Another Sagmeister Book…

September 1 sees the UK launch of Another Book About Promotion & Sales Material, the latest collection of work by Sagmeister Inc

The book came about after Sagmeister was invited to put on an exhibition of his studio's work at the Mudac (Musée de Design et D'Arts Appliqués Contemporains) in Lausanne in March. Originally the book served as a catalogue to the show but on September 1 it will be published in the UK (in paperback, by Abrams, £26.99) in its own right.

Like the show, the book is divided into four themes around the notion of selling – corporations, culture, my friends and myself. There are essays in both English and German on each topic, one (on selling my friends) written by designer Marian Bantjes, another (on selling corporations) by Joseph V Tripodi of Coca-Cola.

None of the work featured has appeared in either of his previous two books and the book itself was not designed by Sagmeister but, in a classical, restrained style, by a previous intern of his, Martin Woodtli.

The book (and exhibition which will also run at Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris) deals almost entirely with commercial projects and not Sagmeister's self-initiated pieces. Partly, Sagmeister says, this was a reaction to what he feels is a divide in the Swiss design community: "I always thought there was this unbelievable wall between the people who do cultural work and the people who do commercial work there, and the two sides hate each other," he says. "They don't talk to each other. I have spoken to designers who have literally said that if they took on a commercial job, no theatre would look at them again."

So Sagmeister wanted to focus on his studio's more commercial output in an attempt to show that it was possible to span the divide. This emphasis on commissioned work is also, he says "a reflection of our own studio - two, three years ago there was this idea that we were going into the fine art world but I always said 'no'. I've no desire to do so."

That 'idea' was prompted principally by his 2008 New York book and show, Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far. The show attracted a hail of criticism in the comments when we reported on it at the time but also some interesting discussion on distinctions between design and art and Sagmeister's own position. With this book, Sagmeister is restating his position as a designer first and foremost: "I feel very much like a designer, it's what I always wanted to be," he says.

Source: Creative Review
by Patrick Burgoyne