This fruitful collaboration between theorist Louise Schouwenberg and designer Hella Jongerius follows an invitation by Die Neue Sammlung in Munich for the set up of an exhibition reflecting the museum’s rich, and world’s oldest archive of design. This book which accompanies the exhibition explores the underworld of the museum, pointing at the variety of meanings underlying the words “object” and “thing”. It also examines the relationships between “the new” which reflects the market’s obsessions with novelty for the sake of novelty and between “true innovations.” In striking high quality images, crisp colours and a round of hypothetical conversations and critical comments, Beyond the New ponders on the profound influences the things in our surroundings have on the quality of our lives and on shaping our very identity.