World Famous Comics: Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design
Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design
By: Vicente Wolf Publisher: Monacelli Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Monacelli Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 200 Publication Date: October 05, 2006 Release Date: October 01, 2006
Product Description: Good design knows no boundaries. —Vicente Wolf
Famed interior designer Vicente Wolf is known for a modern and elegant design sensibility that is guided by integrity and simplicity. He is also a photographer of note, capturing images of his own design work and of his travels. Crossing Boundaries is a fascinating combination of the two, a spirited approach that pairs travel and design based on visits to Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria, Madagascar, and Borneo.
Wolf is an adventurous voyager, and he is captivated by how people express themselves: in the colors and patterns of clothing, the forms and features of architecture, and so on. These influences are incorporated into his own designs, sometimes directly–a collection of brightly colored woven caps that add personality to a Wyoming log cabin–and sometimes indirectly–a composition of gray-blues and gray-greens drawn from succulent plants in a dry riverbed.
outdated, tacky and pretentious This book lacks consistency, and although the pictures might be technically good, the interiors design itself has little to do with the story the author is tryng to sell to us: that he has seen certain things in his 'exciting and sophisticated'journey that inspired him to create special interiors. What we get instead is a twisted, dated, unrespectful and pasteurized concept of what other cultures could give us in our every day living. Please, don't buy it.
Disappointing My wife and I plan to remodel, and bought this book for inspiration and design concepts. We ended up quite disappointed.
The book has 5 chapters organized around 5 places that Mr. Wolf traveled to. Each chapter consists of two parts: travel log and design. Both parts show many colorful photographs, some of them quite beautiful. In general, the travel log part has more pages then the design part. For example, in Madagascar Scale chapter, travel log has about 24 pages vs. 18 pages for design. The pictures are even more lopsided towards the travel part. Often the relationship between the design and place seems rather superficial or contrived like a blue/yellow color scheme that is somewhat similar to an umbrella on a photograph or a light color bedroom inspired by a misty landscape. Also, Mr Wolf's design schemes are not as varied as you would expect if they were inspired from all over the world. Most of them use very similar style furniture and color schemes.
Worse still is that the book does not present design concepts in any systematic fashion. It does not say much about the places that Mr. Wolf designed, what were the challenges, or how different rooms fit together. There is not a single floor plan in the whole book, and rarely it shows the same room from different angles to give the reader a feel how things fit together.
Conclusion: If you are looking for a travel diary with pretty pictures, this book might be for you. If you are looking for design ideas that are of practical use, stay away. You might consider Kelly Hoppen's book ``Home'' instead. We bought it together with this one and found it packed with useful interior design concepts and really helped us to think through all the elements of designing a house or apartment.
I regret buying it!!! I regret that i have bought this book! It does not show anything special and the objetcive of the author of showing misery people and then show glamorous spaces is a shame!!!!
crossing boundries: A Global Vision of Design This book with it's exciting interior pictures captures interior design at it's best. Mr Wolf's incorpration of ethnic items makes these interiors personal and interesting. His use of color and his inclusion of Benjamin Moore color numbers is a nice feature. I very much like this book and his style. I am an interior designer also and I'm not easily impressed by most other designers work.
great experience mr wolf in his travels search for inspirations in the most unusual places: ethiopia, burma, syria - most of times acquiring local handcrafted items which he will use in his decorations. Although his palette is a bit neutral, with pastel colors most of times, his interiors are extremely beautiful, with subdued elegance and charm. Interesting is how he manages to mix the objects from his travels, with modern furniture, mirrors in abondance and white walls.
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