When Ben Thompson opened Design Research in Boston in 1953, his innovative store became synonymous with modern interior design, lighting a public spark that still burns today, though the store itself is no longer. When the mass-produced furniture of impersonal department stores reigned supreme, this boutique retailer dared to provide a learned yet unpretentious environment for sleek design. Today, Design Research's legacy can be seen in the showrooms of Crate & Barrel and Design Within Reach. Through interviews, anecdotes and lush photographs, Design Research documents the array of household objects and furniture introduced to the American home through the legendary store that made good design available to all.
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About the Author
Jane Thompson is an urbanist--designer and planner-who has spent her thirty-year career creating successful and well-loved places that contribute to the vitality and identity of cities worldwide, such as Dublin, Cardiff, Amsterdam, and Tokyo. Since 1994, she has been principal of Thompson Design Group in Boston, whose projects include Navy Pier in Chicago, the Grand Central District and Times Square Center in New York, the North Coast Harbor plan in Cleveland, and the Redevelopment Master Plan for Houston's Buffalo Bayou. Jane graduated from Vassar College and pursued graduate studies at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. She then worked for the Museum of Modern Art and became acting assistant curator in the Department of Architecture. This was followed by positions as architecture editor of Interiors magazine and founding editor of Industrial Design (now I.D.). In the late 1960s Jane became co-owner of Design Research, Inc., founded by her late husband, architect Benjamin Thompson. With Thompson, she conceived and designed Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace and numerous waterfront restorations in the United States and abroad. She has been a board member of the International Design Conference in Aspen, the Institute for Urban Design, and the Waterfront Center in Washington, D.C. Jane chairs the Gropius House Advisory Committee in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has received numerous awards for her work, including a lifetime achievement award from the Industrial Design Society of America and Institute Honors from the AIA. In 2000, Jane and Ben Thompson were each named Knight First Class, Order of the Lion of Finland.
Alexandra Lange is a critic, journalist and architectural historian based in Brooklyn, and her work has appeared in The Architect's Newspaper, Icon, Metropolis, New York Magazine and The New York Times. She teaches architecture criticism in the D-Crit Program at SVA and the Urban Design & Architecture Studies Program at NYU.
Alexandra Lange is a critic, journalist and architectural historian based in Brooklyn, and her work has appeared in The Architect's Newspaper, Icon, Metropolis, New York Magazine and The New York Times. She teaches architecture criticism in the D-Crit Program at SVA and the Urban Design & Architecture Studies Program at NYU.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By girlinmekko
Format:Hardcover
This book is the last word on the greatest store ever created. The stories in here are illuminating, exuberant and full of everything that was right and positive and hopeful about the 1960's. If you've only heard about Design Research but never got there, this is your best shot at it. Back to the future!!!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Mill
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Going through this wonderful DR book brings back so many memories for me. I remember when DR opened in Harvard Sq. First you noticed the amazing building. It was a pleasure to view, with all the light and colors visible through the glass. Then, when you entered the building there was color everywhere, a whole new style of furnishing and decorating and WOW those Marimekko fabrics. I never came out of DR without purchasing something, it was a fun place to shop.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Design Research: The Store that Brought Modern Living to American Homes
October 1, 2010
By karen
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book about Design Research captures the visual style of the store through a distinctive format that offers a unique voice for some of the participants who lived and practiced modern design during this era, along with many ideas quite relevant in our world today. Many of Ben Thompson's good ideas are recognizable in the new ventures spawned by D|R. The store was a great venue for many innovative ideas-- and this book documents a great era of "thinking design" that some of us still practice!
Thanks to Jane Thompson and her team, for generously documenting this influential era of design history, so that future generations can understand what came before the present day form! Let's hope this book becomes a catalyst for, and influences, more great ideas to come!---KLD
Thanks to Jane Thompson and her team, for generously documenting this influential era of design history, so that future generations can understand what came before the present day form! Let's hope this book becomes a catalyst for, and influences, more great ideas to come!---KLD
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it
Trip down memory lane, my dad was a CEO of this store for a short while and just love the history and the stroll down memory lane.
Published 22 days ago by mary mcbride
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great topic but
I wish it had more visual examples of what D.R. sold to support the writing. Distant shots through the windows don’t do it
Published 5 months ago by Edward Cristman
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unless you love this store, a waste
I was sorry it was a book about a store that took the leap into modern design. It is a vanity book. Not much to take from the text or pictures. Read more
Published 7 months ago by glenda
5.0 out of 5 stars
Design Research
I was very satisfied with DR. I bought it as a gift and it arrived on time and was in perfect condition. Would not hestitate to purchase again. Thanks
Published 17 months ago by Kathy
3.0 out of 5 stars
Remembering DR and friends there
This book is primarily of interest to style and interior design aficionados. I bought it because I was living in Cambridge in DR's "breakthrough" and had friends working there in... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Robert Waterbor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Design Research
What a wonderful book! For those of us who loved the Design Research stores and mourned their passing, this book brings back many happy memories.
Published on November 23, 2010 by Dorothy C. Foster
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