How did so much beauty and ingenuity emerge in everyday objects of rural life in Portugal? How did these objects manage to so skillfully harmonize functionality and formal perfection? “The Hard Life” by Jasper Morrison is a photo book featuring photographs of objects from the collection of the National Ethnological Museum in Lisbon, Portugal.
The book explores how generations of trial and error, individual craftsmanship, and the instinct to extract the essential with minimal means produced objects that made life in a pre-industrial society worthwhile and meaningful. Photographed and described by designer Jasper Morrison, the objects captivate with both their beauty and their exemplary nature as models of design in its purest form.
“The Hard Life” continues Morrison’s homage to the everyday and opens a new perspective on his design philosophy. It is a tribute to the beauty of antique everyday objects.

Author(s): Jasper Morrison
Design: Jasper Morrison and Integral Lars Müller
22 × 30 cm, 8 ½ × 11 ¾ in
208 pages, 188 illustrations
hardback
2017, 978-3-03778-514-0
Text English