Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Norwich University of the Arts
Selling Gleam: Making Steel Modern in Post-war America
Applying the notion of modernity as unstable to design historical study, both Maffei’s article ‘Selling Gleam...’ and the introduction, co-authored by Maffei and Professor Tom Fisher (Nottingham Trent University), argue that shininess should be designated as a key category of design historical analysis. The 5,000-word introduction to the issue provides the context for specific examinations of shininess as a historical and theoretical concept.
This is the first design historical special issue devoted to the cultural significance of reflection and materiality in design. The papers selected by Maffei and Fisher deal with a range of specific examples of these radiant qualities, emphasising the dynamic relationships between the cultural and theoretical discourses that surround them and the material properties in which they are based.
While Maffei and Fisher developed the concept of the special issue and proposed contributors, following the practices of the Journal of Design History, each of the articles in the special issue was also independently peer-reviewed by four academic subject experts; an additional layer or rigour was provided by the peer review of liaison editor, Dr. Kjetil Fallon, University of Oslo.
