Inside Phaidon’s brightly-hued James Irvine monograph

James Irvine is a name that carries as much weight in Italian design circles as it does in British. After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1984, the Milan-based furniture and product designer worked under Ettore Sottsass at the Italian design studio Olivetti before striking out on his own and designing everything from Phaidon’s unrivalled stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair for several years, to city buses for Mercedes-Benz, and chairs for IKEA and Muji. Now, art publisher Phaidon has worked closely with his family and friends to release an intimate look at the life and work of the late design legend.

With all the playful balance of Irvine’s designs, Phaidon’s lemon-yellow book designed by Sarah Boris – the talent behind the ICA’s sleek 2009 redesign – gets under the skin of his varied projects. Delving into his archive and bringing together some of contemporary design’s biggest names, Irvine’s definitive monograph pairs his unpublished sketches and images with interviews and essays from the likes of Jasper Morrison, Michele De Lucchi and director of London’s Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic. Equal parts style and substance, the result is a stand-out tribute that was recently on display during Salone del Mobile at some of the designer’s favourite haunts throughout Milan.