Book Review reading to transform your design senses

Manufractured: The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects
Steven Skov Holt and Mara Holt Skov, Chronicle Books

In Manufractured: The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects, authors Steven Skov Holt and Mara Holt Skov explore how makers are taking objects first brought into the world via mass production and then transforming them into something entirely different.
As the boundaries between different disciplines become increasingly blurry, creative culture has become a mashup of art, craft and design, but this is beside the point. In the introduction, Hold writes, “By combining the root ‘manu’ with the word ‘fracture’ to indicate the fragmented nature of our contemporary moment, manufracturing presents a model whereby creative intervention can heal our fragmented culture. Taking something apart and putting it back together in a way never previously seen is a strong endorsement for the merits of creative process—and a testament to the optimistic, can-do, and even whimsical spirit that is simultaneously threaded and embedded throughout many of these pieces.”
Manufractured brings the work of diverse artists and designers together under a comprehensive and apt rubric. The result is an impressive presentation of work that exemplifies the fusion of traditional craft with emerging materials and production techniques to create an entirely new take on familiar objects.