches in Chicago and Karuizawa to the Tokyo Tennis Club, and houses throughout the northeastern U.S.

Four essays round out this examination of the Raymonds’ careers – a little-known chapter in the history of mid-century modern design.