Work, Life, Tools: The Things We Use to Do the Things We Do »

Stanley Abercrombie is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He has been editor in chief of three magazines, including twelve years at Interior Design. His distinguished career includes a number of awards for both design and journalism.

George M. Beylerian has pioneered and championed functional elegance and innovation in design throughout his career. As creative director and senior advisor at the Steelcase Design Partnership, he created a cohesive design image for a group of companies acquired by Steelcase, the world's largest furniture manufacturer. He is currently founder and president of Material ConneXion, a resource center in New York dedicated to international material innovation.

Work, Life, Tools artfully examines the tools people use in their everyday lives. Developed by Steelcase Design Partnership and designed by Milton Glaser, this original portrait of late-twentieth-century American work and culture serves as a time capsule for generations to come.

Fifty individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions were asked to identify the most essential tool used in their daily lives. Captured in a wide variety of work settings in large-scale color photographs, each person is pictured with his or her coveted tool. Analytical and anecdotal writings about the importance of the chosen item — presented along with compelling interviews — explain the relationship of the tool to each person's professional and personal accomplishments.

Seen here are Simon & Schuster's Michael Korda and his OXXXX fountain pen, the Guggenheim's Thomas Krens and his binder clip, DC Comics' Jenette Kahn and her bed, Duane Michals and his camera, art critic Arthur Danto and his Compaq Aero computer, architect Laurinda Spear and her set of scales, and Francis Ford Coppola and his IBM ThinkPad 560 computer, as well as other engineers, architects, designers, writers, editors, filmmakers, musicians, actors, curators, artists, and entrepreneurs.

Stanley Abercrombie's introductory essay explores the importance of tools and their design, the relationship between work and leisure, design and the workplace, tools as agents of change in work, and our constant need to adapt and change.