2024 sees the introduction by the Best Dutch Book Designs Foundation of The Capital: an homage to a person, body or initiative for their outstanding contribution to book design and making in the Netherlands.
The first recipient of this new award is book designer Joost Grootens, who originally trained as an architect. His oeuvre, which currently stands at 250 books, is testament to an immense love of books. In our digital era, when production methods have undergone fundamental changes, Joost Grootens has played an important role in translating visual information for readers and other ‘users’, while always maintaining intensive contact with producers and clients. His atlases, dictionaries and Bibles – to cite three types of book he has taken to another level internationally – demonstrate his vitality and his expertise within the field of books.
Joost Grootens is a pre-eminent representative of what The Best Dutch Book Designs stands for: only through a genuinely committed, ambitious collaboration between designer, producer and client can truly excellent books be made. With his creativity and individual approach, he makes an extremely valuable contribution to the development of Dutch book design and making. Grootens says: “You never make a book alone. A designer has to understand that we are always part of a bigger whole.”
The prize consists of a porcelain sculpture designed by Team Thursday, including a certificate and interview (by Gert Staal) in the exhibition catalogue The Best Dutch Book Designs | The Best Dutch Book Designs 2023.
Photo: © Chris van Houts (18 October 2024)