Eye Magazine
The design work of M / M (Paris) – a partnership between Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag – spans fashion, with advertisements for Stella McCartney and Jil Sander; magazines, in particular the redesign of Paris Vogue; and art, through collaborations with Liam Gillick, Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. By working as artists in any given design context, and as designers in numerous art contexts, M / M effectively scramble the usual rules pertaining to both. The result is the graphic designer as conceptualist.
M / M are at their most innovative either when commissioned to realise a particular aspect of an overall work or when they actually direct the situation at hand themselves. The credit sequence they fashioned for Huyghe, Perreno and Gonzalez-Foerster’s film in the Venice Biennale – which commanded more space than the actual film projection – is an example of the former from within art; their commissioning of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin to style Björk for a video is an example of the latter from within design. In both of these cases the duo fashion themselves as a tool to enable a process – the process called graphic design.
As a result of their process of working, the duo have begun to accumulate a personal vocabulary. Each new project they are engaged in adds a further set of symbols and signs to it – and it is the consistency with which these personal effects are plucked from M / M’s lexicon and redeployed in a variety of contexts and scenarios that differentiates them from many other graphic design groups.
For their exhibition at the Haunch of Venison, instead of treating the gallery as a commissioning body by redesigning their corporate identity – or even playing with the way graphic design is usually considered to be merely useful by the art world (think of gft’s work for the Frieze Art Fair), but not necessarily worthy of study in its own right – M / M chose to adopt the formalities customarily associated with artists. It followed that Spin, the designers usually engaged by the gallery, designed the ads, catalogue and invites for the exhibition. In pursuing this line, M / M made it clear that they wanted to be considered in the same framework as the gallery’s artists.
What M / M chose to do instead was select a variety of different works from across the myriad projects they have worked on and gingerly place them around the gallery. Upon first entering the exhibition, to experience how each floor of Haunch of Venison was replete with examples of graphic design was a delight. But once this initial surprise had worn off and a more tenacious gaze been cast, the premise behind it – not necessarily the individual works – started to falter because of their relation, or lack thereof, to the context of the art gallery. The first question their approach raised turned on how these objects and images should be experienced in this context – ie, out of the original one they were intended for. By now, M / M’s advertisements for Balenciaga from 2001 are iconic – but how much mileage do they have here? The advertisement, now resized as a limited-edition print, draws its strength from the history of fashion photography and advertisement design. The way the duo have doodled over a slick photograph lends the advertisement a sense of daring and personality in the context of a fashion magazine. But in the context of an art gallery this is lost. When recontextualising an image it is vital to negotiate with the new context with as much cunning as the initial one. Otherwise the tense dynamic such interventions depend on slackens off. A similar fate was also awaiting their poster designs of their own label ‘Pour Homme: M / M’ (2004). Experienced in a fashion context they would have an impact since the clothes don’t actually exist – such a nonsensical element in their approach would speak volumes in a world concerned with marketing products. By contrast, a further collaboration with Huyghe and Parreno for the project No Ghost Just a Shell (2004) faired better since its primary context is the gallery as it was originally conceived for an exhibition and accompanying book.
While these questions concerning shifts in context need to be embraced, to simply judge M / M as having less critical and creative acumen than artists is lazy. Since the Museum of Modern Art in New York started a collection in the 1930s, design has been perceived to be a vital part of the programming of some of the most progressive international museums and galleries. So why is it so odd that design should make its way into a com-mercial gallery today in London? This only goes to show how a new set of criteria needs to be developed to enable sense to be made of M / M’s work in a gallery context. These criteria should come from more thinking about the subject. For the art and design debate is too vital to be dealt with in only a cursory way.
Source: http://www.eyemagazine.com/review/article/m-m-paris-spring-out-of-context
M / M are at their most innovative either when commissioned to realise a particular aspect of an overall work or when they actually direct the situation at hand themselves. The credit sequence they fashioned for Huyghe, Perreno and Gonzalez-Foerster’s film in the Venice Biennale – which commanded more space than the actual film projection – is an example of the former from within art; their commissioning of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin to style Björk for a video is an example of the latter from within design. In both of these cases the duo fashion themselves as a tool to enable a process – the process called graphic design.
As a result of their process of working, the duo have begun to accumulate a personal vocabulary. Each new project they are engaged in adds a further set of symbols and signs to it – and it is the consistency with which these personal effects are plucked from M / M’s lexicon and redeployed in a variety of contexts and scenarios that differentiates them from many other graphic design groups.
For their exhibition at the Haunch of Venison, instead of treating the gallery as a commissioning body by redesigning their corporate identity – or even playing with the way graphic design is usually considered to be merely useful by the art world (think of gft’s work for the Frieze Art Fair), but not necessarily worthy of study in its own right – M / M chose to adopt the formalities customarily associated with artists. It followed that Spin, the designers usually engaged by the gallery, designed the ads, catalogue and invites for the exhibition. In pursuing this line, M / M made it clear that they wanted to be considered in the same framework as the gallery’s artists.
What M / M chose to do instead was select a variety of different works from across the myriad projects they have worked on and gingerly place them around the gallery. Upon first entering the exhibition, to experience how each floor of Haunch of Venison was replete with examples of graphic design was a delight. But once this initial surprise had worn off and a more tenacious gaze been cast, the premise behind it – not necessarily the individual works – started to falter because of their relation, or lack thereof, to the context of the art gallery. The first question their approach raised turned on how these objects and images should be experienced in this context – ie, out of the original one they were intended for. By now, M / M’s advertisements for Balenciaga from 2001 are iconic – but how much mileage do they have here? The advertisement, now resized as a limited-edition print, draws its strength from the history of fashion photography and advertisement design. The way the duo have doodled over a slick photograph lends the advertisement a sense of daring and personality in the context of a fashion magazine. But in the context of an art gallery this is lost. When recontextualising an image it is vital to negotiate with the new context with as much cunning as the initial one. Otherwise the tense dynamic such interventions depend on slackens off. A similar fate was also awaiting their poster designs of their own label ‘Pour Homme: M / M’ (2004). Experienced in a fashion context they would have an impact since the clothes don’t actually exist – such a nonsensical element in their approach would speak volumes in a world concerned with marketing products. By contrast, a further collaboration with Huyghe and Parreno for the project No Ghost Just a Shell (2004) faired better since its primary context is the gallery as it was originally conceived for an exhibition and accompanying book.
While these questions concerning shifts in context need to be embraced, to simply judge M / M as having less critical and creative acumen than artists is lazy. Since the Museum of Modern Art in New York started a collection in the 1930s, design has been perceived to be a vital part of the programming of some of the most progressive international museums and galleries. So why is it so odd that design should make its way into a com-mercial gallery today in London? This only goes to show how a new set of criteria needs to be developed to enable sense to be made of M / M’s work in a gallery context. These criteria should come from more thinking about the subject. For the art and design debate is too vital to be dealt with in only a cursory way.
Source: http://www.eyemagazine.com/review/article/m-m-paris-spring-out-of-context
The New York Times
PARIS — Every time a new play opens at the theater in the quiet town of Lorient in Brittany, a poster goes up to advertise it. For 14 years, those posters have been designed by the same graphic design studio, M/M (Paris), in exactly the same style of black and white type with a color photograph.
Over the years, the type has become more and more eccentric, as have the photographs, which act as an impromptu catalogue of the designers' lives, as well as illustrating the themes of the plays. One features a group of kids they spotted on a trip to Russia. Another, the Icelandic musician Björk, with whom they were working on a project. And a third, their neighborhood butcher, who later threatened to sue on the mistaken assumption that they'd made a fortune from the poster, though that's another story.
Far from rejecting the posters as self-indulgent Parisian imports, the Lorientais have embraced them. Used posters are salvaged from bus shelters, and the project is discussed at local art classes. M/M has also created scores of posters for art projects, and a selection is to be displayed in Vision Tenace, an exhibition starting Jan. 21 at the Pompidou Center in Paris. More of their work is to be exhibited in a show opening the following Saturday at the Air de Paris gallery.
At a time when many designers are struggling to define their role in the art world, M/M (which stands for the first letters of its founders' names, Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak, or maybe for Mathias and Michael, as they enjoy playing games like that) seems to have done so effortlessly. The studio's work, which ranges from books, exhibitions and opera sets to fashion branding and music graphics, is shown in art galleries and museums all over the world.
Gifted graphic designers have always combined creative and commercial success, by imbuing their work with depth and meaning. Often they've separated their commercial projects from personal, more expressive ones, but M/M makes no distinction between the two. The designers see all of their work as a cultural endeavor - whether it's for global fashion brands like Calvin Klein, Balenciaga or Stella McCartney, Paris Vogue magazine, or a tiny Brittany theater - and draw their art exhibitions from their commercial archive. "For us there's never been a question of purely expressive work versus purely communicative work," said Amzalag. "It's all part of our body of work."
Sitting in their Parisian studio, an old printshop in a courtyard opposite the Couvent des Récollets, the men behind M/M don't look quite as interchangeable as their initials. Amzalag, 40, is the rounder and more precise of the two; and Augustyniak, also 40, the leaner and more loquacious. They met at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1989, and decided to work together on Day 1. Augustyniak left Paris to study at the Royal College of Art in London until 1992, when he rejoined Amzalag, who'd quit design school to work on the French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles. They opened a studio in an empty room in the dental clinic of Amzalag's father.
The essential elements of M/M's design methodology were there from the start, but have since been refined. One was to challenge themselves by inventing sets of rules or codes, which they adhere to so deftly that their designs are imbued with intellectual rigor, without seeming forced.
Another was to devise new kinds of images by mixing different media such as photography, type and illustration. All of these components have become more sophisticated over the years: and they have created or commissioned most of them themselves, including their typefaces, which, unlike other designers, they refuse to sell or license. "Everything about M/M's creative style is distinctive: their art direction, drawing, photography, typography, 3-D design and mastery of production," said Paul Neale, co-founder of the London design studio Graphic Thought Facility. "There isn't a weak card in their hand, but it's how they play their hand that makes them really interesting."
They also have a flair for adding hand-made touches to their work, such as drawings, writing, torn paper and even what look like ink stains. The logos on their Calvin Klein billboards appeared to be drawn by hand, and they emblazon their Stella McCartney ads with "stickers" as if they were pages in a scrapbook. These details seem accidental, sometimes clumsy, but are painstakingly executed to create the illusion of individuality. The old school of modernist designers strove to create the impression of uniformity, but in today's frenzied media landscape, designers increasingly try to trick us into noticing their work by making us believe that it's personal, and M/M does so with exceptional skill. "People want things to seem special or intimate now, because everything else is exploding around them," Amzalag observed.
Finally, Amzalag and Augustyniak have unusually intense relationships with their clients. "This isn't an egoistical practice, all about expressing ourselves," said Augustyniak. "We like to have open exchanges and long conversations. That's what helps us to go further in our work."
They have forged lengthy collaborations with the artists Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno, as well as with Björk and the curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and practice serial monogamy in the fashion industry, where creative relationships rarely last longer than a few years, by working sequentially for different brands. "The experience of working with them is addictive," said Obrist, who has done so for more than 10 years. "M/M have something very rare, which is to be of the moment. They personify their work, but it's also tailor-made for the client because it's the product of a very intense conversation."
Of the moment though M/M is, the designers see their work as part of the tradition of French commercial art: from Toulouse-Lautrec's posters in the late 1800s to Cassandre's illustrations in the last century. "We are part of that tradition, but because graphic design is relatively new in France, we've been able to write the rules," said Augustyniak. "And that's what we enjoy."
Over the years, the type has become more and more eccentric, as have the photographs, which act as an impromptu catalogue of the designers' lives, as well as illustrating the themes of the plays. One features a group of kids they spotted on a trip to Russia. Another, the Icelandic musician Björk, with whom they were working on a project. And a third, their neighborhood butcher, who later threatened to sue on the mistaken assumption that they'd made a fortune from the poster, though that's another story.
Far from rejecting the posters as self-indulgent Parisian imports, the Lorientais have embraced them. Used posters are salvaged from bus shelters, and the project is discussed at local art classes. M/M has also created scores of posters for art projects, and a selection is to be displayed in Vision Tenace, an exhibition starting Jan. 21 at the Pompidou Center in Paris. More of their work is to be exhibited in a show opening the following Saturday at the Air de Paris gallery.
At a time when many designers are struggling to define their role in the art world, M/M (which stands for the first letters of its founders' names, Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak, or maybe for Mathias and Michael, as they enjoy playing games like that) seems to have done so effortlessly. The studio's work, which ranges from books, exhibitions and opera sets to fashion branding and music graphics, is shown in art galleries and museums all over the world.
Gifted graphic designers have always combined creative and commercial success, by imbuing their work with depth and meaning. Often they've separated their commercial projects from personal, more expressive ones, but M/M makes no distinction between the two. The designers see all of their work as a cultural endeavor - whether it's for global fashion brands like Calvin Klein, Balenciaga or Stella McCartney, Paris Vogue magazine, or a tiny Brittany theater - and draw their art exhibitions from their commercial archive. "For us there's never been a question of purely expressive work versus purely communicative work," said Amzalag. "It's all part of our body of work."
Sitting in their Parisian studio, an old printshop in a courtyard opposite the Couvent des Récollets, the men behind M/M don't look quite as interchangeable as their initials. Amzalag, 40, is the rounder and more precise of the two; and Augustyniak, also 40, the leaner and more loquacious. They met at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1989, and decided to work together on Day 1. Augustyniak left Paris to study at the Royal College of Art in London until 1992, when he rejoined Amzalag, who'd quit design school to work on the French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles. They opened a studio in an empty room in the dental clinic of Amzalag's father.
The essential elements of M/M's design methodology were there from the start, but have since been refined. One was to challenge themselves by inventing sets of rules or codes, which they adhere to so deftly that their designs are imbued with intellectual rigor, without seeming forced.
Another was to devise new kinds of images by mixing different media such as photography, type and illustration. All of these components have become more sophisticated over the years: and they have created or commissioned most of them themselves, including their typefaces, which, unlike other designers, they refuse to sell or license. "Everything about M/M's creative style is distinctive: their art direction, drawing, photography, typography, 3-D design and mastery of production," said Paul Neale, co-founder of the London design studio Graphic Thought Facility. "There isn't a weak card in their hand, but it's how they play their hand that makes them really interesting."
They also have a flair for adding hand-made touches to their work, such as drawings, writing, torn paper and even what look like ink stains. The logos on their Calvin Klein billboards appeared to be drawn by hand, and they emblazon their Stella McCartney ads with "stickers" as if they were pages in a scrapbook. These details seem accidental, sometimes clumsy, but are painstakingly executed to create the illusion of individuality. The old school of modernist designers strove to create the impression of uniformity, but in today's frenzied media landscape, designers increasingly try to trick us into noticing their work by making us believe that it's personal, and M/M does so with exceptional skill. "People want things to seem special or intimate now, because everything else is exploding around them," Amzalag observed.
Finally, Amzalag and Augustyniak have unusually intense relationships with their clients. "This isn't an egoistical practice, all about expressing ourselves," said Augustyniak. "We like to have open exchanges and long conversations. That's what helps us to go further in our work."
They have forged lengthy collaborations with the artists Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno, as well as with Björk and the curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and practice serial monogamy in the fashion industry, where creative relationships rarely last longer than a few years, by working sequentially for different brands. "The experience of working with them is addictive," said Obrist, who has done so for more than 10 years. "M/M have something very rare, which is to be of the moment. They personify their work, but it's also tailor-made for the client because it's the product of a very intense conversation."
Of the moment though M/M is, the designers see their work as part of the tradition of French commercial art: from Toulouse-Lautrec's posters in the late 1800s to Cassandre's illustrations in the last century. "We are part of that tradition, but because graphic design is relatively new in France, we've been able to write the rules," said Augustyniak. "And that's what we enjoy."
Denna Jones, COVER, 28 November 2012
COVER, the online magazine for modern carpets and textiles for interiors, has published a review of the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers.
Author Denna Jones writes: 'The portmanteau word "carpetalogue" is the delightful moniker created to describe the "pages" - i.e. carpets - in the current exhibition. The singular exhibition title is interpreted by your scribe as a witty contemporary update of the traditional "festschrift" - a volume of essays by different writers celebrating a remarkable individual. Instead, M/M (Paris) - with a little help from their friends - celebrate themselves. And rightly so. "Carpetalogue" recognises M/M (Paris)' twentieth anniversary and publication of the studio's monograph'.
The exhibition is on display until December 15th, 2012.
COVER, the online magazine for modern carpets and textiles for interiors, has published a review of the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers.
Author Denna Jones writes: 'The portmanteau word "carpetalogue" is the delightful moniker created to describe the "pages" - i.e. carpets - in the current exhibition. The singular exhibition title is interpreted by your scribe as a witty contemporary update of the traditional "festschrift" - a volume of essays by different writers celebrating a remarkable individual. Instead, M/M (Paris) - with a little help from their friends - celebrate themselves. And rightly so. "Carpetalogue" recognises M/M (Paris)' twentieth anniversary and publication of the studio's monograph'.
The exhibition is on display until December 15th, 2012.
Full Review | |
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'The window onto the street of the London gallery, where passionate and ambitious projects are always shown, presents an image that has characterised the studio for many years: the two designers with television-screen heads, which represents a metaphor for M/M's approach, a collaboration between the two with the world outside. They appear on one of four carpets - all hand-made in Varanasi, India - and refer to a hypothetical cover for an imaginary catalogue of the work of M/M', writes Maria Cristina Didero in her review of the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers. 'The Carpetalogue' is on display until December 15th.
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Marie Le Fort, IDEAT, 1 November 2012 For it's roundup of international design events, IDEAT has included the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers as a must-see. 'In London, galleries and museums are in the spotlight of the design world. This is an opportunity to discover new essentials', says the article's author Marie Le Fort. Visit the gallery until December 15th to see the series of striking, hand-knotted wool carpets by the French design duo.
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Liz Farrelly, Eyemagazine.com, 22 October 2012
'M/M (Paris), aka Michaël Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak, might represent that most elusive of all cultural phenomena - a genuine hybrid, criss-crossing cultural genres, economic models and geographic nodes', writes Liz Farrelly in her review of M/M's latest project, an exhibition of exquisite handwoven woolen rugs on display at Gallery Libby Sellers until December 15th.
'M/M (Paris), aka Michaël Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak, might represent that most elusive of all cultural phenomena - a genuine hybrid, criss-crossing cultural genres, economic models and geographic nodes', writes Liz Farrelly in her review of M/M's latest project, an exhibition of exquisite handwoven woolen rugs on display at Gallery Libby Sellers until December 15th.
Full Review | |
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WGSN Homebuildlife, 22 October 2012
Leading global trend forecasting group WGSN have included the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition in its new Homebuildlife service, which aims to introduce forward-thinking products and projects to the home and interiors industry.
Leading global trend forecasting group WGSN have included the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition in its new Homebuildlife service, which aims to introduce forward-thinking products and projects to the home and interiors industry.
Alex Moshakis, NY Times, T Magazine, 12 October 2012
'Monomaths M/M are not', writes Alex Moshakis in his overview of the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers, in reference to the 'charismatic duo's' renown for pushing the notional boundaries of graphic design: Michaël and Mathias have expanded their creative remit to include documentary film, flat-pack furniture, sculptural candles and - yes - even woolen carpets, which are on display until December 15th and available exclusively through the gallery.
'Monomaths M/M are not', writes Alex Moshakis in his overview of the 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers, in reference to the 'charismatic duo's' renown for pushing the notional boundaries of graphic design: Michaël and Mathias have expanded their creative remit to include documentary film, flat-pack furniture, sculptural candles and - yes - even woolen carpets, which are on display until December 15th and available exclusively through the gallery.
Full Review | |
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Nick Compton, Wallpaper*.com, 10 October 2012
'London design gallerist Libby Sellers presented a M/M (Paris) double bill this week, launching her own carpet collaboration with the design duo and a mammoth new M/M monograph', writes Wallpaper*'s Nick Compton in his roundup of the exhibition and publication celebrating two decades of work by M/M (Paris).
'London design gallerist Libby Sellers presented a M/M (Paris) double bill this week, launching her own carpet collaboration with the design duo and a mammoth new M/M monograph', writes Wallpaper*'s Nick Compton in his roundup of the exhibition and publication celebrating two decades of work by M/M (Paris).
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Creative Review, CR Blog, 9 October 2012
Creative Review has presented a feature about 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' on its CR Blog. An article will be published in the November issue of the magazine which will highlight the design duo and the book 'M to M of M/M (Paris)'.
Both the limited-edition carpets as well as the book are available at the gallery, and the exhibition of M/M's 'Carpetalogue' is on show until December 15th.
Creative Review has presented a feature about 'M/M (Paris) The Carpetalogue' on its CR Blog. An article will be published in the November issue of the magazine which will highlight the design duo and the book 'M to M of M/M (Paris)'.
Both the limited-edition carpets as well as the book are available at the gallery, and the exhibition of M/M's 'Carpetalogue' is on show until December 15th.
Full Review | |
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It's Nice That
Few books in the art and design world have been as eagerly anticipated this year as this monograph charting 20 years of M/M’s ground-breaking, genre-busting practice. And the good news is that it seems to have been well worth the wait as this comprehensive tome, designed by Graphic Thought Facility, is a beautiful insight into Michaël Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak’s Paris studio.
Although starting out as graphic designers, with a particular flair for typography, the duo’s work has evolved to include photography, films, objects and interiors. “Our work is about expressing the idea of a dialogue,” they say. “We transfer elements from fashion to music to art and back again, and keep using different mediums.”
Not only does Emily King’s book include M/M collaborations with the likes of Stella McCartney, Kanye West and Tate Modern, it also offers some fascinating interviews with some of those big name collaborators – with Björk, Pierre Huyghe and Sarah Morris among those sharing their thoughts alongside the men of the moment, Michaël and Mathias.
And with a preface by Hans Ulrich Obrist this is likely to become a seminal reference point for anyone interested in one of the most significant studios working today.
M to M of M/M (Paris) edited by Emily King, is published by Thames & Hudson, £42.00.Source: http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/emily-king-m-to-m-m-slash-m
Although starting out as graphic designers, with a particular flair for typography, the duo’s work has evolved to include photography, films, objects and interiors. “Our work is about expressing the idea of a dialogue,” they say. “We transfer elements from fashion to music to art and back again, and keep using different mediums.”
Not only does Emily King’s book include M/M collaborations with the likes of Stella McCartney, Kanye West and Tate Modern, it also offers some fascinating interviews with some of those big name collaborators – with Björk, Pierre Huyghe and Sarah Morris among those sharing their thoughts alongside the men of the moment, Michaël and Mathias.
And with a preface by Hans Ulrich Obrist this is likely to become a seminal reference point for anyone interested in one of the most significant studios working today.
M to M of M/M (Paris) edited by Emily King, is published by Thames & Hudson, £42.00.Source: http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/emily-king-m-to-m-m-slash-m
New York Times
LONDON — Whenever anyone drafts a hit list of familiar things that are likely to be rendered obsolete by digital technology, the printed book is almost always near the top.
M/M (Paris), via Thames & Hudson, via photographed by Inez & Vinoodh, via designed by Graphic Thought FacilityThe cover of ‘‘M to M of M/M (Paris),’’ with Mathias Augustyniak, left, and Michaël Amzalag, right, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh.
Irma BoomIn ‘‘Movement 25% — Introduction to a Working Process,’’ flipping from the back reveals the textiles on glossy paper, and the word ‘‘Inside.’’
And why not? Who can justify wasting paper to print bulky books whose pages are prone to staining or tearing, when the digital and electronic versions are so much more convenient to use and store? But even though we don’t need printed books as much as we once did, we can always be persuaded to want them, if they are cleverly designed.
If a designer produces a printed book that is compelling, possibly because it is luscious to look at, or presents its contents in an unusually ingenious or lucid way, we will still long to read it. Here are four recently published books on art and design whose designers have done just that.
“M to M of M/M (Paris)”
Whenever Paul Neale and his colleagues at the British design group Graphic Thought Facility mentioned that they were designing a book about the work of their French counterparts, Michaël Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak of M/M (Paris), the response was the same. “Everyone said: ‘Why aren’t they doing it themselves?”’ Mr. Neale recalled. “Designing a book for other graphic designers is always tricky. We wanted to avoid producing a pastiche of M/M’s work or a neutral response. Our guiding principle was to make their work look great and as digestible as possible.”
Written by the British design historian Emily King, “M to M of M/M (Paris)” is organized around the particular alphabet, a defining theme of M/M’s output, though this alphabet runs from “Mi” for Michaël, to “Ma” for Mathias. The book begins with Mr. Amzalag’s interview with Ms. King on page 311, and ends with Mr. Augustyniak’s on page 310. Placed in alphabetical order between them are visual depictions of each design project and interviews with M/M’s collaborators, with page 1 falling near the middle.
A portrait of Mr. Amzalag is on the front cover, and one of Mr. Augustyniak on the back. Both are based on Polaroids taken in 2000 as test shots for an album sleeve they were designing for the French musician Etienne Daho. “Book covers can be killers,” Mr. Neale said. “We knew we wanted to use portraits of Michaël and Matt for this book, but not which ones so we chose the Etienne Daho portrait as a placeholder for our first presentation. As soon as they saw it, they remembered the Polaroids.”
“Valeria Napoleone’s Catalogue of Exquisite Recipes”
When Valeria Napoleone decided to make a book of the recipes she had learned from her mother and grandmother as a child in Lombardy, northern Italy, she determined to combine her favorite family dishes with another love, contemporary art. Now based in London, Ms. Napoleone has an extensive collection of work by women artists and chose to illustrate her book with relevant works by them, including Tomma Abts, Spartacus Chetwynd, Aleksandra Mir and Francis Upritchard.
“The book has over 180 recipes and over 150 images, but I didn’t want the connection between them to be literal,” Ms. Napoleone said. “I wanted the designers to act as curators by orchestrating the location and lay-out of each image in a fresh and unexpected way. When I looked into different designers, I felt that Abäke really got the book.”
Abäke, which is also based in London, wanted the book to reflect Ms. Napoleone’s character and the personal nature of the project, and devised bespoke typefaces for the cover and inside pages. The former is inspired by the font used in the video game Pac-Man, and the latter based on the elegant typography designed by Giambattista Bodoni in northern Italy at the turn of the 19th century. The cover is bound in cloth like old-fashioned cookery books (though this cloth, called “Pepperoni,” shimmers) and the paper is one that will age beautifully, especially if splattered with food.
“Collection Book: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen”
Cataloging a museum’s collection is fraught with complications, especially if, like Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, it owns some 140,000 objects ranging from priceless old master paintings to a computer. When the Dutch designer Joost Grootens was asked to chart its contents in a book, he decided to focus on 163 pieces, but to present them within the wider context of the collection. Mr. Grootens, who is best known for redesigning the atlas for the digital age, says that he envisages all of his books as “tools,” and this one as “a printed database.”
The design process began by developing a software tool to sort images of the pieces in the collection according to different criteria including size, age and type. (Among the themes are: Rotterdam, black and white, portraits of artists and, my favorite, tables.) The software also specified the layout of each page, and constructed charts to describe aspects of the collection’s evolution. “Aesthetics did not come into play,” Mr. Grootens said. “But there were all manner of visual surprises.”
“Movements 25% — Introduction to a Working Process”
Last but not least is “Movements 25% — Introduction to a Working Process,” a book on the work of the Dutch designer Petra Blaisse in textiles and landscapes. Designed by Ms. Blaisse’s compatriot Irma Boom, it was originally published in 2000, and has been reprinted to coincide with her exhibition in the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Ms. Boom was struck by the recurrence of holes throughout Ms. Blaisse’s work, and chose them as a defining motif in the book, which she modeled on the die-cut picture books made by the German-born artist Dieter Roth in the 1950s and 1960s. If you flip through it from the front, you will see images of Ms. Blaisse’s landscape projects on matte paper, and the word “Outside” printed on the page edges. Flipping from the back reveals the textiles on glossy paper, and the word “Inside.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/arts/design/the-books-that-can-be-judged-by-their-covers.html?pagewanted=all
M/M (Paris), via Thames & Hudson, via photographed by Inez & Vinoodh, via designed by Graphic Thought FacilityThe cover of ‘‘M to M of M/M (Paris),’’ with Mathias Augustyniak, left, and Michaël Amzalag, right, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh.
Irma BoomIn ‘‘Movement 25% — Introduction to a Working Process,’’ flipping from the back reveals the textiles on glossy paper, and the word ‘‘Inside.’’
And why not? Who can justify wasting paper to print bulky books whose pages are prone to staining or tearing, when the digital and electronic versions are so much more convenient to use and store? But even though we don’t need printed books as much as we once did, we can always be persuaded to want them, if they are cleverly designed.
If a designer produces a printed book that is compelling, possibly because it is luscious to look at, or presents its contents in an unusually ingenious or lucid way, we will still long to read it. Here are four recently published books on art and design whose designers have done just that.
“M to M of M/M (Paris)”
Whenever Paul Neale and his colleagues at the British design group Graphic Thought Facility mentioned that they were designing a book about the work of their French counterparts, Michaël Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak of M/M (Paris), the response was the same. “Everyone said: ‘Why aren’t they doing it themselves?”’ Mr. Neale recalled. “Designing a book for other graphic designers is always tricky. We wanted to avoid producing a pastiche of M/M’s work or a neutral response. Our guiding principle was to make their work look great and as digestible as possible.”
Written by the British design historian Emily King, “M to M of M/M (Paris)” is organized around the particular alphabet, a defining theme of M/M’s output, though this alphabet runs from “Mi” for Michaël, to “Ma” for Mathias. The book begins with Mr. Amzalag’s interview with Ms. King on page 311, and ends with Mr. Augustyniak’s on page 310. Placed in alphabetical order between them are visual depictions of each design project and interviews with M/M’s collaborators, with page 1 falling near the middle.
A portrait of Mr. Amzalag is on the front cover, and one of Mr. Augustyniak on the back. Both are based on Polaroids taken in 2000 as test shots for an album sleeve they were designing for the French musician Etienne Daho. “Book covers can be killers,” Mr. Neale said. “We knew we wanted to use portraits of Michaël and Matt for this book, but not which ones so we chose the Etienne Daho portrait as a placeholder for our first presentation. As soon as they saw it, they remembered the Polaroids.”
“Valeria Napoleone’s Catalogue of Exquisite Recipes”
When Valeria Napoleone decided to make a book of the recipes she had learned from her mother and grandmother as a child in Lombardy, northern Italy, she determined to combine her favorite family dishes with another love, contemporary art. Now based in London, Ms. Napoleone has an extensive collection of work by women artists and chose to illustrate her book with relevant works by them, including Tomma Abts, Spartacus Chetwynd, Aleksandra Mir and Francis Upritchard.
“The book has over 180 recipes and over 150 images, but I didn’t want the connection between them to be literal,” Ms. Napoleone said. “I wanted the designers to act as curators by orchestrating the location and lay-out of each image in a fresh and unexpected way. When I looked into different designers, I felt that Abäke really got the book.”
Abäke, which is also based in London, wanted the book to reflect Ms. Napoleone’s character and the personal nature of the project, and devised bespoke typefaces for the cover and inside pages. The former is inspired by the font used in the video game Pac-Man, and the latter based on the elegant typography designed by Giambattista Bodoni in northern Italy at the turn of the 19th century. The cover is bound in cloth like old-fashioned cookery books (though this cloth, called “Pepperoni,” shimmers) and the paper is one that will age beautifully, especially if splattered with food.
“Collection Book: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen”
Cataloging a museum’s collection is fraught with complications, especially if, like Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, it owns some 140,000 objects ranging from priceless old master paintings to a computer. When the Dutch designer Joost Grootens was asked to chart its contents in a book, he decided to focus on 163 pieces, but to present them within the wider context of the collection. Mr. Grootens, who is best known for redesigning the atlas for the digital age, says that he envisages all of his books as “tools,” and this one as “a printed database.”
The design process began by developing a software tool to sort images of the pieces in the collection according to different criteria including size, age and type. (Among the themes are: Rotterdam, black and white, portraits of artists and, my favorite, tables.) The software also specified the layout of each page, and constructed charts to describe aspects of the collection’s evolution. “Aesthetics did not come into play,” Mr. Grootens said. “But there were all manner of visual surprises.”
“Movements 25% — Introduction to a Working Process”
Last but not least is “Movements 25% — Introduction to a Working Process,” a book on the work of the Dutch designer Petra Blaisse in textiles and landscapes. Designed by Ms. Blaisse’s compatriot Irma Boom, it was originally published in 2000, and has been reprinted to coincide with her exhibition in the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Ms. Boom was struck by the recurrence of holes throughout Ms. Blaisse’s work, and chose them as a defining motif in the book, which she modeled on the die-cut picture books made by the German-born artist Dieter Roth in the 1950s and 1960s. If you flip through it from the front, you will see images of Ms. Blaisse’s landscape projects on matte paper, and the word “Outside” printed on the page edges. Flipping from the back reveals the textiles on glossy paper, and the word “Inside.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/arts/design/the-books-that-can-be-judged-by-their-covers.html?pagewanted=all