Irma Boom
Graphic designer
Irma Boom is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer widely recognised as being one of the world’s most inventive, creative and experimental book designers. Perhaps Eye magazine said it best when it proclaimed her the “Queen of Books”. Irma founded her studio in 1991 and since then she’s been in high demand, receiving commissions from the likes of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Ferrari and OMA/Rem Koolhaas. Notable volumes (from a career spanning more than 300 books. include the SHV Think Book, a 2136-page volume published in English and Chinese that took five years to research, design and edit. Described as an “icon of Dutch design”, it sits in the permanent collection of MoMA. N°5 Culture Chanel was designed for fashion house Chanel's 2013 exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo, in Paris. The book, filled with solid white, textural pages, was printed devoid of ink. Instead, it was embossed with text and images to create a “semi-invisible narrative” of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. Irma Boom, the Architecture of the Book was comprised of two 800-page publications. They are identical – except that one is minuscule (just 4.14 x 5.4 cm) while the other is 'XXL' (34.5 x 45.5cm and 7.5 kg). Throughout her career, Irma has balanced design with academia by acting as a senior critic at Yale University. She is the youngest ever laureate to receive the prestigious Gutenberg Prize.