IRMA BOOM: book designer
Laden with color-coding, mixes of type and page edges that depict a tulip field when seen from left to right, and a Dutch poem from right to left, the book contains found text and images but no page numbers. “It started out as a dream project,” Boom said, “but became a nightmare, because of the time.”
Alice Rawsthorn. International Herald Tribune. March 18, 2007
Winning prizes is nothing new for Boom. Working with a single assistant in her Amsterdam studio, she is also accustomed to struggling — in one way or another — to make each of her books as inspiring and surprising as possible. Over the years, she has experimented with everything from elaborate color-codes and hidden motifs to scented bindings, printing on filter coffee paper, producing a 2,136-page book with no page numbers or index,and hacking page edges with a circular saw.
Unexpected though Boom’s books look, feel and smell, there is always an underlying logic to their design….
While working at the government printing office, Boom met Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, chief executive of the Dutch conglomerate SHV. When she left to open her own studio in 1991, he asked her to create a personal book for him to give to family and friends on his birthday. He also commissioned Boom, and the art historian Johan Pijnappel, to produce a book to commemorate SHV’s centenary in 1996.
They had an unlimited budget, and an exceptionally indulgent patron. “All he said was, ‘Make something unusual,’” Boom said. “It started out as a dream project but became a nightmare, because of the time.” Having decided to compile the book from found text and images, she and Pijnappel scoured SHV’s archives for material and traveled all over the world to find more. When Boom had to cancel the order for her first choice of paper (after being told by the Japanese producer that it would take 14 years to make) she invented her own paper….
“There are so many possibilities with books, and so much to explore,” she said. “At a time when the Internet is so powerful, making books is more and more important. Seeing Sheila’s work in a book is completely different to seeing it on the Internet. That’s why I’m always looking for new things to do with books.”
