Peter Dormer Libri

An illustrated survey of comtemporary jewellery and its developments since 1960. It has three major elements. Firstly, it has a display of the jewellery itself, photographed in colour. Secondly, it provides a critical history, tracing the first challenges to traditional forms of jewellery as early as the 1930s but focusing on the inspired use of new tools, new materials and new ideas since 1960. Finally, it has a reference section correcting previous information on the subject, including biographies of over a hundred makers.

What role does the craftsman play on the professional life of the designer? Is the craft of design threatened with deskilling by technology? These are among the questions discussed in this collection of essays about the relevance and place of handcraft in the late 20th century.

Since 1945, design and designers have been moved centre-stage by the demands of manufacturing companies and a consumer society. Dormer questions orthodoxies, defines the contexts within which designers work, and covers such activities as industrial and product design, graphics and textiles.

The most popular of all the decorative arts, pottery has established itself as a modern art, form universal in its appeal and language. This presentation of ceramics worldwide has been updated to reflect the latest developments in a fast-evolving field, revealing a blend of tradition with new ideas, and spectacular use of ornament and colour.

Jewellery has come alive again. 20 years ago a mere handful of designers in Europe and America were fighting the cliches of conventional design. Today there has been, in Ralph Turner's words, a burgeoning of many kinds of ornament.

The New Trends and Traditions by Peter Dormer and Ralph Turner