On a summer morning, Tuesday 28 July, cardiac arrest brought Esther Scholten’s life to a complete halt. The much-loved director of The Best Dutch Book Designs was at fifty-five in the middle of her life. Or so we thought. Death is always hard to understand, but hers was completely unexpected and the shock made our grief still more intense.
Esther ran The Best Dutch Book Designs from 2015, stepping into the great shoes of Just Enschede. She energetically made this small but important and longstanding institution her own, with a careful eye on all involved in making books: designers, lithographers, papermakers, printers, binders, and publishers. She brought youth and renewal, start at the outset introducing a student jury. So, from 2016 there were no longer just thirty-three Best Designed Books chosen by the professional jury, but many more selected by up-and-coming makers. Each year’s harvest was presented in catalogues, an exhibition and an event at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam that focused not just on the winning books but also ongoing developments. Esther presented the event time after time with her natural flair, clearly at home in the field, and a central figure in a network with many diverse participants, demanding careful attention.
Esther never relied on autopilot, constantly reconsidering how things might be done differently and better. She was attentive not only to so many beautifully made books, but also to the challenges facing their printers, to diversity in the field, to the implications of digitalization, to the goal of sustainability. She ensured the winning Dutch books reached even China and was always incredibly proud and happy when ‘our’ books were crowned as ‘Best Book Design from all over the World’ at the Leipzig Book Fair.
From 2024 The Best Dutch Book Designs also focused on resilience, creativity and innovation in the graphic sector, with a newly established prize, The Capital, honouring its distinctive contributions to book production.
This autumn we will celebrate the hundredth year of The Best Dutch Book Designs, with of course a special book on which we’re hard at work, and a related event at the Stedelijk Museum. This will soon be above all our tribute to Esther, the golden force who never sought the limelight, but always sparkled, having and creating fun, so warm yet down to earth, as she poured her heart and soul into her work.
Unforgettable Esther, we’ll miss you
Madeleine van Lennep,
Board on The Best Dutch Book Designs, on behalf also of Martijn Kicken and Jesse Muller
The CNPB has opened an online Book of Condolence