A style of scissors has been made the same way in China for centuries -- ironic in a country that has in the past 100 years severed its cultural and political ties with the past.

Luckily, the Zhang Xiaoquan scissors, two pieces of forged steel each shaped into a hooped handle and cutting edge held together with a copper rivet, was also a favorite of Chairman Mao, who opted in 1956 to support the factory that has produced these scissors for 300 years.

The stunningly simple, yet elegant, symmetrical scissors, found in virtually every household in China, is the first of 999 designs of industrially manufactured objects highlighted in the new three-volume "Phaidon Design Classics" (Phaidon Press; 3,300 pages; $175).

Phaidon's editors, with the help of experts in the field of design, selected the objects primarily because ordinary people signaled their approval with the ultimate accolade -- continued use.

These enduring classics add to the cultural wealth in the way words contribute to language.

Think of some of the objects included -- Wedgwood china, Windsor chairs, sheep shears, hot air balloons, hurricane lanterns, safety pins, Tabasco bottles, Heinz ketchup, paper clips, the Kodak Brownie and Chanel No. 5.

Then turn to Toblerone, zippers, yo-yos, the Barcelona chair, folding chairs, Campari soda, Coca-Cola, the Bierot X-1 Monoplane, Morris Minor, Sunbeam Mixmaster, Luxo L-1 lamp, VW Beetle, Fiat 500 and egg cartons.

And don't forget Elmer's Glue-All, Scrabble, three-legged stools, the Olivetti typewriter, sugar dispensers, filing cabinets, pedal bins, Rolodex rotary cards, the Mini, the Eames lounge chair, the Impala coupe, Lego, table telephones, Nikon cameras, Kodak Carousel projectors and even Astro lava lamps.

You have not just words but a cultural vocabulary.

These high and low design objects from around the world tell us stories, and the publisher suggests that their shapely, functional forms, technological superiority or material beauty would be of less consequence if the objects had not inveigled their way into our hearts and minds.

Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frog Design, the San Francisco firm responsible for the design of the first portable Apple computer in 1984, has similar ideas.

"Just a few things become classics," Esslinger said. "What lasts are those things that remain relevant at a broad emotional and psychological level.

"The famous Wagenfeld tabletop lamp from the Bauhaus is just a foot with a glass shade. Everything after that is something imitative. The first one still has the attribute of timelessness because it has a symbolic history.

"In the mid-'70s we reduced the Sony Trinitron's shape to a tube and a case around it. It became archetypal." Still, what is included in Phaidon's roster of classics is its predecessor, Sony's first Trinitron from 1968.

Classicism is an aesthetic language that has been around a long time. "A classic design is always simple," Esslinger said. "Yet it has an element of tension, and it tells a bigger story than it seems to at first.

"It is about a culture. Sony's Playstation is essentially a computer, but it is designed to feel like cockpit controls, so kids feel empowered."

Symmetry is another design trick that appeals to people, Esslinger said, because it makes things seem more human. "Things that are not symmetrical are often ugly and irritating. Classic design is really a framework of familiar shapes," he said. Symmetry helps, but objects that become classics do so because they are creative and provide what they promise. When they perform well, he said, people share them and recommend them.

Esslinger compares classic design to the Japanese Kendo technique of suggesting movement without making a move: A classic design remains itself, while it allows adaptive use with each generation of user.

Yves Behar, a young San Francisco industrial designer with an international reputation who runs Fuseproject, has designed a new line for Birkenstock, the classic shoe with a cork sole.

"A design classic becomes a symbol of a moment in history," Behar said. But, he added, "the words 'design classic' are used too much lately to describe imitations of modernist work.

"I never know whether what I am working on is a classic. When a client comes to see us, and says, 'We want a classic,' my answer is, 'I'll do my best.' I don't think there is predictability in the creative process."

Understanding what or what is not a classic may be the main use for such an anthology.

Design anecdotes and historical footnotes alongside clear images make the series a lively read for anyone interested in design culture. They are a guide to gauging future classics and for weeding out imitators.

In the third volume, where more contemporary designs appear, there are objects that are familiar and easy on the eye, including Frog Design's Apple computer, Frank Gehry's Wiggle Chair, Ikea's Billy Shelf and designs by recognizable names such as Philippe Starck, Ettore Sottsass, Gae Aulenti, Donald Judd and Michael Graves.

Better still are inclusions of classics we take for granted, such as Rubik's Cube and the Chambord coffeemaker that nearly every coffee lover in America has used.

In the global economy, design has become more universal, designers like Starck work in Europe, the Middle East, Japan and in the United States, and new classics will speak of many cultures.

Starck recently completed the interior design and furniture for Katsuya, a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles from where he spoke via telephone. He shed some light on the phenomenon that Phaidon's book set begins to broach.

Phaidon's collection of classic designs from around the world aims to decode similar global melanges that occur today in the realm of design because the objects are becoming "words" of a hybrid tongue.

"We are trying to create the future. Twenty-five years ago, design was the end goal. Today it has to suggest new ecological and philosophical values, a vision for evolution and civilization, and not just style and trend," Starck said.

The Phaidon selections include up-to-the-minute designs for what can only be called future classics, considering it has Marcel Wanders' 1996 Knotted Chair for Droog Design, Ron Arad's Fantastic Plastic Elastic 1997 chair for Kartell, Jasper Morrison's 1999 Low Pad chair for Cappellini, the somewhat similar Spring Chair for Cappellini by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec in 2000, and Konstantin Grcic's 2003 Chair One (in the de Young Museum cafe).

But when it includes such trendy objects as the 2001 Wednesday Garland lamp shade by Tord Boontje, you wonder if -- just as some museum collections anoint popular contemporary designs too soon -- a review of classics should stop well short of the present.