Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living

by Todd McLellan

Overview

This design-savvy paperback uses beautiful photography of exploded and deconstructed objects to conjure the childlike joy of taking something apart to see how it works.

In Things Come Apart, fifty design classics—arranged by size and intricacy—are beautifully displayed, piece by piece, exploding in midair and dissected in real-time, frame-by-frame video stills. Welcome to Todd McLellan’s unique photographic vision of the material world.

The new paperback edition of the best selling Things Come Apart comes equipped with a fresh, design-savvy package, and includes five new projects that reveal the inner workings of some of the world’s most iconic designs. From SLR camera to mantle clock to espresso machine, from iPad to bicycle to grand piano, every single component of each object is made visible. In addition to showcasing the quality and elegance of older designs, these disassembled objects show that even the most intricate modern technologies can be broken down and understood. Stunning photography is interspersed with essays by notable figures from the world of restoration, DIY, and design innovation, who discuss historical examples of teardowns, disassembly, and reverse engineering.

Things Come Apart conjures the childlike joy of taking something apart to see how it works, and will appeal to anyone with a curiosity about the material world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500294871
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	04/09/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	1,051,121
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 11.70(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Todd McLellan is a Toronto-based photographer who specializes in automotive, commercial, and conceptual work.

Editorial Reviews

A geeky adoration of design, disassembly, and tinkering, this collection of photographs and brief es-says draws attention to the aesthetic and practical value of taking objects apart. McLellan's process is straightforward—50 familiar objects are presented in their disassembled states, both arranged in an artful splay that highlights every component of the design, then more chaotically staged in a "drop," falling in front of the camera frame in groups before being digitally layered into one image. The ob-jects cover a range of simplicity and complexity, and of contemporary and classic, including the ele-gant straightforwardness of a mechanical pen, the staggering intricacy of a 1960s typewriter, and the miniscule technology of a modern laptop. The accompanying essays offer glancing (if occasionally trite) praise of disassembly, both for the childlike joy of mechanical experimentation and for the prac-tical environmental and material worth inherent in more accessible design. While a few clear argu-ments are made in favor of Active Disassembly technology and against disposable culture, the book as a whole functions as a celebration rather than a polemic, the photographic project of disassembly able to draw out a sense of wonder from within objects otherwise made familiar and artless by everyday use. Color illustrations. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Truly unique."

Woman Around Town

"Fifty objects and 21,959 components later, Mr. McLellan is still disassembling objects."

Florida Weekly

". . . 50 disassembled classics of mechanical and electronic design, with the components first arrayed in formal order and then in midair freefall."

The New York Times Book Review

"McLellan’s photographs seek to challenge our disposable culture by making transparent all the things that we regularly throw away."

NPR Picture Show

"This fascinating book showcases unique photos of 50 design classics in a dismantled, meticulously rearranged form—including an iPad, grand piano and an espresso machine."

FrontiersLA.com

"A new book full of gorgeous and meticulously organized photographs of old school and modern tech broken down and laid bare."

The Huffington Post

"The photos are enjoyable as pure eye candy, but they also illustrate the history of modern manufacturing."

Wired.com