Alas Smith & Milton

Last summer saw the release of Alas! Smith & Milton: How not to run a design company - the story of one design company's 25-year struggle to make sense of a notoriously fickle industry. Co-written by our own Nick Asbury and Howard Milton (one of the company's founders), the story draws on interviews with friends, associates and employees of the company from over the years - including such design luminaries as Michael Johnson, Mary Lewis, Michael Peters and Richard Seymour.

It has an extra special place on the list because Carolyn Watts, my partner for many years, was the driving force behind it's production and publication. She died shortly before it was published after a long struggle with cancer.