New Book Explores 1,000 Historic Design Patents from the Past Century

From fidget spinners and electric cars to floor lamps and office supplies, author Thomas Rinaldi’s new book, Patented, explores the history of industrial and product design through 1,000 innovative design patents. The selection of life-changing items was curated from a pool of more than 750,000 patents issued by The United States Patent Office since 1900. In an upcoming virtual talk with Rinaldi, you can explore some of the most groundbreaking patents and surprising inventors featured in this unprecedented field guide!

Patented: 120 Years in 1,000 Designs

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In this talk:

• Learn about notable designers, architects, and celebrities – Jacobsen, Dreyfuss, Eames, Rams, Saarinen, Knoll, Loewy, Sottsass, and Starck are featured. There are some surprises too: Prince, Elon Musk, Donatella Versace, and Francis Ford Coppola are also included as inventors.
• Rediscover little-known designs by famous designers unearthed in parsing through design patents.
• Uncover prolific but long-forgotten designers whose vast bodies of work are revealed in patent searches.
• Explore the “curation” that went into shortlisting 1,000 designs from a pool of nearly 800,000.
• Discover globalization and other underlying trends as illustrated by patents – for example, US patents issued to Chinese residents are now over 20,000 annually, up from about 50 per year in the 1990s.
• Save 20% off your own copy of Patented with a unique discount code

Tickets to this talk are just $10. You can gain access to unlimited free events per month and unlock a video archive of 100+ past events as an Untapped New York Insider starting at $10/month. Already an Insider? Register here! Can’t make it live? Register for this virtual talk and we’ll email you a recording of it after it ends.

Patented spotlights objects everyone will be familiar with, from vegetable peelers to ATM machines, alongside creations from Elon Musk, a tape dispenser or a Vespa. From legendary classics to anonymous objects that are indispensable in homes and offices, Patented contains patents that are not only fascinating design documents in their own right, but that also form a unique history of design. The uniform aesthetic of patent drawings means that all 1,000 designs are viewed equally, whether a chair from Gehry or Eames, a calculator or a blender.

Beyond offering a fascinating catalogue of designs from the last 120 years, Patented features some of the biggest names in product design including Jacobsen, Dreyfuss, Eames, Rams, Saarinen, Knoll, Loewy, Sottsass and Starck. Patented also includes some surprises too, with names such as Issey Miyake, Donatella Versace and Francis Ford Coppola included as inventors.

Thomas Rinaldi is an architectural designer based in New York City with degrees from Georgetown and Columbia Universities. He has written several architecture books and his photographs have been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Post. He has lectured widely, including at the New York Public Library and the Society of Architectural Historians.

Patented: 120 Years in 1,000 Designs

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Next, check out 10 Things You Didn’t Know Were Invented in NYC