---
product_id: 103632233
title: "Objects Of Desire: Design And Society"
brand: "adrian forty"
price: "¥4049"
currency: JPY
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 6
category: "Books"
url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/103632233-objects-of-desire-design-and-society
store_origin: JP
region: Japan
---

# Objects Of Desire: Design And Society

**Brand:** adrian forty
**Price:** ¥4049
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Objects Of Desire: Design And Society by adrian forty
- **How much does it cost?** ¥4049 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.jp](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/103632233-objects-of-desire-design-and-society)

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- adrian forty enthusiasts

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## Description

Review
        	
        	
        		
        			&apos;Readable and argumentative&apos; - Architects&apos; Journal &apos;One of the most significant contributions to design history in recent years&apos; - Financial Times
				    	
					
        		
        		
        	
        
        	
        		About the Author
        	
        	
        		
        			Adrian Forty is Professor of Architectural History at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College, London.

## Images

![Objects Of Desire: Design And Society - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41BPMYnsAvL.jpg)
![Objects Of Desire: Design And Society - Image 2](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TZTlJ3MzL.jpg)
![Objects Of Desire: Design And Society - Image 3](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31Hgao66J2L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐ Good book, poor condition
            
*by D***B on 12 August 2018*

Good book, poor condition
  

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ More a technical treatise than an easy read.
            
*by A***Y on 13 November 2005*

This is more for the reader who wants to read an economic and cultural treatise on the development of design and how it has affected culture.If it wasn't so long-winded I would have actually enjoyed it a lot more. Forty has looked at some of the assumptions we have made about design and culture and realised that they are not quite as they seem. A classic example he uses is that the invention and high use of sewing machines coincided with the impossibly ruffled gowns and dresses of the 1860's - the assumption has always been that the sewing machine made this type of style possible. Forty points out that these dresses did indeed use up to 100yds of fabric, and the use of the sewing machine only made them possible by making them more affordable. Sweatshops paid machine sewers far less than they paid hand sewers - therefore more complex dresses made by machine could be made for cheaper cost. My only problem with Forty is that he takes nearly 2 pages to say this.I have some other problems with this work, I don't think it is well illustrated - all illustrations are small and in black and white - a bit hard to take in things that he calls 'richly glazed' and so on when you can't even see the colours. It also means he has catalogues and so on in here printed in impossibly small form so you can barely make out the designs.On another petty note, I was surprised to see the picture of a cauliflower tea pot - fully functional from Wedgewood on one page, and then several pages later a picture of the mould was shown - both from 1760. What suprised me was that there was no reference in the text or near either illustration alluding to the fact that these were both in here. I thought something like this would at least have a small footnote directing to the other page.I realise that with printing you have to make compromises but I didn't feel that these essentially editing and printing details did the book and its subject full justice. This really is a great book - divided into 11 chapters from the first industrial designers, to design in the home, labour-saving in the home and design and corporate identity. It just doesn't really quite make it.
  

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Expertly refutes "Form Follows Function"
            
*by B***M on 8 November 2016*

An excellent refute to the assertion that Form Follows Function., containing example after example of consumer objects that were designed to convey specific messages rather than blindly reflecting only the function of the object. One of my "must read" recommendations.
  

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*Product available on Desertcart Japan*
*Store origin: JP*
*Last updated: 2026-02-21*