Victor Papanek

Praise

“Alison Clarke holds up a mirror to Victor Papanek to reveal a fresh picture of the designer and educator by showing how his influence and legacy of ideas are broader than what was previously suggested. [ . . . ] Clarke is adept at explaining the culture within which her subject existed. Her approach takes the reader through Papanek’s prescient ideas that emerged out of the prognostic nature of his design thinking. As such, her biography of Papanek doesn’t subordinate his thinking to his non-conformist personality, but shows how his provocative thinking and understanding of design as a relational practice was contingent on his being in the world. [ . . . ] [Victor Papanek] will provide both design educators and students alike with an opportunity to reflect on their own design practice in terms of for whom they work and for what they stand.”
—Design and Culture