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Achim Böhmer, Sara Hausmann
Retrodesign
Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz

1970s wallpaper, bell-bottoms, VW bug? All of it's been done already – but somehow it's still different. “Retro design is the future,” the quote on the first double page might arouse scepticism in more than a few readers. But we're absolutely confident that readers will be  convinced of it upon finishing the book. Mainly because retro design is not just characterised by exhausted clichés or stereotypical duplicates of historical designs. Instead, masterful design developments by renowned and up-and-coming designers, who create contemporary graphic, product and architectural designs through ingenious style references, show the wide range of retro design. Its enormous symbolic power draws our attention and satisfies the yearning for strong emotions in our high-tech world.
Thanks to their excellent research, authors Achim Böhmer and Sara Hausmann have managed to explore the topic in great depth and present it in an appealing manner. The structure and design of the book is particularly accomplished and clear, arranged into three modules: Confrontation, Characteristics and Historical Impulse. A total of eighteen styles are documented, including deconstructivism, post-modernism, punk, pop, space age, organic design, Swiss School, art decó, constructivism, dada, plakatstil (poster-style), art nouveau, Japonisme, arts & crafts, historism, classicism, rococo/baroque and renaissance.
Placing outstanding designs of the retro-avantgarde alongside design classics and offering insight into the traits of these design styles allow the reader to interpret and grasp innovative design developments. The book also traces the crucial impulses decisive to the emergence of important design directions as well as the protagonists and ideas behind them. Furthermore, this time travelling analysis takes a crucial detour to explore stylistically relevant fonts. The upshot: at three-hundred pages, this weighty book with an elaborate imitation leather cover is not only an insightful reference book, but also a highly recommendable style lab, a distillate of styles, colours, patterns, signs, layouts, objects and constructions. 
About the Authors: communication designers Achim Böhmer and Sara Hausmann jointly head the design studio achta in Dortmund. Previously, they won a Red Dot Design Award in 2008 for their publication “Formstrahl” on design history.

www.retrodesign-stylelab.com
www.typografie.de