building books

Irma Boom founded an independent office in Amsterdam in 1991 and continued to work on projects in cultural and commercial sectors. A thorough reflection on a book's content leads Boom to her design decisions. It is her aim to enhance the reader's understanding while at the same time creating an object of beauty, with quality and permanence. One of Boom’s trademarks (Weaving as Metaphor) is the use of oversized type which successively shrinks from the opening to the end of a book as a way to lure people into reading the introductory pages. This book has a blank cover and alarmed publishers at the time but their unease presumably disappeared after the book's release, as it elevated Boom to international design stardom.

 

Chanel: Livre Dy Artistes, 2014. Book designed by Irma Boom.

Chanel: Livre Dy Artistes, book designed by Irma Boom
Reading the American Landscape, a book designed by Irma Boom
The Spine, a book designed by Irma Boom

Anne Hoogewoning, Erik de Jong, Lex Braak, David Hamers, Frank van der Salm “Reading the American Landscape: An Index of Books and Images”, 2009. Book designed by Irma Boom.

“The Spine”, 1994. Book designed by Irma Boom.

Knoll Textiles, a book designed by Irma Boom

Knoll Textiles, 2011. Book designed by Irma Boom

Elements, a book designed by Irma Boom
Robert Zandvliet, I Owe You the Truth in Painting, book designed by Irma Boom

Robert Zandvliet “I Owe You the Truth in Painting”, 2012. Book designed by Irma Boom.

Elements (15 books accompanying the exhibition “Elements of Architecture” at the 2014 Venice Biennale), 2014. Designed by Irma Boom.

Bobbye Tigerman, Handbook of California Design, designed by Irma Boom
Alice Rawsthorn, Hello World: Where Design Meets Life, a book designed by Irma Boom

Alice Rawsthorn “Hello World: Where Design Meets Life”, 2013. Book designed by Irma Boom.

Bobbye Tigerman “Handbook of California Design”, 2013. Designed by Irma Boom.

Created with Sketch.

the books are small because whenever i make a book i start by making a tiny one. i have hundreds of these small books and i am so fond of them. —irma boom

A fragment of De Rijp/Kunst op Kamers book, designed by Irma Boom and Cees Straus

A fragment of “De Rijp/Kunst op Kamers” book, 2008. Designed by Irma Boom and Cees Straus.

 

SHV think book

Boom was commissioned to create a jubilee for the Coal Trade Company, SHV. The book turned out to be a landmark in her career. The 2,136-page book took five years to complete, and was finally published in 1996. The project began in 1991 with Boom’s only prompt being to “look for the unusual“. The book utilizes the nonlinear structure of the internet, which was then quite new. The book contains no index or page numbers and is in reverse chronological order. The book is a voyage in time. Tulip fields and a Dutch poem are printed on the edges of the book, seen in different ways depending on the direction the pages are flipped. The book has a white cover and a text reveals itself when the book becomes used and dirty.

SHV Think Book 1996–1896. Designed by Irma Boom. A book spread with a letter K

SHV Think Book 1996–1896. Designed by Irma Boom.

Created with Sketch.

i don't use the word “client“. i have “commissioners“. i am commissioned to do work. the designer is on an equal level with the commissioner. —irma boom

Christian Brändle, Glenn Adamson, Verena Formanek, Every Thing Design, designed by Irma Boom

a book that smells

Creating books where content and form are closely related is very important to Boom. She aims to inspire discovery and interaction. Scent is one of the unusual features Boom utilized in one of her book designs, in collaboration with an artist. Her conceptual book design for The Road Not Taken with artist Job Koelewijn has 718 pages printed using ink mixed with a base of bouillon. Coffee filter paper is another unusual material choice that Boom used for a book about water in Scotland.

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