The David Hockney SUMO Collector's Edition

With his sleek, glossy and dynamic designs, Marc Newson creates cutting-edge work that embodies notions of speed, luxury and progress. His work — be it his now-iconic Event Horizon table, an Italian speed boat, Nike shoes, or an Ikepod wristwatch — manifests a jet-set lifestyle redefined for the 21st century.

A Sydney native, Newson lived in Tokyo for several years and currently resides in London. He has created everything from furniture and jewelry to sneakers and dish racks. Given his globetrotting lifestyle, it’s easy to see why one of his best-known designs is the Lockheed lounge chair — a curvy, pod-shaped piece crafted from the same riveted aluminum that encases airplanes. You may also have spotted one of Newson’s many collaborations with luxury fashion houses — such as Louis Vuitton and Hermès — in a first-class departure lounge.

One of the most influential (and certainly one of the most prolific) industrial designers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Newson preaches the gospel of good design with messianic fervor. His work appears in dozens of museum collections around the world, and consistently fetches high prices at auction.

Newson has long been captivated by the space-age modernism of the early 1960s — indeed, his famed Embryo chair for Cappellini would fit right into the Jetsons’ living room. With such a long and impressive list of futuristic design bona fides, as you will see on these pages, Marc Newson is clearly a designer on the move.

Find vintage Marc Newson lounge chairs, tables and other furniture today on 1stDibs.

From his humble beginning selling comic books in his native Cologne to his rapidly expanding book publishing empire, Benedikt Taschen has been all about living large — literally. Sumo, a 464-page, 66-pound compendium of Helmut Newton’s photography is one of the largest and heaviest books ever produced — it comes with its own display stand — and among the most expensive, too. The first copy in a limited edition published in 1999 and signed by many of the celebrities whose images appear in its pages sold at auction for $364,000.

TASCHEN’s success derives from his personality: he publishes books that reflect his own diverse personal enthusiasms. TASCHEN’s lavishly produced art books run the gamut from the ridiculous (The Big Book of Breasts) to the sublime (17th-century naturalist Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Natural Curiosities).

The TASCHEN catalog includes scholarly examinations of cultural icons such as Muhammad Ali, gorgeous monographs on painters like Hieronymous Bosch, exquisite books of photography like Sebastião Selgado’s Genesis and portfolios of muscle cars. In addition to his 11 bookstores located in the United States and Europe, TASCHEN recently opened an art gallery in Los Angeles devoted to photography.

As you can see from the titles available on these pages, you are more than likely to have an interest in common with Benedikt Taschen — and his marvelous books give you a way to explore it fully.