Today Irma Boom came to the University to give a talk on her work at a book maker. It was a very interesting lecture. I watched it from the flexi-lab on a video link because it was so popular. I didn't know anything about book making and barely anything about print so I didn't know what to expect. I didn't expect to see somebody so passionate about the subject.
She started with a list of words that she feels her books incorporate. It was kind of strange in that there didn't seem to be a word she didn't exclude from this list. At first I didn't quite understand but I slowly began to over the course of the lecture.
She showed a variety of books that showed off various techniques that she uses. They were very beautiful and inspiring. They were also very untraditional as she didn't believe in using grids and standards because she really wanted them to be original and beautiful in their own right. This is when I began to understand the words she used to describe how she felt about books, because she wasn't interested in 'stereotypical lovely-books' and her work indeed had features that are unexpected.
The way she took things that you would think would result in ugly, boring books such as car engine manuals and turned them into really interesting books using layout and colour was amazing. They definately enhanced the subject matter in an interesting way.
Irma Boom's lecture was unusual but exciting, just like her books. I found her work to be very inspiring.
