Whether you’re looking for an easy escape, inspiration for a future project, information about a designer you love, or just need some pretty in your life, these design books are among the finest that were released in the past year. Each is packed with stunning interiors, top-notch furniture, graphic and product design, and much more. They invite you to get comfortable and spend a good long time flipping through them, reading up on trends and history—and maybe even get out some Post-It notes to mark stuff to go back to later.
The Best Design Books of 2024
Parisian by Design: Interiors by David Jimenez by Diane Dorrans Saeks
Who doesn’t want a dazzling apartment in Paris? Even if it’s out of reach (and it’s almost always out of reach!), you can live vicariously and even learn a few things you can apply to your own home.
FREDERIC: The Last Word in Chic by Dara Caponigro
Full disclosure: I am including two books by former Domino Magazine colleagues. (And they’re both outstanding.) FREDERIC, edited by Dara Caponigro, is one of the best interiors magazines out there. A project of the fabric house Schumacher, the projects shown a beautiful and accessible. This is an edited collection from the magazine’s pages.
Southern Interiors: A Celebration of Personal Style by Tori Mellott with Mario López-Cordero
From another Domino alum, this book by Tori Mellott is a celebration of Southern style and how it has been reinterpreted for today. The 28 homes profiled run the gamut from Georgian to Gothic to modern minimal.
Michael S. Smith: Classic By Design by Michael S. Smith with Andrew Ferren
Something of a living legend, Michael S. Smith represents a gold standard in design, and he is well represented here. His combination of classic and modern is executed with influences from around the world.
Alexander Girard: Let the Sun In by Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee
A volume devoted to the multi-hyphenated designer whose work spanned interiors, textiles, graphics, branding, and more. His style represents an ebullient take on midcentury modern with lots of color and style.
Marc Newson Works 84-24 by Marc Newson
Industrial designer extraordinaire Marc Newson has assembled a comprehensive look at the broad scale of his creativity. Another genre-spanning talent who has designed everything from armchairs to airplanes.
Donald Judd Furniture by the Judd Foundation
Donal Judd’s wooden boxes and other starkly simple pieces made him famous, but he was also a prolific furniture designer, creating over one hundred pieces in the 70s and 80s—each a reflection of his emphasis on form and function.
New York Living Rooms by Dominique Nabokov
Not a new book but a reprint (its fourth!), this 1998 book celebrates the interiors photography of Dominique Nabokov. She shot the apartments of the who’s who of New York, including Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, and Norman Mailer.
Interiors: Styled by Mieke ten Have
I recently had the pleasure of attending the Paris launch of this book and had a chance to flip through its incredible pages. Have is an interiors stylist who breaks down her four-element approach to styling and how she applies them.
Story by Stephen Treffinger
Photo by Asal Lofti
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