‘Articulate and wonderfully knowledgeable …… the backlash against mindless consumerism has begun …

for anyone who takes an interest in the world around us’ TIME OUT

Design is everywhere. It seduces, pleases and inspires us. It makes us part with our money. It defines who we think we are. And understanding it offers us a whole new way of seeing the world.

An iPhone, an anglepoise lamp, a Picasso, a banknote, an Armani suit, a William Morris textile, a Lucky Strike packet, a spacecraft

every object tells a story.

Here Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, decodes the things around us- their hidden meanings, our relationship with them, how they shape our lives and why we desire them.

‘An elegant, witty and free-ranging survey, from Thomas Chippendale’s ponderous 18th-century manor-house furnishings to Jonathan Ive’s sprightly Macintosh iBooks’

DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Lively … engaging’

EVENING STANDARD

‘Sharp and worthwhile’ FINANCIAL TIMES