Design matters

Bernat Klein

Secker and Warburg. Paperback

1976

Book design: Ruari McLean

Published in 1976, Design Matters sets out Bernat Klein’s views on design as a working designer in Britain at that time. Throughout his life Klein was a protagonist for ‘good design’ as he believed that it had the potential to change people’s lives for the better.

Design matters is thought provoking and constructive, factual and entertaining. It will interest all those who think before they spend and who agree with Bernat Klein that everything matters visually: from clothes to houses, from furniture to computers, from crockery to crankshaft, from the planning of towns to the preservation and the improvement of the countryside.

Chapters of the book tackle: ‘Definition of Design’, 'Some comparisons between British and European attitudes to things seen’, 'Scandinavia as I see it’, ’The: we know what they want and they can jolly well have it’ attitude to industry’, ’The Marks and Spencerisation of Britain’, The Design Council - It’s handicapping virtues’, ….

Klein publishes his thoughts and views on the wider aspects of design and society in a very open, candid and challenging way. 

I’d view him as a rebel and the book is a joy to read!

Bernat Klein was born in Serbia and came to live and work in England. He studied fine Art at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem and then continued studies in Leeds/UK, to become a textile designer. In the 1960s his fabric designs were chosen for couture by Coco Chanel, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. Klein continued painting too and indeed, his paintings were inspired by nature and the landscape he lived in (the Scottish borders) and these painted colour combinations and textures were ’transferred’ into his fabrics.

‘Hans and I were fortunate to visit Klein’s studio in Galashiels in the late 1980s and meet Bernat there. The iconic studio was designed by architect Peter Wormersley and stood in the countryside. A two storey concrete, brutalist building with glass panels on all sides, being partly covered in colourful curtains. We looked at jumpers, wool, fabrics and paintings, all displayed on the 1st floor of the studio. And we had a conversation with Klein about his work and ours. Bernat, his work and the environment he was in - architecture and surrounding countryside, left a lasting impression.'