Fewer, Better Things
The Hidden Wisdom of Objects
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age.
Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects that have nurtured human development for thousands of years. The objects are still here, but we seem to care less and know less about them.
In his presentations to groups, he often asks an audience member what he or she knows about the chair the person is sitting in. Few people know much more than whether it's made of wood, plastic, or metal. If we know little about how things are made, it's hard to remain connected to the world around us.
Fewer, Better Things explores the history of craft in its many forms, explaining how raw materials, tools, design, and technique come together to produce beauty and utility in handmade or manufactured items. Whether describing the implements used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the use of woodworking tools, or the use of new fabrication technologies, Adamson writes expertly and lovingly about the aesthetics of objects, and the care and attention that goes into producing them. Reading this wise and elegant book is a truly transformative experience.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Adamson, the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and author of The Craft Reader, challenges readers to reconsider the nature of physical objects in this dry treatise on material culture. He asserts that mass production eroded the understanding of craftsmanship and that reconnecting with processes and materials increases one's overall quality of life. The book is most successful when drawing on everyday items, like a chair. Instead of just something to sit on, he asks readers to consider the wood, the techniques binding it together, and the cultural significance of its design. Adamson writes enthusiastically of how the aesthetics of Japanese tea ceremonies reveal other elements of society (the texture of the clay tea bowl, for example, denotes its provenance). Although almost all readers will find value in some of these anecdotes, Adamson too often veers into academic territory, such as his extended discussion of museum theory. While some examples are more illuminating than others, the book will awaken those who have tuned out from their surroundings.
