This book, dedicated to the history of design from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, is committed to drawing guidelines for the development of this discipline, offering a synthetic vision of the subject and, at the same time, highlighting elements for future investigations. If it's true that the history of artefacts and objects has always accompanied that of man, punctuated by turns occurring with the acquisition of technological innovations, it is in the mid-nineteenth century that we can retrace historically the professional figure of the designer, thus marking the birth of modern and contemporary design. The subject is branched and composite, embracing many disciplines: in addition to the field of furniture - which often exemplifies the broadest lines of design research in an excellent way - other sectors are considered here, from technical objects to graphics, from fashion to car design. Particular attention is reserved for the influence of the art world, with all its array of thought references that has constantly permeated the birth of design projects.