Storage

Storage (1967) by Geoffrey Salmon, published as a Design Centre (or “Crentre,” if we’re honouring the charming typo-energy of the era) publication, is the sort of book that looks small, sensible, and completely unthreatening — until you realise it is quietly attempting to reorganise your entire existence.

Because this isn’t “storage” as in a nice box you put under the bed. This is Storage as a moral project. A 1967 belief system. A manifesto in polite British type that says: your life would be fine if you stopped leaving things everywhere.

It comes from that golden mid-century moment when designers were convinced that clutter was not inevitable — it was a design failure. That with the correct shelves, cupboards, fitted units, and clever use of awkward corners, we could all become calmer, tidier, more efficient human beings who never lose a screwdriver, never stack papers into a doomed “sorting pile,” and never again have that moment where you open a cupboard and an avalanche of miscellaneous objects declares independence.

The irony, naturally, is that a book about storage creates its own problem: it becomes another item you must… store. But it earns its place by being the kind of no-nonsense guide that probably contains exactly the sort of crisp, diagrammy wisdom you wish you’d been given before you acquired 14 extension leads, 37 charging cables, and a drawer full of “useful bits” that have never once been used.

1967 is also peak “modern living will now be streamlined.” Expect an approach that treats homes like systems and possessions like inventory. The Design Centre vibe is gently evangelical: good design for ordinary life, practical solutions, and an almost touching confidence that humanity can be improved by a properly planned cupboard. It’s domestic utopianism, but with hinges.

And there’s a special pleasure in reading this stuff now, in an age of “decluttering” gurus and minimalist aesthetics. Because this is pre-influencer, pre-hashtag, pre-YouTube makeover. It’s old-school British authority saying: Here is a sensible way to put your things away. It will make everything better. Kindly do it.

This copy is in Good condition as sold by Crappy Old Books, which makes it ideal for:

• mid-century design enthusiasts and Design Centre collectors

• renovators who enjoy practical, period advice

• anyone who loves the idea of being organised more than the reality

• people who can lose objects while holding them

Read it and you’ll start eyeing your home with the cold, analytical gaze of a 1960s designer. That corner? Wasted potential. That wall? Could be built-in. That chaotic drawer? A small scandal. You’ll feel judged — gently, quietly, but unmistakably — by 1967 itself.

A book about storage that will make you want to buy shelves.
Then you’ll need somewhere to store the shelves until you fit them.

And so the cycle continues.

Keep browsing: See more Architecture books Other books by Geoffrey Salmon