A History of Interior Design

John Pile acknowledges that interior design is a field with unclear boundaries, in which construction, architecture, the arts and crafts, technology and product design all overlap. These topics are woven together in a fascinating narrative that runs from cave dwellings and temple architecture, through Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance palaces on to the grand civic spaces of the nineteenth century and the sleek interiors of modern skyscrapers.

Embedded in a social and political context, detailed discussions of famous buildings, from the Parthenon to the Pompidou Centre, are interspersed with investigations of the domestic vernacular the cottages, farmhouses, apartments and city terraces inhabited by ordinary people. New to the second edition is a chapter looking at the interior design history of Asian and Islamic traditions. There are 180 new images throughout the book, including furniture, textiles, lighting and product design.