The twelve designers featured in Masters of Modern Design - originators of ideas vital to the contemporary world - have had an immeasurable impact on the buildings, houses, furniture, cars, and basic products we use daily. George Marcus offers biographical sketches and critical evaluations of William Morris, Henry van de Velde, Josef Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Marianne Brandt, Raymond Loewy, Charles and Ray Eames, Achille Castiglioni, Ettore Sottsass Jr., Shiro Kuramata, and Philippe Starck. These profiles present a parallel history of design movements, from the nineteenth century on: Art and Crafts, Art Nouveau, the International Style, the Bauhaus, postmodernism, and more.
Marcus's thorough text covers the history, development, philosophy, and process of these influential designers. He focuses on the definitive stances each took in regard to modernism - issues of decoration, simplicity, functionality, and mass production - and the inescapable connections of their works and ideas.