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Architecture & Design

Are you looking to be inspired by some of the finest designers and architects? You find a wide selection of fascinating architecture and design books at Tales. The design books can inspire you to renew your style or house, but you can also use them in your creative process both as a student or professional. If you are more into buildings and the process behind them, take a look at our architecture books that will take you around the world to the most wonderful and groundbreaking buildings on Earth. All of them will look good on your coffee table.
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  • Save 15%
    - An Exhibition Catalogue
    by Bill Watterson
    £10.99

    Enjoy this beautiful companion book to the Calvin and Hobbes exhibition. Includes an in-depth, original, and lengthy interview with Bill Watterson.

  • Save 12%
    - A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too
    by Mona Brookes
    £18.49

    Now in a revised and expanded edition, this perennial best-seller is the definitive guide for parents and teachers on how to encourage drawing.Mona Brookes'' easy-to-follow, lesson-by-lesson approach to drawing has yielded astounding results with children of all ages and beginning adults. Her unique drawing program has created a revolution in the field of education and a sense of delight and pride among the thousands of students who have learned to draw through her "Monart Method."This revised edition includes the following new materials:Information on multiple intelligence and the seven ways to learn.An inspirational chapter on helping children with learning problemsAn integrated-studies chapter, with projects geared for reading, math, science, ESL, multicultural studies, and environmental awarenessA sixteen page color insert and hundreds of sample illustrationsThis invaluable teaching aid not only guides readers through the basics, but also gives important advice on creating a nurturing environment in which self-expression and creativity can flourish. Both practical and enlightening, Drawing With Children inspires educators and parents to bring out the artist in all of us.

  • Save 21%
    - Architectural Environments. Surrounding Objects
    by Peter Zumthor
    £23.99

    Peter Zumthor's passion is the creation of buildings with architectural atmosphere. But how can one actually set out to achieve it? In nine short, illustrated chapters framed as a process of self-observation, Zumthor describes what he has on his mind as he sets about creating the atmosphere of his houses.

  • Save 30%
    - In Association with the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris
    by Pamela Golbin
    £41.99

    This fascinating publication presents the roles two men have played in turning a small workshop in nineteenth-century Paris into one of the most successful and recognized brands in the world. Known for both craftsmanship and must-have high design, Louis Vuitton the luxury house was started by its eponymous founder in 1854. The first half of this publication traces the innovations by Vuitton, who turned the little-known guild profession of emballeur (packer) into the foremost luxury trunk maker in Paris, with a clientele that included in his lifetime the French nobility as well as the elite of a prosperous empire. Prime and never-before-seen examples of Vuitton's craftsmanship, along with the fashion that went into them, are the highlights of these chapters. The second half of the book examines the role of Marc Jacobs as Louis Vuitton's creative director (since 1997), who took the Louis Vuitton house into a new era with a series of collaborations with artists and designers-such as Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, and Stephen Sprouse-as well as designing a line of highly successful and desired clothing for the company.By examining two divergent but often similar careers one hundred years apart, Louis Vuitton / Marc Jacobs is not only a layered study of the evolution of a luxury brand in the past 150 years but also a celebration of technical and design innovations in the new century.

  • Save 20%
    by Nicola Moorby
    £11.99

    J.M.W. Turner is one of the most influential and important British artists of all time. His watercolours, with their extraordinary effects of shifting light and dramatic cloudscapes, are especially highly regarded. This book reveals the secrets of his technique for the first time, allowing watercolourists to try them out for themselves.

  • - A Guide to Dress Sense for Every Woman
    by Christian Dior
    £10.99

    Reveals the secrets of style and covers topics from what to wear to a wedding and how to tie a scarf to how to walk with grace.

  • Save 10%
    by Leonardo da Vinci
    £8.99

    This selection offers a cross-section from the 6,000 surviving sheets that constitute Leonardo's notebooks, including his thoughts on landscape, optics, anatomy, architecture, sculpture, and painting. Fully updated, this new edition includes some 70 line drawings and a Preface by Leonardo expert Martin Kemp.

  • Save 29%
    by Pamela Golbin
    £35.49

    The name Valentino has been synonymous with high fashion for almost fifty years. Based in Rome, Valentino is only one of two couture houses recognized by the French government outside of Paris. His exquisite designs are coveted and worn by young Hollywood and high society the world over. On the occasion of his last couture collection, presented in Paris in the spring of 2008, this landmark book celebrates forty-five years of Valentino’s remarkable career. Published in association with a prestigious exhibition at the Museé des Arts Decoratifs’s famed costume department in Paris, this volume focuses on Valentino’s haute couture creations, highlighting the most important and iconic creations of his half-century in fashion through recurring themes in Valentino’s work—variations on the ideas of volume, line, and texture as well as motifs such as geometry, pleats, and flowers—through new photography, sketches, fabric samples, and commentary on the dresses by Valentino himself. In addition, unprecedented photography by François Halard of Valentino’s last fittings and backstage of his runway show reveals Valentino’s private world for the first time. "Valentino On Valentino," a chapter of first-person accounts of the designs of these iconic dresses, along with Valentino’s commentary on his fashion, will make this publication unique in the study of Valentino as a cultural and artistic icon.

  • Save 29%
    by J. C. Cooper
    £28.49

    Explains the meanings associated with objects, plants, animals, myths, religious symbols, and images in art.

  • Save 27%
    by Mojang AB
    £25.49 - 170.49

  • Save 24%
     
    £37.99

    'Books have traced the lives of great designers before, but few serve to double as a visual history of British popular culture. What this book deftly demonstrates is that Smith has not just been going for 50 years, he's been interwoven with our national aesthetic for 50 years.' - Esquire A timely celebration of British design legend Sir Paul Smith and his one-of-a-kind creativity This innovative book captures the unique spirit of British fashion icon Sir Paul Smith through 50 objects chosen by Sir Paul himself for the inspiration they have provided him over the years - from a wax plate of spaghetti and a Dieter Rams radio to a Mario Bellini Cab chair and a bicycle seat. Each object has impacted his worldview, his creative process, and his adherence to a design approach that's always imbued with distinctly British wit and eccentricity. The book covers subjects as varied as breaking down the formality of wearing a suit, the importance of wit, and the benefits of remaining independent in an increasingly monopolized world, and includes personal contributions - handwritten notes, a sketch, or photograph - from such fashion and design heavyweights as Manolo Blahnik, Inès de la Fressange, Martin Parr, and John Pawson. Updated with a fresh new fabric cover featuring the brand's signature stripe and a brand-new preface written by Sir Paul especially for this edition, Paul Smith provides the ultimate insight into one of the fashion world's most-loved creators.

  • Save 10%
    by Liz Tomforde
    £8.99

    Coming soon . . .The fourth book in the Windy City series - the TikTok sensation! Available to pre-order now.

  • Save 27%
    by Lucy Score
    £21.99

    Fall in love with this set of three unforgettable romantic comedies, set in the small town of Knockemout.*New York Times bestsellers**Sunday Times bestsellers**TikTok sensations*This collection includes all three of Lucy Score's bestselling Knockemout novels: Things We Never Got Over, Things We Hide From the Light and Things We Left Behind. Get ready to meet:Knox and Naomi.Nash and Lina.Lucian and Sloane.Lucy Score's international bestselling Knockemout trilogy has sold more than 2 million copies globally. Discover the love stories that everyone is talking about.

  • Save 10%
    by Stephen King
    £8.99 - 18.99

  • Save 27%
    by Joel Beath
    £21.99

    Small footprint design that proves living better doesn¿t have to mean living larger. Following the success of their first book, the second volume of Never Too Small showcases 30 new and outstanding homes from around the world that explore small space living. Framed by five small-footprint design principles, the book features beautiful photography, detailed floor-plans and accessible architectural commentary on each of the 30 homes. Championing the work of award-winning architects and designers, Never Too Small offers an inspiring model for the future of housing¿one where sustainability and style, comfort and affordability can co-exist. Praise for Never Too Small: ¿Full of inspiration we can each apply to our own spaces, this is a book that offers hope and inspiration for a future of our cities and their citizens in which sustainability and style, comfort and affordability can co-exist. Never Too Small proves living better doesn¿t have to mean living larger.¿ - Uro Books ¿After years of recommending the YouTube channel to anyone who will listen, this book celebrates thoughtfully and ingeniously designed small urban spaces in all their variety.¿ - Kinokuniya Books ¿This has to have been my favourite book of 2022. Good design goes a long way, especially in a small space, and Creative Director Colin Chee has gone all-out in this book to share that message.¿- Chicane Magazine

  • Save 23%
    by Ellen Lupton
    £16.99

    "Revised and expanded third edition of the essential guide to how typefaces are constructed and how to use them"--

  • Save 14%
    by Kazu Kibuishi
    £9.49

  • Save 14%
    by Bret Easton Ellis
    £9.49

  • Save 23%
    by Cassandra Clare
    £15.49

    Revisit the magic of the Mortal Instruments with this lavish new Collector's Edition of City of Ashes, which has new cover art, stunning endpapers and a letter from Cassie. A must-have gift for any Shadowhunter fan.Love and power are the deadliest temptations... Haunted by her past, Clary is dragged deeper into New York City's terrifying underworld of demons and Shadowhunters - but can she control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers?

  • Save 21%
    by Martha Wells
    £14.99

    Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.But there's something wrong with Murderbot; it isn't running within normal operational parameters. ART's crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza's SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they're going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what's wrong with itself, and fast!Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.The Murderbot DiariesAll Systems RedArtificial ConditionRogue ProtocolExit StrategyNetwork EffectFugitive TelemetrySystem Collapse

  • Save 20%
    by Melissa Washburn
    £11.99

    Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants is a must-have visual reference for student artists, botanical illustrators, urban sketchers, and anyone seeking to improve their realistic drawing skills. This comprehensive book features 600-plus step-by-step sketches depicting a vast array of beautiful botanicals, florals, plant structures, and more. Each begins with simple shapes and lines and builds on those forms, adding details like flower centers, leaf veins, and petal shading, and ending with a finished drawing. Helpful drawing tips are also included. Designed as a contemporary guidebook for artists who want to draw botanical forms, Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants shows flower blossoms, leaves, and plants from a variety of perspectives. By following the guides, artists will become more skilled and confident in their ability to draw any flower or greenery. Among the botanicals featured are: Tropical florals such as plumeria, protea, and African violetHanging and vine blooms, including wisteria and morning gloryBirch, white oak, gingko, and maple leavesPlants with interesting shapes, such as cactus, zebra grass, and bamboo Author Melissa Washburn is a skilled illustrator whose clear and elegant drawing style will make this a go-to sourcebook for years to come. The books in the Draw Like an Artist series are richly visual references for learning how to draw classic subjects realistically through hundreds of step-by-step images created by expert artists and illustrators.

  • Save 26%
    by Cristina Cordova
    £21.49

    Explore the human form in depth, from concept sketches and armatures to detailed instructions for constructing legs, torso, arms, hands, and head from clay. In Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay, renowned sculptor and instructorCristina Cordova teaches everything you need to know to replicate the full human figure using clay. Start by developing meaningful sketches and reference points.Then learn how to make and use an armature to create hollow forms that are safe to fire in a kiln.Using patterns and slabs, you can move on to develop a full human form, head to toe.Work along with the author to create a form about two-feet tall, or choose your own size: the patterns and instructions can work in a variety of scales.Photographic demonstrations and diagrams cover the construction and articulation of feet and legs, the hip area and upper torso, arms, hands, neck, and head. Cristina includes supplementary tips and insights throughout to support the sculpting process and enhance naturalism. You'll also find a brief section on general anatomical concepts and modeling strategies to facilitate accuracy and expression as all the components come together.Whether you are a clay artist with limited experience in figurative sculpture or a figurative sculptor outside the world of ceramics looking for a straightforward fabrication strategy to create permanent compositions from clay, Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay will expertly guide your way.

  • Save 25%
    by Lindsay Oesterritter
    £19.49

    Learn the key techniques, tips, and tricks for pit, barrel, raku, and wood firing. Fall in love with flames, wood, and the effect that unique firing methods have on pottery. Move beyond the electric kiln and explore the dramatic surfaces of raku, the flashes of salt firing, and the rustic look of ash rivulets. In this book, Lindsay Oesterritter provides a crash course in the most accessible methods of alternative firing.Raku firing requires minimal equipment and can easily be fueled with a standard propane tank. Likewise, pit and barrel firing do not require much in the way of initial investment. Yet all these techniques provide an immediate glimpse into the magic of firing. Bright reds and blues, dramatic black and white crackle, even metallic luster are instantly possible. For more experienced potters and studios looking to offer more, Oesterritter also explores wood-fired kilns. Drawing on years of experience and extensive interviews with fellow wood-fire potters, there is no comparable resource on the market.Features on top potters working today get to the heart of specialty techniques and asides show firing variations and traditional kilns in different cultures around the world. A gallery of showstopping work from a diverse group of artists round out the package and inspire you to get started. The Mastering Ceramics series is for artists who never stop learning. With compelling projects, expert insight, step-by-step photos, and galleries of work from today's top artists, these books are the perfect studio companions. Also available from the series: Mastering Hand Building and Mastering the Potters Wheel.

  • Save 24%
    - for Mixed-Media and Textile Artists
    by Shelley Rhodes
    £18.99

    A beautifully illustrated exploration of the concepts of fragmentation and repair in mixed-media and textile art from a leading artist.

  • Save 15%
    by Van Pelt Shelby Van Pelt
    £8.49

  • Save 15%
    by Jarvis Cocker
    £10.99

  • Save 10%
    by Ashley Poston
    £8.99

    ¿Sounds Like Love, the new magical rom-com from Ashley Poston is available to pre-order now!¿'This is a beautiful story ¿ Such a poignant portrayal of love, loss and finding oneself' ¿¿¿¿¿'Ashley Poston writes really beautiful love stories with just a sprinkling of magic' ¿¿¿¿¿

  • Save 24%
    by Jenna Rainey
    £17.49

  • Save 25%
    by Hayao Miyazaki
    £20.99

Architecture

Our selection of cultural books also include architecture books. If you are fascinated by beautiful or memorable buildings we have the books for you. 

Architecture is the art form everyone is in contact with everyday. We move across a wide variety of buildings everytime we go out the door. Schools, work spaces, museums and even your own home is a form of architecture. Some buildings however have that extra effect on you. They make you shop and wonder, and most importantly they are products of their time. They are part of our history and tell the story of the time they were made. Some architects also go beyond that creating something never seen before and these are the buildings that we remember and they might even become attractions or landmarks like the beloved Eiffeltower in the city of lights.   

You could also get inspired as an architect or architectural student yourself. The architecture books invite you into the process of making a building out of the ordinary. If you are interested in sustainability you could also find architecture books about that. In the last couple of years we have also seen an increase in sustainable architecture, where materials are reused or alternative and good for our planet. They are the buildings of the future. 

We also have a collection of garden architecture books. In recent years open air spaces have been desired especially in the big cities, where fewer and fewer have access to a garden or park. Therefore we need innovative ways of finding new green areas in the cities also in order to be sustainable. For that matter we need to plant more trees and have nature surrounding us both for our planet, but also for the wellbeing of ourselves. Find ideas for new kinds of creating just that in our selection of architecture books. 



Fashion and design

Everyone wants to be stylish, and in our selection of design and fashion books you can get inspired by some of the best style icons and designers in the world. You can get that extra tip that will help you become the most stylish person in the room or one of the new style icons of Instagram.  Whether it’s about interior or clothes you will find it all among our fashion books and design books.

Fashion is a way of showing who you are. The way you dress reflects your personality and it is a way of showing how you feel or wants to feel that day, although it can be difficult to mix your outfit in the right way, and that is where the fashion books can help. Another wonderful thing about the fashion and design books is that they look stylish in themselves, and they will look gorgeous as a coffee table book. They add that extra level of style to your furnishing, and you display all your knowledge about fashion. So that is why you find the most beautiful and cool fashion books for decor at Tales. 

In our selection you find the popular fashion book In Paris by the French Instagram it-girl Jeanne Damas and Lauren Bastide. In the book they try to cover the secrets of the parisienne; who she is, what she wears and where she is heading. The fashion book contains interviews with 20 of the most inspiring French women from the city of light, and concludes that being a parisienne is not just about how you look and dress, but a way of life. 

If you yourself dream of having a designer carriere, you could also find fashion books for designing in Tales’ selection of culture books. Get the perfect guide to sewing, draping, and picking patterns for your next stylish creation. 

If you need inspiration to renew your furnishing you could - in addition to selecting a stylish book among our fashion books for coffee tables - also find design books about that. They help you pick the most tasteful furniture on the market and most importantly how to style them, and you could end up with the most wonderful interior in your own house. 


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