Daily Features

Seen and Heard at “Boom: Irma Boom & Debbie Millman in Conversation”

February 7, 2014

Irma Boom and Debbie Millman, January 29, 2014, discussing Boom’s Colour Based on Nature. Photo: Karen Vanderbilt for AIGA/NY

To give a flavor of “Boom: A Conversation with Irma Boom & Debbie Millman,” co-presented by AIGA/NY and Designers & Books on January 29 to a packed auditorium, we rounded up a sampling of images seen and remarks heard. (A full recording of the event will be accessible via the AIGA/NY video archive in the coming weeks.) During the evening, the celebrated Dutch book designer Irma Boom talked about her approach and process, growing up in the Netherlands as the youngest of nine children, what she loves (“deconstructing books”), and what she hates (“authority!”).

Boom has collected her work to date (also discussed in our in-depth recent interview), which is known for its experimention with book formats, sizes, and materials, in Irma Boom The Architecture of the Book (2013, Lecturis). The book comes in two sizes, mini and XXL.

Copies of the mini edition are available from AIGA/NY. Details are at the end of this post.

Irma Boom overheard:

• “I don’t make original books. I make specific books.”

• “I have commissioners, not clients. Book design is not a business. It’s not like ordering French fries.”

• “I’m not an artist. I don’t believe in artist’s books. ”

• “You don’t need to make a book beautiful. You need to make it to be used—not to sit on a bookshelf”

Irma Boom and Debbie Millman, talking about Boom’s all-white, inkless, blind-embossed book for the perfume Chanel (“No. 5” can be seen on the screen-projected page). Photo: Karen Vanderbilt for AIGA/NY

• “I am given a lot of freedom in book design. Within that freedom I make my own framework.”

• “I get depressed when I go to bookstores. I see many books that are a waste of paper and ink and energy—they should just be pdfs! Make something worthwhile.”

Irma Boom showing one of her mini book “models” that she uses as working tools for her final book designs. Photo: Karen Vanderbilt for AIGA/NY

• “It’s harder to create something small that’s well-made. To make something small, you have to be very good. Big is easier.”

Irma Boom and Debbie Millman talk about book size. Photo: Karen Vanderbilt for AIGA/NY

On the Rem Koolhaas-designed type cover for her “red” books: “It’s so rude—I love it!”

Irma Boom signing copies of the mini edition of Irma Boom: The Architecture of the Book after the conversation with Debbie Millman, January 29, 2014. Photo: Karen Vanderbilt for AIGA/NY

• “The book is not dead. The book is experiencing a renaissance.”

The Book

Irma Boom: The Architecture of the Book Irma Boom
Rem Koolhaas
Mathieu Lommen

Copies of the mini edition of Irma Boom: The Architecture of the Book are still available via AIGA/NY. To order or inquire, please contact Stacey Panousopoulos at Stacey@aigany.org or 212.255.1856.

Also visit AIGA/NY for event recap by Karen Vanderbilt.

Book Builder: A Conversation with Irma Boom

10 Books Designed by Irma Boom

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