How does the British designer interpret the world of objects? Instead of an exaggerated showcase of achievements, Jasper Morrison looks at the normality of everyday life and its objects in this expanded and newly published monograph.
Sandra Hofmeister
Jasper Morrison's monograph A Book of Things was first published by Lars Müller Publishers around 10 years ago and has recently been reissued in a revised edition. The book is more than just a catalogue raisonné of the 65-year-old British furniture and product designer's work. The 312-page softcover book is a personal commitment to the world of objects and reveals Jasper Morrison's self-image – the designer's respect, care and considerations regarding everyday objects.
Archetyps
One of the distinctive features of this compact volume is that it has no table of contents. Instead, it begins with a quote from Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung: ‘No archetype can be reduced to a simple formula. It is a vessel which can never be empty and never fill....it persists through the ages and yetrequires ever anew." The idea of the archetype sets the tone in Jasper Morrison's design cosmos. The British designer is not concerned with exaagerated forms or technological inventions. Rather, he puts his design ideas at the service of users who operate intuitively and therefore tend towards archetypes. But the archaic and self-evident qualities that Morrison seeks require interpretation. New interpretations are needed, and this is precisely where the designer's design ethos and self-image come into play.
Everyday items
Morrison designed bicycles and washing machines, wine glasses and kettles, sofas and telephones, calculators – and, of course, many chairs and other pieces of furniture. His focus is always on the ‘perfectly unpretentious’ – designs for everyday use that help their users in their daily lives without imposing themselves or pushing themselves into the foreground. In short personal texts, Jasper Morrison describes this design approach, using the example of the family of drinking glasses for everyday use that he developed for Alessi in 2007. An archetype of a wine glass and a water glass – classic and unpretentious, as if they had always been there.
Stories and projects
Fundstücke aus dem Trödelladen, Beobachtungen zu allgemeingültigen Typologien wie dem Frankfurter Stuhl und seinen Variationen in der Schweiz und in Österreich stehen im Zentrum der persönlich gehaltenen kurzen Texte. Manchmal sind die Geschichten zu den einzelnen Entwürfen auch mit einem konkreten Auftrag erklärt. Für das Maruni-Sofa „Lightwood“ ist die Kernaussage des Briefings an den Designer in knappen Sätzen zusammengefasst: ein leichtes Sofa mit Holzrahmen, das modular sein soll und als flat-pack verschickt werden kann.
The beginnings
Finds from the junk shop, observations on universal typologies such as the Frankfurt chair and its variations in Switzerland and Austria are the focus of the short, personal texts. Sometimes the stories behind the individual designs are also explained with a specific commission. For the Maruni ‘Lightwood’ sofa, the core message of the briefing to the designer is summarised in a few concise sentences: a lightweight sofa with a wooden frame that should be modular and can be shipped as a flat pack.
Super normal
In 2007, the exhibition ‘Super Normal’ was created for the Axis Gallery in Tokyo in collaboration with Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa – a collection of discreet everyday objects, many of them with anonymous designs, which can be considered indispensable, durable everyday helpers. The espresso maker by Bialetti, well-proportioned mass-produced water glasses... Instead of the signature style of a particular designer, the exhibition focused on a natural familiarity for users – supernormal, in other words. Instinctive and unconscious in use – like a paper clip or a Bic lighter. The world of supernormal things is a world of frequently used archetypes that deliver good standards without exaggerated design claims. It is precisely this world of the ‘normal’ that is the world of Jasper Morrison. ‘Why do so many designs fail to pass the everyday test? Why is normal disappearing, and when it's gone, how do we replace it?’ ask Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa in the exhibition publication.
A Book of Things
The first edition of the book itself is also part of the project gallery, which is explained in the new edition. This is only logical, as the volume reflects Jasper Morrison's attitude quite well: it does not show off, does not shout at its readers, does not want to boast, but presents itself as normal and sets good book standards. The format of the flap brochure is handy and manageable, the texts are concise and not pretentious, and the projects are made thoroughly understandable with a few photos and sketches. All in all, A Book of Things is a super-normal book. It presents a quality that is by no means a given today.
Jasper Morrison
A Book of Things
Design: Jasper Morrison with Lars Müller Publishers
17 × 23 cm
312 pages, 397 illustrations
paperback
revised and extended edition,
Lars Müller Publishers, Zurich 2025,
ISBN 978-3-03778-770-0
