This Friday, 8th November, 14:00–19:00 PM, at the Gertrude Street Theater (Ģertrūdes iela 101a), the Latvian Literature platform will be hosting its sixth conference “Conversations on Book Design & Publishing”. This time, industry representatives from Poland will be sharing their experience and inspiring stories.
“The Conversations” is a series of practical and encouraging dialogues concerning book publishing and design. Four guests from Poland will be sharing their insight on how to achieve success while applying untraditional solutions. Each guest will participate in an hour-long discussion hosted by designer Toms Mrazauskas.
“Poland today is the perfect destination for those who love to explore. You can start at a posthumanism-inspired pavilion project, move on to books with karakter, arrive later at bold posters and patterns and conclude your journey with illustrations that look at you from the pages of The New York Times. The 6th Conversations brings you four stories from Poland that reject global trends and convey their own visions to the world,” the event promoters tell us.
The event will open with Agata Szydłowska and Małgorzata Gurowska addressing the following question: “What if we forgot our obsession to control the materials surrounding us and gave them back to the creative powers of natural decay?” Artist Małgorzata Gurowska and design researcher Agata Szydłowska represent the “MYCOsystem”, a design project which points up the possibilities of cooperation between fungi, trees and humans and was created for the Polish pavilion at the recent Triennale di Milano. Agata Szydłowska is an author of several books as well as numerous articles on modern Polish design and its history. Małgorzata Gurowska is a visual artist and a co-author of several award-winning picture books.
The discussion will be followed by a talk by book designer and publisher from Krakow Przemek Dębowskion on “how to be a successful publisher when you have no money, people in your country do not read books, and the world is in crisis?” Dębowskion worked for major Polish publishers before teaming up with a group of friends and launching “Karakter” in 2008. “Karakter” is a relatively small publishing house, which entered the book market offering highbrow content strengthened by its distinctive design. They have published seminal works by Stanisław Lem, Susan Sontag, poetry and prose from Japan, books on architecture and design, and many others.
The third guest-speaker at “The Conversations” Edgar Bąk will elaborate on innovative approach in design: “When I got sick of the recurring solutions in commercial design, I realized that my entire generation was tired of the same thing.” Edgar Bąk runs his own design studio in Warsaw and is teaching visual communication at the School of Form in Poznan. Simplicity, bold colours, geometric shapes, and layouts that break with the mundane – these are his trademarks in design and illustration.
The final discussion with illustrator and designer Ola Niepsuj will address the question: “How do you talk about design with people who don’t know a thing about design?” Ola Niepsuj’s works can be described as humorous illustrated commentary, which has ultimately found its way into the hearts of publishers and brand managers around the world. She has done illustration work for The New York Times, Taschen and Thames & Hudson, and has worked with brands like Nike, Ikea and Apple.
The event is free, open to the public, and held in English.
Learn more about the event HERE
