Inscribed to Tibor Kalman

NEDERLANDSE POSTZEGELS 1987/88

Irma Boom [Design], Paul Hefting [introduction/compilition]

This copy inscribed and dated to Tibor Kalman from Irma Boom on front free decorated endpaper. An exceptional association copy.

9.75 x 7.33 softcover book with 116 pages elaborately designed and printed in the Netherlands. Boom designed the interior pages using 4-color offset lithography for the front pages and black for the versos, then binding them japanese-style for a ghostly effect with the images of the past represented by faint blacks glowing through the color pages. An amazing, early example of Boom's groundbreaking book design, and another classic example of the forward thinking standards set by the Netherlands Post, Telegram and Telephone Services [PTT].

Jean van Royen's early adherence to typographic and design excellence set a standard for the PTT for years to come. In the early 1930s, he commissioned Piet Zwart to transform PTT's in-house design style. This beautiful chapter in the history of graphic design came to "a brutal conclusion" when van Royen died in 1941 because of his opposition to fascism. Fortunately, van Royen's design legacy was revived after the war and continues to this day.

Irma Boom [b. 1960] is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer specializing in book design. Her use of unfamiliar formats, materials, colors, structures, and typography make her books into visual and tactile experiences.

Boom studied graphic design at the AKI Art Academy in Enschede. After graduating she worked for five years at the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office in The Hague. In 1991 she founded Irma Boom Office, which works nationally and internationally in both the cultural and commercial sectors. Clients include the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Paul Fentener van Vlissingen (1941-2006), Inside Outside, Museum, Boijmans Van Beuningen, Zumtobel, Ferrari, Vitra International, NAi Publishers, United Nations and OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Koninklijke Tichelaar, and Camper.

Since 1992 Boom has been a critic at Yale University in the US and gives lectures and workshops worldwide. She has been the recipient of many awards for her book designs and was the youngest-ever laureate to receive the prestigious Gutenberg prize for her complete oeuvre. Her design for 'Weaving as Metaphor' by American artist Sheila Hicks was awarded 'The Most Beautiful Book in the World' at the Leipzig Book Fair. Her books have been shown at numerous international exhibitions and are also represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Tibor Kalman [1949 - 1999] "was best known for the groundbreaking work he created with his New York design firm, M&Co, and his brief yet influential editorship of Colors magazine. Throughout his 30-year career, Kalman brought his restless intellectual curiosity and subversive wit to everything he worked on -- from album covers for the Talking Heads to the redevelopment of Times Square. Kalman incorporated visual elements other designers had never associated with successful design, and used his work to promote his radical politics. The influence of his experiments in typography and images can be seen everywhere, from music videos to the design of magazines such as Wired and Ray Gun."

"... Born in Budapest in 1949, Kalman and his parents were forced to flee the Soviet invasion in 1956. They settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., when he was 8. Kalman was ostracized in elementary school until he learned to speak English. "

"Kalman parlayed his childhood isolation into some of his most successful design innovations. "He was keenly passionate about things of the American vernacular because he wasn't American," Chee Pearlman, editor of I.D. magazine, remarked shortly after Kalman's funeral. "In that sense, he taught the whole profession to look at things that they may not have seen as closely or taken as seriously."--From Matthew Haber's 1999 Obituary notice

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

out of stock