Behind the Books 2020

Behind the Books was an exhibition of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2019 in London hosted by Mathias Clottu and me with a scenography by the architect Takeshi Hayatsu. It took place from 30 September to 10 October 2020 at Tenderbooks.

We also organised an online book club with designers who were awarded this year. We hosted Philippine Chaumont & Agathe Zaerpour and Studio Ard (Guillaume Chuard & Daniel Kang Yoon Nørregaard), Adeline Mollard and Mathias Clottu & Sarah Handelman, and finally Dan Solbach and Atelier Muesli (Mytil Ducommet & Léa Chapon). 

The Most Beautiful Swiss Books competition was established to promote and reward the best of book design in Switzerland at the behest of the famous typographer and designer Jan Tschichold in 1943. The Swiss Federal Office of Culture organises it on an annual basis. Its purpose is to recognise excellence in the field of book design and production, as well as drawing attention to the array of remarkable and contemporary books by Swiss designers, printers and publishers.

Behind the Books was kindly supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and the Swiss Embassy in London.

Photos by Thomas Adank.