Book making as an art form: exploring the boundaries

Welcome back to the podcast!

In this episode, opening season 2 of Book Making as an Art Form, I speak with graphic designer and publisher Remco van Bladel about books, systems, and cultural memory.
From growing up around a record shop and punk music, to co-founding Onomatopee and Archival Consciousness, Remco reflects on collaboration, the relationship between music and typography, and how publishing can become a tool for archiving knowledge.
The conversation explores how books, archives, and digital systems shape the way culture is produced, organised, and remembered.

Together, we spoke about:
- Growing up around punk music, record sleeves, and drawing
- Bookmaking as collaboration, just like playing in a band
- Translating musical rhythm into typography and design systems
- Building Archival Consciousness and new tools for cultural archives
- Rethinking the book as both publication and archive

Listen now to tune into the discussion about the significance of books outlasting people!

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Produced and hosted by Justina Nekrašaitė | ⁠The Book Photographer⁠
Audio productions: ⁠Drexhage Media ⁠| Jasper Drexhage
Design: ⁠Thom Niessink⁠
Recorded at Stedelijk Museum Library
Communication & promotion: Chana Levy

❤️ Season 2 is supported by Pictoright, Het Cultuurfonds and many big-hearted individuals via Voordekunst.
With particular appreciation to our principal supporters:
Ruth Higgins, Luminosity Lab, Eleonoor Jap Sam / Jap Sam Books, Silvia Robertelli, Wilco Art Books Amersfoort, and Marc Gijzen.

In this last episode of Season 1 of Book Making as an Art Form: exploring the boundaries, I sit down with Michaël Snitker, Amsterdam-based graphic designer working across books, visual identities, and exhibitions for cultural institutions.
Michaël’s practice blends clarity and complexity, modernist traditions and experimentation. Besides commissioned work, he initiates research projects and designs his own publications, often rooted in poetry and language.
In our conversation, we explore:
Growing up surrounded by art and poetry
Fluxus as a lasting and intuitive influence
Working across four pillars
Trust, collaboration, and play as foundations of creative practice

Inspired by the idea of tradition and sabotage, this episode reflects on bookmaking as a practice that balances rules with intuition, precision with imperfection, and legacy with experimentation.

Produced by Justina Nekrašaitė | The Book Photographer
Audio productions: Drexhage Media | Jasper Drexhage
Design: Thom Niessink
Recorded at Huis van het Boek

Supported by Mondriaan Fund, L. van Heek Textiles, Luminosity Lab, Marc Gijzen, n.k.g. publications, Jeremy Jansen, Jesse Presse, Jap Sam Books, Michaël Snitker

In this episode of Book making as an art form: exploring the boundaries, I sit down with Caleb Cain Marcus, creative director of Luminosity Lab, a Brooklyn-based design studio. He is known for making books that are not just objects but experiences.
Shaped by a childhood in the mountains of Colorado and a background in poetry, photography, and printing, Caleb shares his reflections on:
Looking and curiosity as a lifelong practice
Moving from poetry and photography into book design
Why does he produce his books in Europe
Cultural support, budgets, and the ecosystems around bookmaking
It’s a joyful conversation about attention, emotion, and the power of books.

Produced by Justina Nekrašaitė | The Book Photographer
Audio productions: Drexhage Media | Jasper Drexhage
Design: Thom Niessink
Recorded at Huis van het Boek

Supported by Mondriaan Fund, L. van Heek Textiles, Luminosity Lab, Marc Gijzen, nkg publications, Jeremy Jansen, Jesse Presse, Eleonoor Jap Sam

Croudfunding now: https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/20394-podcast-book-making-as-an-art-form

In this episode of Book Making as an Art Form: Exploring the Boundaries, I sit down with Eleonoor Jap Sam, founder of Jap Sam Books a publishing house where books are treated as slow, living objects.
With over two decades of experience, Eleonoor shares her reflections on:
• Curiosity as the heart of being
• The invisible care behind every book
• Sustainability, budgets, and creative freedom
• Balancing leadership, motherhood, and legacy

It's a gentle conversation about what it means to publish with care, stay generous in the process, and see each book as a carrier of knowledge, ideas, and inspiration.

Produced by Justina Nekrašaitė | The Book Photographer
Audio productions: Drexhage Media | Jasper Drexhage
Design: Thom Niessink
Recorded at Huis van het Boek

Supported by Mondriaan Fund, L. van Heek Textiles, Luminosity Lab, Marc Gijzen, nkg publications, Jeremy Jansen, Jesse Presse, Eleonoor Jap Sam

In this new chapter of Book Making as an Art Form: exploring the boundaries, we sit down with Jesse Muller, founder of Jesse Presse, to explore the invisible care that keeps the art book world alive.

Jesse is a distributor, editor, and writer who connects independent publishers with readers, bookshops, and museums across the Netherlands and Belgium.
With nearly 20 years of experience, she reflects on the in-between space of art and entrepreneurship.

This episode is a gentle deep dive into:
The beginning of Jesse Presse
The invisible labor of book distribution
Building artistic ecosystems through care and collaboration
The dance between artistic vision and commercial reality
New adventures and a new publishing house in town

Whether you work with books, live surrounded by them, or simply love the quiet power of printed matter, this episode offers a thoughtful pause and a new way to see the life of a book.

This podcast is made possible with the generous support of the Mondriaan Fund, L. van Heek Textiles BV, Marc Gijzen, Nina Glockner, Luminosity Lab and Jesse Presse.

Produced by Justina Nekrasaite l The Book Photographer
Audio productions by Drexhage Media |Jasper Drexhage
Graphic design Thom Niessink
Recorded at Huis van het Boek