Design Books On My Bookshelf

Design books, filled with all their beautiful photos, are collection pieces. They can be displayed on coffee tables, console tables, bookshelves, desks, stacked, upright, angled. They make for great styling. I’ve collected design books since my youth and have now amassed quite a collection. As much as I scour the Internet for design inspiration I don’t think anything can replace great collector design books. Some of them are special, like my signed copies from designer Kelly Wearstler and my friend, photographer Marcia Prentice. Others are nostalgic like the collection of Terence Conran books I used to look at over and over again in my teens. And others pay homage to my family name, like the stunning work of late portrait and fashion photographer David Seidner.

Some of my favorites are Kelly Wearstler’s early books, like Modern Glamour.

And the follow up to Modern Glamour, her second book, Hue.

If you’re looking for an encyclopedia of art, I cannot recommend this book enough, it’s a huge hardbound coffee table style book depicting artists and their work A-Z.

The Hip Hotels series book are great for sourcing really cool hotels or for a dreamy escape. I’ve many in the whole series that I’ve collected over the years. The Hip Hotels Atlas is probably the biggest, most packed, of the series but they’re all good - City, Escape, Beach, USA, etc.

I have a lot of Keith Haring books, he’s an artist I’ve followed since my teens too and have collected many of his books over time. It’s not shown here on the shelf above, but last year I got to meet Keith Haring’s sister Kay for a signed copy of her book about her brother, “Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing” - adding that to my collection of special signed books.

Add to the mix are some fun architectural books, like Skyscrapers and a pop up called The Architectural Pack, on the top shelf.

In a tribute to one of the greats in design, is David Hicks: Designer by his daughter Ashley Hicks.

In the realm of fun and inspirational is Jonathan Adler’s book My Prescription For Anti-Depressive Living.

For those who have long followed the blog, Apartment Therapy is another good one.

These selections are just a few of my favorites and long time “go tos” - there are still so many more, maybe a part two to come along with some newer selections as well.

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