Posted by Harry
Books | 05 Aug 07 | Comments (1)
This one is for designers, or people like me who want to know how things are made. Written by a designer, Making It is different from other books on manufacturing techniques in that it uses contemporary design to illustrate how things are made. I've always wanted to know how Demakersvan makes their sculpted birch ply Cinderella table (answer: CNC, I thought it was molded). The book describes more than 90 production techniques, "both established and cutting-edge, so that the mysteries are revealed in an accessible way.". And, remarkably, in addition to the detailed process info, there's also information about costs and production volumes. Paperback, 240 pages, 200+ images, $23.10 at Amazon.
Demakersvan's Cinderella table.
This book would have been invaluable to me when I started my own small manufacturing business in 2001 (since sold). What I thought would be a fun, professional studio ultimately became manufacturing chaos as everything had to be learned the hard way. We worked with Karim Rashid on some products and although his office is very well versed in manufacturing techniques, ultimately the legwork involved to get a product to market was always the hardest part. It probably still would be - but a book that explained various techniques would have been indispensable in my discussions with the factories. My pricing would have been far better too, no doubt!