The Senses in Interior Design - (Studies in Design and Material Culture) by John Potvin & Marie-Ève Marchand & Benoit Beaulieu

About the Book

Interior design is all about the senses. This volume explores how sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste have been mobilised within various forms of interiors from the late sixteenth century to today. It provides new insight on the significance of the senses in all aspects of interior design and decoration.

Book Synopsis

The senses in interior design examines how sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste have been mobilised within various forms of interiors. The chapters explore how the body navigates and negotiates the realities of designed interiors and challenge the traditional focus on star designers or ideal interiors that have left sensorial agency at the margins of design history. From the sensually gendered role of the fireplace in late sixteenth century Italy to the synaesthetic décors of Comte Robert de Montesquiou and the sensorial stimuli of Aesop stores, each chapter brings a new perspective on the central role that the senses have played in the conception, experiences and uses of interiors.

From the Back Cover

Decorators and designers have long experimented with materials, objects and technologies to enhance sensory awareness and wellbeing. But existing histories of interior design rarely feature any discussion of the senses. This volume offers a corrective, exploring how sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste have been mobilized within various forms of interior.

Grouped into three thematic clusters, exploring sensory politics, aesthetic entanglements and sensual economies, the chapters in this volume shed light on sensory expressions and experiences of interior design throughout history. They examine domestic and public interiors from the late-sixteenth century to the present day, giving back the body its central role in the understanding and use of interiors.

Drawing from fields including design history, design studies and sensory studies, The senses in interior design explores fundamental questions about identities, social structures and politics that reveal the significance of the senses in all aspects of interior design and decoration.

About the Author

John Potvin is a Professor of Art History at Concordia University
Marie-Ève Marchand is an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Art History at Concordia University
Benoit Beaulieu is a PhD Candidate in Art History at Concordia University