Featherston has clearly been a labour of love for Geoff Isaac. He first became interested in the designer after buying Featherston dining chairs second-hand in 1992. Pitched at the collector market, Featherston is a combination of coffee table book and textbook. Handsomely produced and generously illustrated, it forms a comprehensive catalogue of Featherston’s chairs from 1947 to 1974. It also includes much new research. Isaac has interviewed key figures, including Mary Featherston, Neil Clerehan, Ian Howard, and Terence Lane, who bring refreshing insight and commentary. There is fascinating material on the role of the designer in relation to manufacturing in Australia.

Two of the most interesting sections are those on the Talking chairs, designed for Montreal Expo 67, and on Aristoc Industries, for which Featherston designed furniture from 1957 to 1969. Aristoc was a large manufacturer in Glen Waverley; until now it has tended to be a footnote in the Featherston story. Aristoc’s best-known furniture (not designed by Featherston) was the severely functional Tierstack seating used in public venues throughout Australia in the 1950s.

An index and a timeline would have enhanced this volume, which is also in need of copy and structural editing to eliminate repetitions and typographical errors. Nevertheless, Featherston forms an appealing addition to Australian twentieth-century design literature.