A groundbreaking account of women's pioneering role in American design during the Industrial Age-- and their lasting contributions to design education, history, and practice. In
The She-Makers, Hsiao-Yun Chu reveals for the first time women as a driving force in American design since the earliest years of the profession. As the burgeoning industries of the nineteenth century demanded new styles, products, and visual designs, enterprising women seized the opportunities for both financial independence and creative fulfillment through design. Women became prime movers in raising funds, establishing design schools, and building alumnae and professional networks that enabled thousands of women to participate in the industrial economy as designers and educators.
This book traces the unique alignment of economic, social, and cultural factors that allowed women's design education to flourish in the late nineteenth century, through schools such as the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, the New York School of Design for Women, and the New York School of Applied Design for Women. All founded by and for women, these schools educated generations of designers who practiced well into the twentieth century.
Despite all this, women's vital role in the early history of American design has largely been erased through decades of linguistic, occupational, and professional segregation.
The She-Makers corrects these gaps, promoting a deeper, more complete, and more nuanced understanding of women's remarkable contributions to design since the earliest years of the profession.
一本開創性的著作，揭示女性在美國工業時代設計領域所扮演的先驅角色，以及她們對設計教育、設計史與設計實務所留下的深遠貢獻。
在《女性創作者》（The She-Makers）一書中，Hsiao-Yun Chu 首度揭示，自設計專業發展初期以來，女性便一直是推動美國設計發展的重要力量。十九世紀新興產業蓬勃發展，對新風格、新產品與視覺設計的需求日益增加；有抱負的女性把握機會，透過設計追求財務獨立與創意實現。她們成為募集資金、創辦設計學校，以及建立校友與專業網絡的主要推動者，使數千名女性得以以設計師與教育工作者的身分參與工業經濟。
本書追溯了經濟、社會與文化因素之間獨特的結合，說明女性設計教育如何在十九世紀晚期蓬勃發展；其中包括 Philadelphia School of Design for Women、New York School of Design for Women，以及 New York School of Applied Design for Women 等學校。這些學校全都由女性創辦、以女性為培育對象，教育出一代又一代的設計師，而她們的設計實務更延續至二十世紀。
然而，儘管女性做出了如此重要的貢獻，她們在美國早期設計史中的關鍵角色，卻在數十年間因語言、職業與專業領域的隔離而大幅遭到抹除。
《女性創作者》填補了這些歷史缺口，促進人們更深入、更完整且更細緻地理解：自設計專業發展初期以來，女性對設計所做出的非凡貢獻。
Hsiao-Yun Chu is Professor of Design and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Design at San Francisco State University. She is the author of New Views on R. Buckminster Fuller and Associate Editor for the International Journal of Design.
