Szenasy, Design Advocate: Writings and Talks byMetropolisMagazine Editor Susan S. Szenasy:

Abstract

The recent history of design is still being written. New exhibitions and publications such as the Victoria & Albert Museum’s 2011–2012 ‘Postmodernism: Substance and Style’ and Penny Sparke’s revised An Introduction to Design and Culture (Routledge, Abingdon, 2012) have made tentative stabs at encapsulating the last decades of the twentieth century, including topics as disparate as environmental and consumer activism, globalization and the stylistic flourishes of Postmodernism. We have few suggestions of the leading voices of the period, however: who are the heirs to the critical commentaries of Philip Johnson or Ada Louise Huxtable, whose work might document changes in design culture around the turn of the millennium? With the publication of this collection of essays, we can consider long-time (and still current) Metropolis magazine editor Susan Szenasy as one possible voice of a design world grappling with changing realities from the 1980s to the present moment. With a personal and accessible tone, Szenasy observed changes in the texture of everyday life in the designed city of the late twentieth century, noting the rise of the computer as part of domestic décor, the proliferation of dings and beeps in increasingly automated urban space, and the effects of major urban crises, including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, on the nation’s design consciousness. Perhaps most notably for the historian, Szenasy addressed sustainability and inclusive design before they were familiar topics for designers, and did so within the pages of a decidedly mainstream publication, with large-format, glossy layouts and advertisements for stainless-steel fixtures and art-glass lamps. The voice that comes through in this collection—largely made up of her editorial columns for Metropolis , with some longer speeches and essays—is one of thoughtful engagement with the goals of design, as well as dismay when the lofty ideals of designers fall short. Her most recent writings, which emphasize the importance of ethics, show a desire not only to commentate but to intervene in the education and activities of designers.