MAKING BOOKS TOGETHER
The exhibition made its 6th stop in Brussels, part of the Publiek festival,
@esa_le75_ (March 21-23, 2024), after Le Havre (Une Saison Graphique 2020),
@esad_amiens (Sept 13 — Oct 6, 2022),
@esalorraine_metz (Oct 20 — Nov 19, 2022),
@kabkdesign (Nov 28 — Dec 1, 2022),
@hshcrew Forum – MaN Rouen (Sept 29 — Oct 14, 2023).
Bernd Hilpert is the scenograph of the exhibitions. I admire his capacity to create the minimum, he is always so accurate, one can hardly see what he does, although it’s immense. I believe that’s what is called charisma. The poster was designed by
@rejanedalbello She, on the contrary, can’t be missed. Non Standard means to give free reign to creators with extraordinary requirements.
Our books are not meant for coffee tables. They are beautiful and intriguing (so I hope), in order to make their reading irresistible. We are no text experts, but we do love words, especially when they move us. We specifically work on the interaction between text and image, we want to flirt, to embrace each other, to collide. We conceive treasure hunts. I want our books to be taken in hand, read and re-read, worn out. This is how they turn into good friends.
Few people realise how much making a book is a collective and technical act, implying the author, the publisher, the designer, the translator, the reader, the printer and the binder ; implying the text and the image, the layout, the margins, the fonts, the sizes, the resolution levels, the printing techniques, the binding, the glue, the quality of the paper, the format and grain direction of the sheets, the paperweight, the transparency, the
bulkiness, the handling, the colour rendering, the textures, etc. A book is a small building.
We make books together. We never know what will come out of it. We search together, we find together, then we quibble around like mad. We don’t make books to charm, we make books because we have something to say.
Printing:
@stefanovanderknaap
Binding: Patist, Agia, Stronkhorst, Wytze Fopma, van Waarden
Photos in Brussels:
@apex_citizen
An immense thank you to teachers, students, directors, volonteers, passionate people who generously made this happen.