best-of-2011-art For the next post in our 'best ofs' series, resident design expert Margaret Snowdon from Readings Carlton handpicks the best of the best when it comes to 2011's design and art. From the words of artist and activist Ai Weiwei to a beautiful hardback on contemporary (and contained) living - these are books that will challenge, inspire and delight.

0500515859 The New Artisans
Olivier Dupon
The re-emergence of the hand-made as an important and desirable element in design is celebrated in this gorgeous book, featuring over 70 artisans from the four corners of the globe who use craft techniques to weave their magic. A brilliant sourcebook.

0500500290 Forty-Six Square Metres of Land Doesn’t Normally Become A House
Stuart Harrison
Celebrating smallness in scale for livable and stylish contemporary dwellings of Australia and New Zealand, this excellent new book from the author of the very popular A Place in the Sun is a winner. Down with the McMansion!

174196721X Second Skin
India Flint
I’m a fan of this and of the author’s first book Eco Colour. They combine a heartfelt eco-aesthetic that is both personal and practical, instructions on natural dying and repurposing of textiles and clothing, beautiful illustrations and stories.

0500289395 Colour Moves: Art and Fashion
Sonia Delaunay, Petra Timmer and Matteo de Leeuw-de Monti
Sonia Delaunay’s art and designs could easily step from the pages of this book and be thoroughly contemporary: they were avant-garde in the early twentieth century. Her inventive and fresh sense of colour and design – and her multi-faceted practice – are illustrated by over 250 images.

0241957540 Ai WeiWei Speaks
Ai Weiwei with Hans Ulrich Obrist
Artist, activist, curator, architect. Coverage of his arrest and eventual release by the Chinese authorities even made it into our media. Conducted over several years, these discussions are an essential reminder of the need for personal, political and artistic freedom.

0224086863 The Redstone Book of the Eye: A Compendium of Visual Surprise
Julian Rothenstein
This wonderful visual anthology will amuse, bemuse, entertain, befuddle, inform, intrigue and confound. Redstone have the visual at their fingertips – reliably non-obvious, from Russian constructivism to a young Elizabeth Taylor painting a landscape


Other 'best of 2011' lists:


Margaret Snowdon is from Readings Carlton