This print interpretation of the work of Claudy Jongstra prompted an unusual debate among the panel. A touch heated, but not so as to cause schism. The chief issue was the extent to which the book did justice to the material work and craftsmanship of so renowned a textile artist. Had her oeuvre been taken over in its entirety by an over-relentlessly pursued graphic system, or was it precisely the opposite, and had her work been cunningly translated into the materials and techniques that we use to construct books? On balance, we think the latter. This is because when you turn the double pages you ‘twine’ the paper with very much the same feel as when you do it with sheepswool threads. The chosen colour spectrum (indigo, chamomile, madder and a different indigo) was developed in collaboration with the printer and immediately conjures up Jongstra’s own dyeing studio where she makes her own organic (and biodegradable) dyes. Browsing through the book you really begin to understand the whole process of producing woollen cloth.
An exciting, rigid book to be cherished and occasionally brought out of a drawer – because it’s questionable whether it will survive a bookcase or much leafing through it: the screenprinted polythene slip case with its far too clumsy adhesive edge became a casualty the instant it was first opened.
Honorary appreciation Best Book Design from all over the World, Leipzig 2018