Chronicle Books Blog

Oh, Providence! Between New York and Boston on more or less a Northeast axis, lies Providence, Rhode Island. This spring I traveled there at the invitation of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to be a designer-in-residence (DiR).

Woods-Gerry, RISD’s undergraduate exhibition space.

Apart from RISD, Providence, in true New England tradition, is home to a number of colleges including Brown, Johnson & Wales, Providence College and University of Rhode Island.

It’s hard to overestimate the influence RISD alumni have had on our art, design, and popular culture. Award-winning author-illustrators David Macaulay (Castle, The Way Things Work), Chris Van Allsberg (Jumanji, The Polar Express), animator, screenwriter, comedian Seth MacFarlane, artists Julie Mehretu and Kara Walker, gallerist Mary Boone, film director Gus Van Sant, cartoonist Roz Chast, graphic designer Shepard Fairey, and even dropout David Byrne, have impressed themselves onto our collective art-music-film-design consciousness. That’s the history, anyway.

In addition to integrating myself into the design classrooms as designer-in-residence, I took part in the school’s annual Design Portfolio Review.

Students register for Design Portfolio Day.

This year’s Design Portfolio Review day was one for the record books: over 160 companies saw nearly 650 students, and conducted 3,479 15-minute review slots at the Rhode Island Convention Center (phew).

Selection of students’ calling cards.

Dimensional illustration, student work.

My weeklong stint as DiR was an intensive one. However, the opportunity to step away from the routine and insert myself into a design education community was welcome.

Wall in graphic design studio.

I have taught at CCA in San Francisco, so I was curious to compare that experience with one a continent and educational philosophy apart. I should not have been surprised to find design-speak is understood regardless of “school” or locale: design problem solving and aesthetics are fundamental to the designer’s art.

The difference that I perceived is that the students in the classes I took part in were more enamored of, and conversant with, digital applications of their book/publication/communication designs than my recent experience had shown.

Prof. Hans van Dijk’s typography class: from print to app.

At the same time, the level of curiosity about the fate of the traditional printed book was high. In spite, or perhaps, because of the ubiquity of digital devices and content, the physical objectness of the book holds a fascination for these young designers. Reassuring news as bookstores are shuttered and readers decamp for the tablet.

At the same time that I was being exposed to designs-in-progress, the students peppered me with questions about the publishing process, the marketability of their concepts, and in some cases, the manufacturing process. For me this was a best-case scenario of an open exchange of ideas while immersed in the daily flow of classes.

Work from critic/instructor Ben Shaykin’s Booklab class: book design becomes interaction… transforming the book into an environment for “Fancy Rat.”

In one instance I had the opportunity to co-lead a workshop in Prof. Jan Baker’s class, “Book and Paper Arts.” To my delight, her students were drawn from across the design disciplines, a construct which reflects my predilection for an interdisciplinary approach to design.

Prof. Jan Baker’s “Book & Paper Arts” class.

The objective of the workshop was to introduce students to the notion that the book structure is an alterable, expressive art form. The results, based on the students’ thesis proposals, transformed their intellectual concepts into 3-dimensional statements, strong in visual content and which had the effect of reducing their theses into a series of illustrative, concentrated tangible forms.

An architecture student’s interpretation of a tunnel book.

Further examples from “Book & Paper Arts” class.

To round out my experience at RISD I gave a talk at the student union (“The Met”) entitled, “Move Over Don Quixote: Pushing the Boundaries of the Book,” something we at Chronicle have a history of doing. The talk was an opportunity to illustrate how Chronicle has embraced the physicality of the book to great success and in the process gave birth to a whole array of products that stretch the notion of what a book is. In that regard, artist Ed Ruscha probably said it best: “I love books, the physical objects of them.” We at Chronicle do too.

Michael Carabetta
Creative Director

The notion of publisher-as-bookseller is not new. The Beaux Arts Scribner Book Store on Fifth Avenue in New York operated continuously from 1913 until 1988. Through its doors passed 20th century literary lights Hemingway and Fitzgerald and their legendary editor, Maxwell Perkins (an aside: from 1967 to 1972 Patti Smith worked at Scribner’s as a retail clerk).

Doubleday Book Shop, also on Fifth Avenue, closed in 1997 after 36 years of business. And Italian publisher Rizzoli established its mid-town New York store in 1964. It is the sole survivor of what might be called the old guard, venerable oases where writers, editors, and literary agents browsed in elegant surroundings.

While the old guard stores succumbed to rising rents and changing reading habits, younger publishing houses have taken up the cause to establish purpose-designed environments dedicated wholly to their books and products. German publisher Taschen, the British Phaidon Press, and Chronicle Books maintain retail stores in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and Asia.

Chronicle’s foray into retail sales began modestly in 2001 with a 500-square foot kiosk in San Francisco’s retail-entertainment Metreon complex.

In 2007, with Chronicle’s move to its own building, we transformed the building lobby into a retail shop with two-story windows onto the street and in-house designed moveable display fixtures. On those occasions when we stage literary events or design shows, the fixtures can be moved aside.

Chronicle Books Building, San Francisco.

Lobby store, Chronicle Books Building.

Later in 2007, Chronicle opened its first freestanding store, designed by Macy Architecture, on San Francisco’s trendy Union Street. Our reason for venturing into selling our own wares was in part a fulfillment of a wish many of us had to become closer to our growing fan base. In contrast to books of prose and poetry that are meant only to be read—increasingly on a screen—our books are intended to be held and appreciated for the tactile qualities of the printing, papers and bindings. What better way to showcase our books—and gift products—than in an environment we had a hand in designing?

Union Street store exterior.

Union Street store interior.

Also, and this is no doubt true for marketers such as Nike, Apple, and Patagonia, direct-to-consumer retail is a brand-building exercise: an occasion to immerse consumers in all things Chronicle, an opportunity to show all our lines in a concentrated environment.

In March 2012, in conjunction with renovations to the Metreon, Chronicle debuted an expanded, newly designed space in the retail-entertainment complex. Conceived by San Francisco’s Aidlin Darling Design, the 2,000-square foot store looks out on Fourth Street across from bustling Moscone Center.

Metreon store exterior.

Metreon store interior.

Metreon store interior.

And in fall 2012, Chronicle launched its first international store built within the LOFT department store in Tokyo’s Yurakucho district. Taking cues from our new Metreon store, in-house industrial designer Ben Laramie fashioned an installation that features display modules consisting of cabinets and shelves that can be adapted to a variety of future potential retail spaces. With that in mind, an additional store in Japan is in the offing.

LOFT store-in-store, Tokyo.

LOFT store-in-store, Tokyo.

One of my objectives as creative director is to generate an engaging atmosphere wherever our books are on view, whether at a tradeshow or in a retail setting, that complements our products with the same level of design intention that we put into our goods. You are invited to experience this for yourself: if you are in San Francisco or Tokyo, pay us a visit, browse and enjoy the space at one of our stores.

Michael Carabetta
Creative Director

Chronicle Books Tokyo
YURAKUCHO LOFT
1F, Yurakucho Infoss, 3-8-3,
Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, 100-0005 JAPAN
Tel: 03-5223-6210
Hours: 10:00 – 21:30

Visit our San Francisco stores here.

It has been a bookish winter and spring here at Chronicle Books beginning with the “Defined Bindings” show of custom-bound limited editions of John Carrera’s Pictorial Webster’s Dictionary and now the AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers exhibition.

After a year’s hiatus due to a schedule snag, we’ve resumed playing host to the longest running (90 years) juried book and cover exhibition in North America. However, beginning this year, the competition and show will run under the auspices of Design Observer and Designers & Books.

As I mentioned in my remarks at the opening reception, Chronicle has brought the 50/50 show to San Francisco (at first to the San Francisco Center for the Book gallery and, since our move in 2007, to our building lobby) for the last ten years.

That ten years has been one of the more momentous decades in modern history: the rise of the cell–and now smart–phone, the iPad, Kindle, Nook and like-devices that have all vied for readers’ attention and pocketbooks. Despite the disruption caused by those technologies, or maybe because of them, the book is enjoying a moment of resurgent popularity.

Nowhere is that more clear than in this edition of the 50 Books/50 Covers show. While our eyes grow fatigued from hours of staring at screens, our other senses yearn for something real we can touch. Books can satisfy that yen. Cloth, foil, stampings, laser and die cuts, paper: coated and uncoated, smooth and textured, hardcover and paperback, these are the physical features that engage all our senses.

From the smallest (La Présence, 6.75” tall) that fits in the palm of your hand to the largest (LA Day, 16.5”) that more than fills your lap, the selected books and covers, led by jury chair and book designer extraordinaire, Chip Kidd, encompass an array of topics and production techniques for which only paper, printing and binding can do to captivate us.

And captivate they did. While we didn’t conduct a head-count, I think it’s fair to say several hundred people came and went over the course of the opening. Teachers from our two local art schools, CCA and the Academy of Art, their students, designers, representatives of the design community and technology firms that surround our old media company plus Chronicle employees past and present were all on hand to celebrate the book.

Some highlights of the show:

Email design by Kelsey Jones, Tina Hardison, Chronicle Books MarCom

Bookmark design by Kelsey Jones, Tina Hardison

Bibliophiles gather in Chronicle Books lobby

Dispatches and Directions: On Artist-Run Organizations in Los Angeles

Interior of Dispatches showing its ad hoc assembly of materials

Teacher and student open Dispatches to view contents

Destroy This Memory by Richard Misrach

Interior, Destroy This Memory

Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space by Alma Ruiz

Interior of Suprasensorial with red gel overlay that reveals text in second language

Interior from Stop the Violence
: Character Studies by Francois Robert

Dutch Heights 1: Highlights of the Arts and Cultural Prizes

1st Fl. 111 N State St. by HeyJ Min

Chump Change and Mooch by Dan Fante

Themes of Psychoanalysis series

McSweeney’s 36th Issue

Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam

And I would be remiss if I did not mention that six Chronicle books were selected for inclusion in the 50/50 show:

Design Research (D|R)

Tartine Bread

Art of McSweeney’s

This Is NPR

The Marvelous Museum

Chicken Big

Michael Carabetta
Creative Director

Did I hear someone say books are dead? That prognosis did not stand in the way of the hundred or so bibliophiles who came out on a stormy night to view a selection of books from Bay Area publishers on view in our lobby.

We called it BABE: Bay Area Book Expo. Since the demise of the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival, there hasn’t been an opportunity for local publishers to showcase their work. On view in the Chronicle Books lobby is a sampling of books published over the last ten years, or the first decade of this new century.

By no means a comprehensive showing of all publishers–a much larger venue would be necessary for that–this is a selection of half a dozen houses plying their craft in the Bay Area. Represented are Ten Speed Press, Jossey-Bass, Gingko Press, University of California Press, McSweeney’s and Chronicle–a representative mix of trade, university, business, popular psychology, and literary genres.

As I mentioned in my remarks to the attendees, San Francisco has a history of publishing: from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books in the 1950s (Howl) to 1960s renegade publications such as Zap Comix (R. Crumb), Jann Wenner’s Rolling Stone, Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog to 1990s Dave Eggers’ McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and dot com era must-read, Wired. Not to be left out, Chronicle, too, had its beginnings in the Summer of Love.

What’s curious–and heartening–to me is how the spirit of those publishing pioneers can still be seen and felt in the books on display. Underlying that spirit is a dedication to the art and craft of the book: its design and tactility. This is a humanizing factor as we, a book- and information-consuming culture, migrate from the printed page to the electronic one. Books do and will continue to remind us of the symbiotic relationship between hand and eye and mind. Or, in the words of the commemorative poster that designer Tim Belonax donated to the show, “In Books We Trust”.

BABE is open to the public until Friday 4 March 2011, from 10.00 a.m. until 5.00 p.m. in the Chronicle Books building on 680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA. Book lovers stop by.

Michael Carabetta
Creative Director

There is a place in northern Italy where typography reigns supreme: Tipoteca Italiana fondazione. I was lucky to make a pilgrimage to the Tipoteca this summer and wanted to share some of the type marvels with you.

Located in the Veneto Region (Treviso Province) of Italy, the museum is housed in a deconsecrated church and connected via a graceful, sweeping ramp to a contemporary building that contains the printing presses, fonts, library and workshop. As you might expect -this being Italy, all is well and suitably designed. Just last week we wrote about high quality in Italian design and products.

Tipoteca Italiania is dedicated to the preservation of traditional wood and metal type (fonts) and the machinery with which to print them.

Founded by Silvio Antiga, who himself owns and operates a printery in Cornuda, where the Tipoteca is located, the foundation houses thousands of fonts, in both wood and metal, a museum of typographic ephemera and a library of typographic treasures, including original Giambattista Bodoni type specimen books (Manuale Tipgrafico).

My host and guide was Sandro Berra (below) whose acquaintance I had made when he visited the Codex International Book Fair in Berkeley in 2009. At the time, Sandro was showing a portfolio of prints made by a Japanese artist who printed a colorful array of small posters with Tipoteca’s large wood type.

Inside the understated glass entry that bridges the old and new architecture, one is struck by the bas relief wall of wood type and Sandro’s welcoming “buon giorno”.

Further inside an assembly of presses is on display in space not unlike the nave of a modern church, only this one is for worshippers of wood and metal and ink. The wall behind the ancient presses contain drawer after drawer of fonts organized and ready for use.

The medallions that identify the presses’ origins are works of metallic art in their own right.

Aside from the antiquities of Bodoni and Manutius, the library is the repository of printed proofs from the collection’s archives.

Folios of familiar and heretofore unknown (to me) fonts dazzled the eyes of this visitor as Sandro flipped through them. Some styles were identifiable as Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Moderne or Victorian, but others defied classification or categorization but delighted me nonetheless.

Perhaps the most unexpected find was a music manuscript for “Il motore del 2000”, with printing plate and annotated print by the composer, Lucio Dalla.

While it would be easy to say visiting Tipoteca Italiana is like stepping back in time, in fact it isn’t. It’s true, the Tipoteca collects relics of the not too far distant world of ink-on-paper, however, it is also a living, working institution with classes, workshops, exhibitions and lectures.

To those weaned on computer fonts, some of those same fonts are born again for them in metal and wood impressing their messages onto paper with ink rather than photons and toner. In a sense, the old becomes new again.

Michael Carabetta
Creative Director