KNOLL TEXTILES, 1945–2010
Earl Martin [Editor], Irma Boom [Designer]
Earl Martin [Editor], Irma Boom [Designer]: KNOLL TEXTILES, 1945–2010. Boston, MA: Yale University Press, 2011. First edition. Quarto. Debossed and printed paper covered boards [as issued]. Photo illustrated endpapers. 400 pp. 300 color and 100 black-and-white illustrations. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. In Publishers shrinkwrap: a fine, unread copy.
8.5 x 10.5 hard cover book with 400 pages with 300 color and 100 black-and-white illustrations. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name: The Bard Graduate Center, New York [May 18–July 31, 2011]. Book design by the always amazing Irma Boom.
From the publisher's description: In 1940, Hans Knoll founded a company in New York that soon earned a reputation for its progressive line of furniture. Florence Schust joined the firm and helped establish its interior design division, the Knoll Planning Unit. In 1947, the year after their marriage, Hans and Florence Knoll added a third division, Knoll Textiles, which brought textile production in line with a modern sensibility that used color and texture as primary design elements. In the early years, the company hired leading proponents of modern design as well as young, untried designers to create textile patterns. The division thrived in the late 1940s through 1960s and, in the following decade, adopted a more international outlook as design direction shifted to Europe. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Knoll tapped fashion designers and architects to bolster its brand. The pioneering use of new materials and a commitment to innovative design have remained Knoll's hallmarks to the present day.
With essays by experts, biographies of about eighty designers, and images of textiles, drawings, furniture, and ephemera, Knoll Textiles, 1945-2010 is the first comprehensive study devoted to a leading contributor to modern textile design. Highlighting the individuals and ideas that helped shape Knoll Textiles over the years, this book brings the Knoll brand and the role of textiles in the history of design to the forefront of public attention.
Designers include Herbert Matter, Massimo Vignelli, Jhane Barnes, Noemi Raymond, Dorothy Liebes, Marli Ehrman, Angelo Testa, Anni Albers, Alexander Girard, Edward Wormley, Ray Eames, Paul McCobb, Salvador Dali, Bernard Rudofsky, Abel Sorenson, Jack Lenor Larsen, Abel Sorensen, Alvin Lustig, Sven Markelius, Stig Lindberg, Astrid Sampe, Marianne Strengell Hammarstrom, Eszter Haraszty, Sven Markelius, Evelyn Hill Anselevicius, Ross Littell, Suzanne Huguenin, Paul Maute, C. Olesen, Sheila Hicks, Wolf Bauer, Robert Venturi, Dorothy Cosonas and Stephen Sprouse among many others.
“I compare my work to architecture. I don’t build villas, I build social housing. The books are industrially made and they need to be made very well. I am all for industrial production. I hate one-offs. On one book you can do anything, but if you do a print run, that is a challenge. It’s never art. Never, never, never.”— Irma Boom
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.
“Working at the Staatsdrukkerij meant enormous creative freedom. Those were the heydays of art-book publishing. If you made a book cover, they would encourage you to use foil or special printing techniques. The department was a springboard for young designers who would work there for one or two years and go on to something more exciting. After my internship, I went to Dumbar and the Dutch television (NOS) design department. After I graduated I went back to the Staatsdrukkerij, and ended up staying for five-and-a-half years. I learned a lot. In retrospect, it was a very productive and super-creative time.”
“I did jobs nobody else wanted, like the advertisements for the publishing department, which was – thinking of it now – a smart thing to do because I could experiment. Those assignments were completely under the radar but they were seen by Oxenaar. He invited the designer of the ‘crazy ads’ to do one of the most prestigious book jobs: the annual Dutch postage-stamp books.”
“Places like the Staatsdrukkerij don’t exist any more. When I started working there after graduation, I was immediately a designer (not a junior), and I quickly became a team leader. At that time I was very naive and fearless. I was not aware of an audience, and certainly not a critical audience! This vacuum is no longer possible for designers starting out today. I only became aware of the outside world after the prestigious postage-stamp yearbooks were published: hate mail from stamp collectors and design colleagues started to come in. But there was also fan mail.”
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.