In recent years, the ornamental furnishings niche has become extremely popular among collectors, resulting in a boom in the auction market and record sales. This collection of furniture designs, chosen by design expert Frédéric Chambre, unfolds like the frames of a film, an epic picture consisting of one hundred years of creative advancements in form, materials, and processes. Themes can be followed across changing trends, as in art history: design vs machine, design versus craft, design versus art—a story that is still unfolding.
 
This hand-bound oversize luxury edition follows the evolution of twentieth-century design from the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements to Bauhaus and Art Deco, Pop Art and the Memphis school, and today's digital age, illuminating the dynamic story of a groundbreaking century through the evolution of everyday human objects.