Daniella On Design

He died today on his 91st birthday. During his 7-decade prolific career,  Milton Glaser (1929-2020) became not just an icon and America’s most influential and beloved graphic designer, but also came to redefine his profession. He can be credited for the unique identity of graphic design of the 70s and 80s: fresh, modern, historical literate, […]

In celebrating my upcoming talk on the allure of Art Nouveau, here is a memorable visit to a masterpiece of fin de siècle. To fully comprehend the genius and radical innovation of Brussels-based Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta (1861-1947), one must see and experience his townhouses and their interiors first hand. But since only one

With establishing the blue-chip gallery Maison Gerard in Greenwich Village, in 1974, Gerardus A. Widdershoven helped changing the face of New York interiors, and educating new collectors in the allure of the finest design emerged from Europe. Everyone shopped with him. Andy Warhol, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Walter Chrysler, Jr., museum curators, and every

I am so often asked by my readers and students about the sources of the images I feature in my posts and lectures. I would like to recommend one of the great sources for vintage photos of mid-century and Atomic Age design and architecture. USModernist, a nonprofit educational archive for the documentation, preservation, and promotion of

When French critic Roland Barthes published an article on Citroën DS, shortly after its debut in 1955, he coined the term ‘Goddess.’ Following his influential essay, entitled ‘Mythologies,’ the car came to symbolize French chic of the mid-century era. ‘It is obvious that the new Citroën,’ he said, ‘has fallen from the sky in as

For the opening of Part III in the online program The Story of Modern Design this Friday, I selected British designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) as the representative of those Victorian visionaries who pioneered modern design. Dresser is an old love of mine, a true Renaissance man of the Industrial Revolution era. He perceived himself as

If you walked into Yufuku, Tokyo’s most ambitious design/craft gallery, you left different. Because at Yufuku, you could see the most progressive and exceptional Japanese art, where the intersection of the ‘contemporary,’ the ‘crafted,’ and the ‘Japanese’ is demonstrated in the most intriguing and poetic ways. Lacquer, bamboo, ceramics, metal art, glass, could not have

Thank you, Design Cucina, for asking me to contribute a recipe for COVID days. This platform for and by the international design community, was initiated by London-based design historian/curator Libby Sellers and by Maria Cristina Didero, the brilliant editor of ICON Magazine.  Nearly three months after closing of New York, everyone is asking me if

To acknowledge the concluding talk in The Story of Modern Design (Part II), devoted to French Art Deco, I would to look at the legacy of brilliant architect Robert Mallet-Stevens (1886-1945). One of the least known of his generation, Mallet-Stevens ordered that his archives be destroyed upon his death.​For the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern

The most beloved skyscraper in New York. On this day, May 28, 1930, the Chrysler Building opened to the public. Designed by American architect William Van Alen (1883-1954), this metal spire, at 405 Lexington Avenue, was the tallest man-made structure in the world, surpassing 40 Wall Street. 11 months later it lost this title when