blog_Clémence Villaines_Irma Boom and the Renaissance of the book

Understanding the content to design the form

The communication and the distribution of information had used in its history various forms, and did not stop to change — books being obviously part of it. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the digital age is on the rise. The book — as a three-dimensional object — can be threatened, and must redouble efforts to continue to flourish, and not sink. This is a blessing in disguise, allowing designers to further explore the resources and possibilities that a printed book has to offer. As Irma Boom said :
“I think we stand on the verge of a new flourishing of the classic book. Perhaps it has even begun already : the Renaissance of the book.”

On this same desire to question the strategies of communication and perception of the book — previously observed together with Bruno Munari’s Unreadable Books — the Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom designs books as real architectures. This means taking into account their weight, size, content and even their smell. Born in 1960 in the Netherlands, Irma Boom is a graphic designer who likes to expand the limits of traditional book design. She explores the many formal possibilities that the book offers as a printed object, with the size, the paper texture, the binding…, keeping in mind the traditional characteristics of the book, to honor and respect its tradition. She has more than 300 books to her name, which are considered as real works of art all over the world. One of them was awarded in 2006 at the Leipzig Book Fair as the most beautiful book in the world. But who is it ?

Irma Boom has developed a fascination for textiles. In the early 2000s, Sheila Hicks, a famous American textile artist, was looking for a designer for her new book, for an exhibition of her work. It was then that the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka found Irma Boom, impressed by the design of her books. He then said to Sheila Hicks, “I don’t know who she is, but she just has to make your book.” And this is how Weaving as Metaphor - the most beautiful book in the world — was born.

The subject of this book are not the usual monumental works of Sheila Hicks but rather her miniatures, namely a selection of 100 small pieces of colored fabric about 30cm high. For the cover, Irma Boom proposes to the reader to discover the artist’s textile works not by vision but by touch, using a relief associated with the rough foredge of the book. The tactile quality and the idea that the book is above all a material are accentuated. From the outside, the book looks like an all-white cotton ball. This provides a striking contrast with the artist’s colorful works. The beautiful pages contain a part of his work, while the false pages are still blank, with only brief descriptions of the works. This mass of white paper allows the colored illustrations to stand out more. The book also challenges the reader to keep reading. The text — by Arthur Danto — is typesetting in an imposing size at the beginning — typesetting in Plantin — to be associated with coarse weavings, then gradually decreases to be associated with finer and tighter tapestries.

The reading is tightened at the same time as the works of the artist. The book is white in appearance, to contrast and highlight the tapestries presented. The content has determined the form, which in turn brings the content to life. Irma Boom always tries to understand and become familiar with the content before designing any form and structure. Content and form are always closely connected, making each of her books unique and surprising.

“The book is dead. Long live the book !”