in varying weights—recycled, grained kraſt with raised UV varnish, uncoated, coated and tracing paper—and more unusual materials, such as acetate and mirror sheets printed H-UV. The pages are of varying sizes and placement, involving complex folding (accordion folds and gatefolds), numerous die-cuts, non-standard threads, a loose leaf inside a polybag placed at a specific position in the book, a bellyband and a fluorescent box.
Front to back
DEVLIN’S SET FOR THE ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA’S CARMEN (ABOVE LEFT), EARLY SKETCHES BY DEVLIN IN THE ATLAS (ABOVE) AND THE BOOK’S ‘COSMOLOGY OF COLLABORATORS’ (LEFT)
materialit of the book were closely linked, so steps that would normally be consecutive were instead run simultaneously (dummies, costings, design updates, repro, tests for all substrates, digitally printed mock-ups, etc). Then printing, binding, qualit control and delivery had to be reorganised to meet the deadline and I spent an unprecedented three weeks, instead of the usual three days, in China to press pass and check the hand-made processes and ensure the complex binding system was set up the right way.
The cubic form, a representation of Es’ set designs, was the starting point for Daniel Devlin, the book’s designer, when creating the first draſt layout. From that point, we took the reins working alongside Es and her team. The final book incorporates more than 800 pages of text and visuals with an alternation of different papers
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The journey from the cubic form to the final book involved improvisation and adaptation to the very end, discussions, prototpes and testing. It was incredibly thrilling to work in such a fluid way among amazing creatives, curious about the book process, respectful of each other’s expertise and open to finding compromises when problems were raised. I truly think the book wouldn’t have seen the light of day if there hadn’t been good synergy between Es’ studio team, including Benjamin Lucraſt, and Thames & Hudson’s production and editorial teams, including Sadie Butler and Nella Soušková. While we were printing the interior, we received another dummy and realised that the book was bowing, so we added a mailing box and a spacer, simple elements of protection that became parts of the vision. We printed an extract from a poem on the spacer and printed the box with a special fluorescent red orange colour made by an ink specialist to match a European sample that Es had found. On the printer’s side, apart from the press adjustment of the coloured sections which took time, one of the trickiest steps was the assembly of the interior. We found efficient ways for the binding to work, prioritising wraps and inserts over tip-ins whenever we could, although there was still a lot of handwork in the end, and the assembly of the book block demanded a lot of precision. The images printed on the different transparent substrates, for example, had to align perfectly onto the next page’s images to form original drawings when combined. And it was the same for the cut-outs and images behind them, starting with the 20 pages at the beginning of the book where overlapped cut-outs form an aperture resembling James Bond’s gun barrel sequence. Here too, I think that the book wouldn’t have been possible without good communication between everyone. Offset printmaking is a mixture of industrial process and craſt. It involves a lot of people with different personalities and expertise. If one element fails, the whole chain can fail. It has taken passion, precision and a willingness to push boundaries to create An Atlas of Es Devlin, but what I will remember most about this extraordinary project is teamwork. It has been the most incredible adventure on which I’ve learned so much, and to hold this beautiful book in my hands, and to know it’s already reprinting, makes all the hard work worthwhile.
An Atlas of Es Devlin by Es Devlin, edited by Andrea Lipps, was published by Thames & Hudson on 19th October, priced £85, 9780500023181.
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