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Idea Books

New Titles in Design & Gift

15 September 2025

MacGuffin 15: The Stitch

Isbn 24058203
Publisher MacGuffin
Idea code 250670
€ 23.35

The stitch is a modest gesture with an expansive reach. It connects and repairs, unravels and reveals, speaks where words fall short. From textiles to technology, scars to seams, books to buildings, and leather to language: MacGuffin Magazine No 15 dives headfirst into the wild and wonderful world of stitching. Marking ten years of MacGuffin, this anniversary edition threads together unexpected stories and surprising perspectives, exploring how stitches shape, bind and define the things we make and the lives we lead. Featuring contributions from voices across disciplines and cultures, including Tanveer Ahmed, Line Arngaard, Kader Attia, Simona Bortis-Schultz, Rachel Dedman, Olivia Douglass, Jessica Hemmings, Chris Kabel, Ilona Keserü, Emily King, Masaki Komoto, Wietske Maas, Maria McLintock, Rosa Menkman, Johannes Reponen, Scheltens & Abbenes, Nina van de Ven, Hanka van der Voet – and many more.

176 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 28 cm, pb, English

Graphic 51: Art Book Fair, Now

Isbn
Publisher Propaganda
Idea code 250594
€ 27.50

'Graphic' interviewed a variety of art book fair organisers from around the world to explore the state of art book fairs and share their challenges. This issue features contributions from 32 art book fairs, including the New York Art Book Fair, Miss Read, Bergen Art Book Fair, Taipei Art Book Fair, Cairo Art Book Fair, African Art Book Fair, Tokyo Art Book Fair, and many more around the world.

250 p, ills colour & bw, 23 x 30 cm, pb, Korean/English

Alphabetical Playground by Nigel Cottier

Isbn 9783948440879
Publisher Slanted Publishers
Idea code 250680
€ 35.00

Following the success of 'Letterform Variations', Nigel Cottier presents a study of the alphabet as a medium in his new book 'Alphabetical Playground'. The result is a catalogue of numerous alphabets and letterforms (estimated at 7,000), all created using a range of systems, codes, and subject matter to generate expression and form. The themes range from A: Alphanumeric to C: Italic to L: Letters within Letters.

696 p, ills colour & bw, 16 x 20 cm, pb, English

Helmo - Look at Jazz

Isbn 9782494983328
Publisher Éditions B42
Idea code 250684
€ 32.25

Since 2002, Clément Vauchez and Thomas Couderc (Helmo) have shaped the visual identity of Jazzdor, Strasbourg’s improvised music festival. Originally a two-week event, Jazzdor has grown to include a Berlin festival (since 2007), a Strasbourg concert season (since 2014), a record label, and a Budapest edition (since 2023). This book explores 56 posters created by Helmo between 2019 and 2024, featuring insights from the designers and festival director Philippe Ochem. Using only a typeface and a trio of colours, Helmo embraces diverse visual languages—photography, drawing, painting, text—to mirror the range of musical aesthetics. The posters are also exhibited in Paris and Strasbourg.

80 p, ills colour & bw, 24 x 32 cm, hb, French/English

Crafts of Fashion vol 3: Taxonomies

Isbn 9782494983403
Publisher Éditions B42
Idea code 250682
€ 32.25

Classifications and hierarchies have always informed our understanding of the long history of making garments and accessories. While specially trained experts represent this technical expertise in the creative field, many skills and tools remain little-known or undervalued. ‘Taxonomies’ offers an inventory of these practices and proposes a reconsideration of certain techniques usually associated with the domestic sphere, like mending, repairing, and altering. It invites us to move beyond the often overly categorical oppositions associated with fashion production and explore with fresh eyes the variety of skills that make up the field – both ordinary and exceptional, now and in the past.

256 p, ills colour & bw, 19 x 25 cm, pb, English

Purple 44: The Analog Issue

Isbn 17668832
Publisher Purple Institute
Idea code 250692
€ 52.00

In an age where algorithms shape taste and AI mimics creativity, the printed magazine feels more vital than ever. This Analog Issue of Purple isn’t nostalgic—it’s a manifesto. A defense of physical experience, cultural depth, and artistic expression in a digital world that flattens and forgets. Young creatives, born digital, are turning back to analog: film, vinyl, live events, and magazines. Print offers tactility, permanence, and memory—what screens cannot.By rephotographing underground magazines, we’ve layered memory into the present. As McLuhan said, the medium is the message. The printed magazine is not just a vessel—it's a radical act. Welcome to The Analog Issue of Purple.

486 p, ills colour & bw, 24 x 33 cm, hb, English

Gérard Ifert - A Design Antihero

Isbn 9782494983267
Publisher Éditions B42
Idea code 250683
€ 31.20

Gérard Ifert was a Swiss designer whose discreet yet remarkable career spanned graphic design, scenography, furniture design, and photography. Trained at the School of Arts and Crafts in Basel in the late 1940s, he embraced an eclectic, collaborative approach shaped by early work on the Marshall Plan exhibitions in Paris. After moving to Paris in 1949, he worked in France for most of his life, with brief returns to Switzerland to join Geigy’s communication team (1952–53) and contribute to Expo 64 in Lausanne. Despite exhibitions and publications, he remains less recognized than peers. This monograph explores four key themes of his cross-disciplinary work, offering insight into a unique design practice rooted in postwar modernism.

152 p, ills colour & bw, 19 x 25 cm, pb, English

yangshueiyuan - Railing

Isbn 9789869862851
Publisher pon ding
Idea code 250675
€ 35.95

Across Taiwan, public railing systems often feature versatile ball-and-socket joints, and can be found everywhere: parks, sports centres, sidewalks, private institutions, even airports. They form a local yet diverse urban landscape. Within these seemingly ordinary railings, the spherical joint represents a brilliant invention. ‘Railing’, the first publication by designer yangshueiyuan, combines his street snapshots, 3D modelling, and a detailed record of his process, from initial mock-ups to manufacturing. For industrial designers and street wanderers alike, the book offers subtle revelations, inspiring us to find the essence of design in the natural, unrefined qualities of mundane things.

100 p, ills colour & bw, 14 x 21 cm, pb, Chinese/English

Off-Register: Publishing Experiments by Women Artists in Latin America, 1960-1990

Isbn 9781951163150
Publisher Center for Book Arts
Idea code 250708
€ 25.75

The publication explores the creative practices of Latin American women artists who, between 1960 and 1990, channelled their artistic energy into printed and serialized media. This period traces the rise and evolution of the conceptual art movement, which emerged around 1960 and, depending on the region, extended into the late 1980s. During these decades, artists’ books and other forms of printed matter became part of a growing repertoire of new artistic formats - alongside installation, video, and performance - that expanded the boundaries of traditional art forms and opened new possibilities for artistic expression. The book was released in October 2023 to accompany the exhibition of the same name at the Center for Book Arts in New York.

190 p, ills bw, 17 x 26 cm, pb, English/Spanish

All Ah We is One - Caribbean Carnival Costume

Isbn 9781068625060
Publisher Common Threads Press
Idea code 250663
€ 14.60

Caribbean Carnivals have been taking place around the UK since 1959. These joyous celebrations of culture and community began as acts of resistance in the face of enslavement - a defiant stand from communities who refused to lose who they were and where they came from. Drawing from this rich and radical history, Aisling Serrant explores Carnival through one of its most vibrant and unmissable features: costume. First turned to by former slaves in the Caribbean as an act of reclamation and quiet resistance, with roots in West African and European masquerade alike, the colourful costumes of Carnival weekend remain a vital mode of self-expression, protest, and camaraderie.

80 p, ills colour & bw, 14 x 20 cm, pb, English

Conspiratorial Design: Information design for the bigger picture

Isbn 9789083449876
Publisher Set Margins'
Idea code 250698
€ 22.90

Data are not facts but arguments, so data visualizations are representations of arguments. The effort of information designers is to make a synthesis of a particular vision of the world. Taking this position to its ultimate (il)logical end, author Carlo Bramanti investigates the shady relationship between information design and conspiracy theories. The conspiratorial, Bramanti argues, haunts design in its paradigms. With a vital urgency to see and share the bigger picture, this book probes the conspiratorial reality of design and investigates how communities try to give meaningful narratives to information to overcome the vertigo of complexity.

192 p, ills bw, 11 x 18 cm, pb, English

Commentary on Approximations to the Object

Isbn 9789083532509
Publisher Set Margins'
Idea code 250699
€ 18.90

‘Approximations to the Object’ is a 19th-century treatise exploring the possibility that certain material objects may have prefigured particular literary modes of understanding. Through commentary addressing an audience of bold designers, writers, typographers, and curious minds who thrive on provocation, Pedro Bernstein poses a fundamental question: How does the flux between design and literature produce a distinct engagement with meaning? Harnessing historical gaps, predication, speculation, and the shifting boundaries between objects and texts, Bernstein’s textual and design inferences are far from incidental deviations and offer intriguing new insights.

124 p, ills bw, 15 x 22 cm, hb, English

Building Ligatures - The Power Of Type

Isbn 9788090845404
Publisher TypeTogether
Idea code 250693
€ 25.55

'Building Ligatures' is released to mark the 15th anniversary of the TypeTogether type foundry. It reflects on the meaningful relationships formed over the years while offering a forward-looking perspective on the future of type design. The book includes contributions from both the TypeTogether team and various collaborators in the field. Its three main sections explore technical insights into typography, showcase notable typefaces, and highlight contributors who have influenced the foundry’s journey. 'Building Ligatures' offers a thoughtful snapshot of the past, present, and future of collaborative type design.

248 p, ills colour & bw, 16 x 23 cm, pb, English

Primarium: Handwriting education across cultures and continents

Isbn 9788090845435
Publisher TypeTogether
Idea code 250694
€ 45.95

'Primarium' comprehensively documents Latin-based handwriting education across 40 countries. Based on extensive, groundbreaking research over several years, this volume reveals how local history, cultural factors, and educational reforms have shaped diverse handwriting models. It identifies common challenges faced by educators and summarises key findings by examining entrenched misconceptions, modern policy changes, and global influences. While highlighting the scope, methodology, and significance of the research behind the project, 'Primarium' further provides various insights for those seeking to preserve, adapt, and evolve handwriting instruction worldwide.

360 p, ills colour & bw, 16 x 23 cm, pb, English

Letters for the Future: Ten Years of the Gerard Unger Scholarship

Isbn 9788090845428
Publisher TypeTogether
Idea code 250695
€ 20.45

Designed by Tereza Bettinardi and edited by Linda Kudrnovská, this book maps ten years of the Gerard Unger Scholarship, which was founded to help young type designers complete and publish their typefaces professionally. It provides a comprehensive history of the scholarship, introduces the typefaces produced thus far, and features interviews with the scholarship recipients. Named after one of the alchemists and godfathers of type design, Gerard Unger (1942–2018), the scholarship celebrates the melding of creativity and functionality. It shows how a positive outlook can impact an entire design category, raising its overall value globally, and setting the bar for future design work primarily committed to serving and benefiting others.

80 p, ills colour & bw, 25 x 33 cm, pb, English

Slow Reading Club – Répondeur

Isbn 9781919627755
Publisher Occasional Papers
Idea code 250563
€ 26.00

Slow Reading Club (SRC) is a semi-fictional reading group initiated and run by Bryana Fritz and Henry Andersen. Since 2016, in numerous contexts, they have rehearsed alternatives to the kinds of reading they were taught in school, actively supressing semantic content through strobe lights, strange postures, sociality, and toxins. Operating at the contact zones between reader and text, text and text, reader and reader, they attempt to build a practice from within the unstable space of reading itself. 'Répondeur' is an extensive account of SRC's practice in collective reading sessions, exhibitions, and textual bootlegging. Imagined as a scroll, with a rhyme structure and typesetting by Will Holder, the book brings together facsimiles of SRC readers, a wide-ranging interview by Alicja Melzacka, new texts by Joyelle McSweeney and Bill Dietz, and visual work and translations by SRC.

158 p, ills colour & bw, 15 x 28 cm, pb, English

Boekie Woekie - In the Wake of Blind Navigation. Boekie Woekie - Books by Artists

Isbn 9789464460780
Publisher Roma Publications
Idea code 250691
€ 19.45

This book explores nearly four decades of Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam’s legendary artist-run bookshop and gallery. Founded in 1986 by a group of artists, Boekie Woekie has since evolved into a self-sustained hub for artists’ books and a living artwork in its own right. With contributions by Maike Aden, Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes, and Anne Thurmann-Jajes, the book reflects on Boekie Woekie’s roots in the Fluxus tradition, its radical publishing ethos, and its ongoing challenge to art world conventions. It includes archival material, excerpts from Jan Voss’s diary, an exhibition checklist, and documentation of the group’s subversive printing practices and international collaborations.

168 p, ills bw, 17 x 24 cm, pb, English

Bruno Munari, David Reinfurt - Design as (Programmed) Art

Isbn 9791254931639
Publisher Corraini Edizioni
Idea code 250689
€ 22.60

Bruno Munari wrote: ‘In nature, everything changes… Art has to keep renewing itself. Organic art will always be changing.’ This idea of constant change permeates Munari’s work, from his graphic design to his broader artistic practice. In this volume, David Reinfurt, graphic designer and co-founder of ‘The Serving Library’, explores Munari’s programmed art - spanning typography, layout, and color - in projects such as the Campari poster for the Milan subway and book covers for Einaudi and Bompiani (1960s–70s). ‘Design as (Programmed) Art’ is part of Corraini Edizioni’s series I Quaderni di Spazio Munari, offering new insights into Munari’s ever-evolving creative vision.

96 p, ills colour & bw, 12 x 16 cm, pb, Italian/English

Tsuguya Inoue Graphics

Isbn 9784898156049
Publisher Little More
Idea code 250580
€ 180.45

Tsuguya Inoue’s work represents the most radical expression of the paradox inherent in graphic design: while obeying the conditions of capitalism in this age of hyper-technology, graphic designers must attempt to simultaneously respond to the unfulfillable demands of art; however, they must address all of those demands almost exclusively within the limitations of a plane. The sensation his work evokes manifests as the cutting edge of advertising in hyper-capitalism. This collector’s anthology traces Inoue’s trajectory from the 1980s to the present, featuring bold advertisements and art direction for Japanese brands such as PARCO, Suntory, Comme des Garçons, and more.

524 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 27 cm, hb, Japanese/English

Hatta Toru – Ceramics

Isbn 9784903348827
Publisher Adp
Idea code 250583
€ 24.50

Hatta Toru began working as a potter in 2003 and built his first anagama kiln, an ancient type of pottery kiln, in 2004. Every month, the artist fires up his anagama kiln and pours his passion into each creation, bringing his objects to life and deeply moving those who experience them. “When I am engrossed in my work, I move my hands and use my body so much that I have no time to think during the days of repeated work. In Japanese, when ceramists finish firing their work, they often say “toreta” – “I took it”. The ceramic artist’s first-ever printed collection, this book features powerful, newly photographed images of his works alongside texts detailing his dedication to ceramics.

104 p, ills colour & bw, 19 x 25 cm, pb, Japanese/English

Black Rock, White Rock – Raku Kichizaemon XV Jikinyu

Isbn 9784903348810
Publisher Adp
Idea code 250582
€ 191.00

The Raku family dates back to the 16th century, when the first black tea bowls were created at the request of tea master Sen no Rikyū. For centuries, the family has exclusively passed down the art of crafting Raku tea bowls from father to son. Raku ware is characterised by its simplicity, rustic aesthetic, and connection to the ‘wabi-cha’ philosophy. Fifteenth-generation Raku Jikinyu offers this imposing book as an homage to Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885–1935) and Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (1930–1996). The series of ceramic vessels was inspired by music: the black rock tea bowls represent that of Berg while the white rock tea bowls draw from Takemitsu.

440 p, ills colour, 26 x 34 cm, hb, Japanese/French/English

British Fresh-Water Algae (1882-1884): Postcards

Isbn 9782380361988
Publisher Reliefs Editions
Idea code 250636
€ 13.15

These images are taken from 'British Fresh-Water Algae', a two-volume, 130-illustrated treatise published in 1882–1884 by Williams and Norgate, a London firm specialising in educational and scientific literature. Its author, Mordecai Cubitt Cooke (1825–1914), a native of Norfolk, intended it for “Microscopists desirous of knowing more about the organisms encountered during their excursions in ponds and ditches.” He proposed a “practical” classification, distinguishing between Chlorophyllophyceae (green algae), Phycochromophyceae (blue-green algae), Melanophyceae (brown or blackish algae), Rhodophyceae (pink and red algae), and Diatomophyceae (algae with a siliceous skeleton).

12 p, ills colour, 11 x 15 cm, postcard, French

Japanese Flowers: Postcards

Isbn 9782380362107
Publisher Reliefs Editions
Idea code 250635
€ 13.15

These 12 images are from 'Some Japanese Flowers (1896)', where Ogawa Kazumasa combines his mastery of photography, collotype and hand colouring to highlight typically Japanese flowers, his passion. The 38 flower portraits in the book reconnect with hanakotoba (language of flowers): the lotus represents purity of body and mind; the chrysanthemum the emperor and the imperial family; the peony courage; the iris virility, health and protection… Ogawa also draws inspiration, for the watercolours, from the work of Kusakabe Kinbei (1841-1934), photographer (and colourist) of life in Japan.

12 p, ills colour, 11 x 15 cm, postcard, French

Postcards Album Vilmorin: Plantes Potagères

Isbn 9782380361346
Publisher Reliefs Editions
Idea code 250634
€ 13.15

These 12 plates represent hardy flowers, annuals and perennials, vegetables, and fodder plants. Published by Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie, they belong to the iconographic collection of a publishing enterprise carried out over forty-five years on "the extreme diversity of vegetable plants". Working on models collected at the Jardin des Plantes, no fewer than fifteen artists created the 46 images in this Vilmorin Album. First and foremost are the fine watercolourists Joséphine Coutance and Élisa Champin, flower experts who studied together at the Special and Free School of Drawing for Young People, opened in 1803 and the forerunner of the Arts-déco.

12 p, ills colour, 11 x 15 cm, postcard, French

Notebook Zoologica Danica

Isbn 9782380361087
Publisher Reliefs Editions
Idea code 250630
€ 12.15

These magnificent plates are taken from the first two volumes (Mammals and Fish) of a work that included eight, published in Copenhagen from 1878 over a period of more than twenty years. The initiator was Jørgen Christian Schiødte (1815-1884), one of the most important Danish zoologists of the 19th century, pioneer of arthropod studies and director of the Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift (Journal of Natural History), relayed by his former student Hans Jacob Hansen (1855-1936), zoologist and carcinologist. Joining them for these first two opuses were Peter Tauber (1832-1892), zoologist specializing in mammals and Adolf Severin Jensen (1866-1953), specialist in mollusks.

64 p, ills colour, 15 x 21 cm, pb, French/English


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