Irma Boom on the Future of Book Design
From Design Emergency by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
April 14, 2026 · 47 min · Season 6 · Episode 5
About this episode
Irma Boom discusses the future of printed book design and its significance in the digital age.
What is the future of the printed book? Does it have one? And, if so what will it consist of? Who better to answer this than the woman who is inconstestably the greatest book designer of our time, the brilliant Irma Boom. In this episode of Design Emergency, Irma tells our cofounder, Alice Rawsthorn, why the printed book is too important to join all the other analogue objects that have become extinct in the digital age. Irma has designed some of the most beautiful, intriguing, original and surprising books of our time by experimenting with new facets of book design: in terms of their functions, forms, tactility, scent, printing and papers. She tells Alice how she fell in love with book design as an art student in Amsterdam, and began her experiments as a junior designer at the Dutch government’s publishing and printing office in The Hague. Irma also describes some of her favourites of the centuries-old books that she collects as research tools in her Amsterdam studio, and has encountered through her research in historic libraries, including the Vatican’s. We hope you’ll enjoy this episode. You can find images of the books Irma describes on our Instagram @design.emergency…
People in this episode
Host: Alice Rawsthorn
Guest: Irma Boom
Topics covered
- book design
- printed books
- digital age
- design experimentation
- art and design
Keywords
- book design
- Irma Boom
- printed books
- design experimentation
- Amsterdam
- Vatican
- Graham Foundation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
Places: Amsterdam, The Hague, Vatican
More episodes of Design Emergency
- On Crafts · May 20, 2026 · 34 min
- Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn celebrate the Hidden Heroines of Design on International Women’s Day 2026 · March 8, 2026 · 31 min
- Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley on Biotic Architecture · February 4, 2026 · 38 min
- Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn celebrate Women in Tech on Ada Lovelace Day · October 13, 2025 · 26 min
- Maya Bird-Murphy on Architecture and Communities · September 9, 2025 · 25 min
- David Gissen on the Architecture of Disability · July 22, 2025 · 37 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Design Emergency podcast page.