Page turners: 10 new titles to add to your shelves

The name of the book is zoltar
Zoltar the MagnificentBy Dan Macmillan and Kieron Livingstone Existing as its own subculture, the world of Zoltar, first established as a ‘disruptive entity’ by founders Dan Macmillan (aka Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden) and Simon Barnzley Armitage 10 years ago, exists in its physical form as a London store, fashion line (designed by Macmillan and Kieron Livingstone) and artistic collaborator with the aim of rupturing the visual status quo. In celebration of a decade of ‘guerrilla’ activity, Macmillan and Livingstone have compiled this retrospective of Zoltar’s complete works, including the shop’s infamous ‘pornographic toilet’, with a foreword by Jake and Dinos Chapman.
(Image credit: Trolley Books and Writer: Katrina Israel)

Dan Macmillan and Kieron Livingstone subvert the Nike slogan

The Technicolor book communicates Zoltar's ethos of ‘cosmic malevolence’

(Image credit: Trolley Books and Writer: Katrina Israel)

The Technicolor book communicates Zoltar's ethos of ‘cosmic malevolence’

The Technicolor book communicates Zoltar's ethos of ‘cosmic malevolence’

(Image credit: Trolley Books and Writer: Katrina Israel)

The model wears the red t-shirt which has skeleton design

Mood board imagery from Zoltar the Magnificent

(Image credit: Trolley Books and Writer: Katrina Israel)

The cover of the book has many stairs


(Image credit: Phaidon and Writer: Jonathan Bell)

Carlo Scarpa By Robert McCarter

Of all the modernist masters, Carlo Scarpa has perhaps been least well represented by the contemporary publishing industry. While his oeuvre is expansive, many of his best-known jobs are characterised by an extreme attention to detail and a level of craft and material understanding that doesn’t translate well to the page. With this new monograph, Phaidon is hoping that through scale, solidity and meticulous design, the Italian architect's approach can be better understood - and savoured. The book itself becomes an extension of the work.

Published by Phaidon, £75 

Writer: Jonathan Bell

It looks like a spherical glass


(Image credit: Courtesy of Archivio Barovier)

From the book: Carlo Scarpa's first glassworks can be identified by their cone-shaped foot - an invention of his - and the consistent use of pure geometric forms. Pictured is 'Vaso Transparente', 1926, a globe-shaped clear vase with a blue truncated cone base. Courtesy of Archivio Barovier

The sitting place looks so beautiful


(Image credit: Courtesy of ORCH Orsenigo Chemollo)

Scarpa was commissioned in 1950 to make changes to the Italian pavilion, Venice's largest Biennale building. Creating a new rectangular courtyard within the existing building, the architect installed a concrete canopy structure where visitors could relax between exhibits. Courtesy of ORCH Orsenigo Chemollo

It is looks like a museum


(Image credit: © Klaus Frahm / Artur Images)

Scarpa was hired to enlarge the Canova Museum in Possagno, dedicated to the works of neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. Pictured is a view of the western gallery with two inwardly projecting, steel-framed windows, a subtly modern addition to the traditional museum 

projecting L-shape wall


(Image credit: press)

Castelvecchio Museum renovations, entrance arch with a deeply recessed glazed foor and projecting L-shape wall

Malicious Damage named book


(Image credit: Donlon Books and Writer: Jonathan Bell)

Malicious Damage: The Defaced Library Books of Kenneth Halliwell and Joe Orton 

Joe Orton's playwriting career wasn't his first great artistic endeavour. Together with his lover Kenneth Halliwell, Orton would venture into Islington Library and plunder the stacks for interesting tomes. These would be taken back to their flat on Noel Road, modified - plates removed, covers defaced (or enhanced) - and generally messed about with in an ongoing project that lasted three years. Orton and Halliwell were sentenced to a career-defining six-month stretch in prison. Malicious Damage chronicles the incident and the results of their 'project'. 

Published by Donlon Books, £35

Writer: Jonathan Bell

projecting fashion magazine cover

From the book: Orton and Halliwell withdrew random texts from the library and obscured the covers with a collage of imagery

(Image credit: press)

Books front pages with bird and flower

The next reader would be shocked or offended by what they found

(Image credit: press)

A blue color cover book


(Image credit: Rizzoli and Writer: Jessica Klingelfuss)

Amber, Guinevere and Kate photographed by Craig McDean 

By Craig McDean, text by Mathias Augustyniak and Glenn O'Brien 

Craig McDean’s new monograph pays glowing tribute to three of fashion’s top models - Amber Valetta, Guinevere van Seenus and Kate Moss - with rich portraits, shot entirely on film. In a refreshing throwback, McDean strips his muses of today’s hyper-glossy pretense with the virtuous click of the shutter. The volume features never-before-seen images, contact sheets and outtakes from his most recognised shoots. Texts by Mathias Augustyniak, of M/M Paris (which designed the book), and author Glenn O’Brien add depth and insight. 

Published by Rizzoli, £60

Writer: Jessica Klingelfuss

Different variants of books


(Image credit: © Craig McDean)

From the book: A mixture of Craig McDean's most memorable commercial and editorial work with his three supermodel muses features in the new tome. Here, Guinevere Van Seenus stars in Jil Sander's S/S 1996 campaign © Craig McDean

Different variants of books


(Image credit: © Craig McDean)

A portrait of a fresh-faced Kate Moss, which originally appeared in British Vogue's January 1997 issue © Craig McDean

Different variants of books


(Image credit: McDean)

McDean photographed Amber Valletta for Yohji Yamamoto's A/W 2000 campaign © Craig McDean

Different variants of books


(Image credit: Editions du Régard and Writer: Jessica Klingelfuss)

Thierry Dreyfus 

Back in 2011 we recruited legendary lighting designer and Wallpaper* collaborator Thierry Dreyfus to take on his first editorial photography commission (see W*152). The French designer had been privately shooting for some 20 years, and in this beautiful new tome – Dreyfus’ first – his inimitable eye for light really gains focus. The book, with text by Dominique Baqué, is a showcase of his ‘intense visual relationship with the world’. For a designer who works strictly with analogue cameras and forgoes all digital retouching, the medium is most fitting - after all, photography is derived from the Greek words for ‘light’ (photos) and ‘drawing’ (graphos). Dreyfus has produced some of fashion’s most memorable catwalk shows - and even more monumental lighting installations - but this monograph is the designer at his purest.


Published by Editions du Régard, €40

Writer: Jessica Klingelfuss

Different variants of books

From the book: Untitled, by Thierry Dreyfus

(Image credit: press)

Different variants of books

Dreyfus' photographs hone in on the essence of light

(Image credit: Dreyfus)

Different variants of books

Dreyfus works strictly with medium format analogue cameras (such as Hasselblad and Rolleiflex), taking very few exposures and forgoing all digital retouching

(Image credit: press)

Untitled, by Thierry Dreyfus

Untitled, by Thierry Dreyfus

(Image credit: press)

A front view of the Emerald book


(Image credit: Thames & Hudson and Writer: Katrina Israel)

Emerald 

By Joanna Hardy, Hettie Judah and Jonathan Self 

Twenty times more rare than a diamond, the emerald has rightfully been the subject of envy throughout the ages. Thames & Hudson’s beautifully presented Emerald, with a preface by Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, is the definitive guide to the world’s most precious gemstone. Delving into the archives of jewellery houses from Boucheron to Bulgari, it showcases more than 200 pieces - many from previously unseen private collections. Tracing notable devotees, from Catherine the Great to Elizabeth Taylor, the comprehensive edit also explores Cleopatra’s lost emerald mines in the Sahara.

Published by Thames & Hudson, £75

Writer: Katrina Israel

Emerald By Joanna Hardy, Hettie Judah and Jonathan Self

From the book: a pair of emerald and diamond earrings, a lamp pin and a clip of drop emeralds from Van Cleef & Arpels 

(Image credit: press)

colours appear during the mining process

The raw stones

(Image credit: press)

Emerald By the mining process

Interference colours appear during the mining process

(Image credit: press)

Karma By Oscar Monzón


(Image credit: RVB Books and Writer: Jonathan Bell)

Karma

 By Oscar Monzón

 Lurking around in car parks after dusk isn't our preferred weekend hobby, but for photographer Oscar Monzón this was clearly the best strategy available to him. Karma isn't just about sex - it dives into a host of (mostly covertly captured) in-car behaviours for an anthropological study of behaviour most of us treat as totally private. 

Published by RVB Books, €95

Writer: Jonathan Bell

show his fascination with what he can

From the book: the photographer's pictures show his fascination with what he can (or can't) see in parked cars

(Image credit: press)

A woman examines a toy in the passenger seat of her car

A woman examines a toy in the passenger seat of her car

(Image credit: press)

Two persons sitting in the car

Even the ordinary seems subversive

(Image credit: press)

Two person interacting near car

Often what goes on outside the car is as important as what goes on inside

(Image credit: press)

Photographic survey of the German nuclear power industry.


(Image credit: Kehrer and Writer: Jonathan Bell)

Critical Mass
By Michael Danner

Photographer Michael Danner has undertaken a photographic survey of the German nuclear power industry. While this is by no means a polemic, his steady eye and unrelenting ability to conjure up both beauty and banality shows the industry for what it is, a prosaic and humdrum business running under pressure of political and environmental opposition. Germany has 17 nuclear plants and no real desire to power them down. However the Fukushima disaster has transformed public opinion, potentially sealing the industry's long-term fate. 

Published by Kehrer, €39
Writer: Jonathan Bell

Radiation monitors at the Isar nuclear power

From the book: Radiation monitors at the Isar nuclear power station in Germany

(Image credit: © Michael Danner)

The airlock at Grafenrheinfeld views

The airlock at Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant 

(Image credit: © Michael Danner)

A metal chest filled with clean protective gloves

A metal chest filled with clean protective gloves at the now-decommissioned nuclear power station in Brunsbüttel

(Image credit: © Michael Danner)

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air


(Image credit: Hayward Publishing and Writer: Jonathan Bell)

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air
By Jeremy Deller 

Accompanying the exhibition of the same name, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air sees Jeremy Deller co-opt Marshall Berman's classic exploration of modernity and commerce. The result is a historical travelogue that explores the emergence of popular working-class culture in the face of the challenges of the Industrial Revolution. Deller's work has always had an element of folk history, and his archival skills are here pushed to the fore. 

Published by Hayward Publishing, £14.99 

Writer: Jonathan Bell

1819 Thomas described in the books

A spread from the book depicts an 1819 Thomas Hornor painting(left) and a Judas Priest album cover from 1979 (right)

(Image credit: press)

An old historical bridge

Stockport Viaduct, 1986.

(Image credit: Photography: John Davies)

A spread from the book featuring a drawing

A spread from the book featuring a drawing, by John Evans, 1819 (left) Toni Iommi of Black Sabbath

(Image credit: photographed by Dean Shaw)

The book of Giambattista Valli


(Image credit: Rizzoli and Writer: Katrina Israel)

Giambattista Valli 

When Giambattista Valli was approached to create a coffee table book, he hesitated at first; having launched is eponymous label only a few years earlier, in 2005, he was reluctant to do a typical retrospective. Instead the Rome-born designer embarked on a behind-the-scenes journey into his creative process. With an opening watercolour portrait of Valli by Francesco Clemente (which hangs in the designer’s Paris studio), the reader is instantly drawn deep inside a rarified world. Between fabric covers, Valli shares his obsessions, from the artwork of Alberto Burri to Little Red Riding Hood; his inspiration boards; backstage candids; and expressive illustrations of his frothy couture confections. Contributors include Hamish Bowles, Diane Kruger and Lee Radziwill. 

Published by Rizzoli, £62.50 

Writer: Katrina Israel

Colours and sumptuous materials book

From the book: Fashion designer Giambattista Valli revisits magnified colours and sumptuous materials from collection to collection

(Image credit: press)

vibrant energy that makes his designs


(Image credit: press)

Characterised by their lightness, his fetish materials - gazar and organza - have a life of their own, giving them the vibrant energy that makes his designs so distinctly dynamic

Different Backstage at the Giambattista Valli

Backstage at the Giambattista Valli S/S 2013 couture show.

(Image credit: Photography: Kevin Tachman)

Giambattista Valli A/W 2012 runway show.

Giambattista Valli A/W 2012 runway show.

(Image credit: Photography: Alexis Dahan)

Melina Keays is the entertaining director of Wallpaper*. She has been part of the brand since the magazine’s launch in 1996, and is responsible for entertaining content across the print and digital platforms, and for Wallpaper’s creative agency Bespoke. A native Londoner, Melina takes inspiration from the whole spectrum of art and design – including film, literature, and fashion. Her work for the brand involves curating content, writing, and creative direction – conceiving luxury interior landscapes with a focus on food, drinks, and entertaining in all its forms