Victor Papanek

The designer, author and design activist Victor J. Papanek (1923-1998) anticipated an understanding of design as a tool for political change and social good that is more relevant today than ever. Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design gives an encompassing overview of Papanek's oeuvre, at the heart of which stood his preoccupation with the socially marginalized, his commitment to the interests of areas then called the 'Third World', as well as his involvement in the fields of ecology, bionics, sustainability and anti-consumerism. Alongside essays and interviews discussing Papanek's relevance in his own era, this book also presents current perspectives on his enduring legacy and its influence on design theory. Original family photographs, art and design work, drawings, correspondence and materials from the Victor J. Papanek Foundation archive, University of Applied Arts Vienna, are reproduced here for the first time, alongside work by both Papanek's contemporaries and designers working today.