This text provides a definition and examination of the so-called ''contemporary'' style that dominated architecture and design from the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. In those years of increasing promise and prosperity, a fresh and liberating style was hallmarked by open-plan interiors and vibrant fabric design, manifesting itself in the picture window and the open plan; in vibrant fabric design and printed wall coverings; in new forms of furniture from Scandinavia and stylish light fittings from Italy; and most tellingly in the ''Contemporary'' kitchen with its fitted units and ''mod con'' appliances. Included is work by Charles Eames, Pierre Koenig, Arne Jacobsen and Lucienne Day. More than a collection of 50s nostalgia, this book provides a survey of trends in taste and interior design at the time of economic regeneration that affected not only people's homes but their communities and public buildings.