Janet Abrams - on the design writing of the late eighties
In this episode, Jarrett and Janet reflect on the design writing of the late eighties, talk about the art of profile writing, and where her work in writing and ceramics intersect
In this episode from Scratching the Surface, Jarrett and Janet reflect on the design writing of the late eighties, talk about the art of profile writing, and where her work in writing and ceramics intersect.
About Janet Abrams Janet Abrams's career as a writer and editor spans several decades, cities and disciplines, from architecture and design to photography and ceramics. Trained as a journalist in her native England, she first moved to the US in 1983 as a Fulbright Scholar to do her Ph.D. at Princeton University, and was soon appointed US correspondent for Blueprint, the new British design monthly. Back in London in the late 1980s, she wrote on architecture and photography for The Independent, and on visual arts for Sight & Sound and New Statesman & Society. In the 1990s, she became writer-at-large for I.D. Magazine in New York, and a member of the editorial team that won multiple National Magazine Awards. She has also contributed to Ceramic Review, Domus, frieze, Metropolis, New York Times Magazine, Ottagono, Print and Southwest Contemporary, as well as numerous books, exhibition catalogs and monographs. From 2000-2008, as director of the University of Minnesota Design Institute, she ran an interdisciplinary research program on contemporary design and was co-editor, with Peter Hall, of Else/Where: Mapping—New Cartographies of Networks and Territories.
About Scratching the Surface Scratching the Surface is a podcast about design, theory, and creative practice. Hosted by Jarrett Fuller, each episode features wide-ranging conversations with designers, architects, writers, academics, artists, and theorists about how design shapes culture. Previous guests include architecture critic Paul Goldberger, MoMA design curator Paola Antonelli, architect and OMA partner Reinier de Graaf, Pentagram partner Michael Bierut, RISD President Rosanne Somerson, writer Kurt Andersen, and designer Jessica Helfand. Featured in Architectural Digest, Dezeen, Curbed, and Eye. New episodes every other Wednesday.
