Heightening awareness of design-driven objects.

About the author...

Phil Patton is a contributing editor at Departures and Esquire magazines, a contributing writer at Wired and an automotive design writer for The New York Times. He was a regular contributor to The New York Times House and Home section and, in 1998, originated the “Public Eye” column. He has written many books including: Made in USA: The Secret History of the Things That Made America (Grove-Weidenfeld, 1992), which was named a New York Times notable book of the year; Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile (Simon & Schuster, 2002); Michael Graves Designs: The Art of the Everyday Object (Melcher, 2004); and Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51 (Villard, 1998). He has also written for Art in America, ARTnews, Connoisseur, Geo, Harper’s Bazaar, Men’s Journal, The New Republic, New York Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, Travel + Leisure, Traveler, The Village Voice and Vogue. Patton was Editorial Consultant on the Guggenheim Museum’s “Motorcycle” show in 1998 and Consulting Curator for the “Different Roads” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1999. In 2000 he was consultant and contributor for “On the Job: Design and the American Office” at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Visit philpatton.com/ for more.


Hungry for more Phil?

Collective.1 design fair.
the proper name is Collective.1—suggesting that .2 and .3 are to come.


BMW sound cars at frieze 2013.
the eye is more powerful than the ear.


Audi’s urban future initiative. Höweler + yoon architecture.
so called 'shareway', high speed rail, autos and bicycles would be bundled together.


Gesture chair. Steelcase.
revolutions in office technology produce revolutions in office furniture design.


Car companies at milan 2013.
never before has there been such a rush of automakers to show talents beyond car building.