John Vassos: Industrial Design for Modern Life

The only book that goes into great depth about the life and inspiring industrial ground breaking design of John Vassos. His illustration work has relevance today for both industrial artists and graphic designers. His striking Art Deco style incorporated into his industrial design and illustration should be studied and more well known for all the contributions thIs artist turned Everyday objects into items of functional beauty. As an artist I am inspired by the book and hope younger artists can become more familiar with the powerful drawings like the phobias as well.

Shapiro has written an accessible and intellectually engaging account of John Vassos's life and career. The work is fascinating in its depiction of a creative, progressive, artistic spirit who navigated his way through corporate America to become the chief in-house designer for RCA. Vassos was able to combine a modernist aesthetic with a deeply-felt humanity, resulting in products that were both stylistically of-the-moment as well as eminently functional (Think Apple in the middle decades of the 20th century). Shapiro captures Vassos's growth, his influences and his impact. This book will especially be of interest to those interested in design, art, and style, cultural history, economic history, and the development and impact of 20th century modernism.

Not an interesting read, at least from an industrial design standpoint. Wish they had expanded on his actual designs and renderings.

One of the best obscure books about a man we all know. Without Danielle Shapiro's book we wouldn't have known that we knew John Vassos. This is the only book about him. Certainly a man of his time, but not of ours, even though his designs are still with us. You can't escape his importance.'

I came at this with some trepidation, because I generally don't like biographies. They're too detailed, and I get bored. But I'm interested in 1930's design, and Shapiro (the author) is a design historian, so I took a chance. Whelp, this is just what a biography should be: a window into history. Shapiro is the guide, Vassos is the path, and we're shown a fabulous tour.on modernization in the 1930's"...streamlined objects reflected the utopian social values of the era, particularly a desire to speed effortlessly into the future and away form the Great Depression."on changing gender norms"Following the 1920's, the novel concept of the living room suggested an increasingly unisex home [...] modern design provided a solution to the domesticity-as-feminine problem."on the acculturation of mass media into the American home"There was some confusion about what would actually be on television in the 1930s. One RCA publicity brochure for the TRK-12 showed an elegantly dressed woman gently fondling the dial. On the last page of the brochure, the same woman appeared on a television screen. [...] It is clear that marketing people were unsure..."

I thoroughly enjoyed Shapiro's book.I came at this as one who has restored RCA radios from the era during which Vassos designed for RCA, but Shapiro reveals so much more about Vassos' life as a painter, writer, designer that I was fascinated throughout the book. Reading it, you get a feel for how Vassos looked at the world (over time) and approached his designs. You have probably used something designed or influenced by him. Of particular surprise was Vassos' invention of the vertically rotating turnstyle now almost ubiquitous in subways and at events. Who knew? Shapiro tells us all about it and more.

It seems obvious that a television looks like a television. What else would it look like, right? It turns out that that many other designers had ideas of what a it should look like, it could have had slides instead of dials or been oval instead of square. I never really understood how "form follows function" worked before this illuminating book. Great read!