After a conversation a while back with Rob from Healy’s Print, a surprise package arrived for me. It was a large small book. I mean it was small, A5 ish, but it was also large as it was chunky.

I stared at it. I couldn’t stop admiring it. It was handsome. I still cherish it, even a few years later. I almost can’t bear to touch it for the possibility of creasing something and ruining its perfectness.

So beautifully elegant in simplicity. It excels beyond a mere catalogue of paper stock.

Something has to be very incredible to be this good, when all is this stripped back. And this is a very rare occurrence. Apple take advantage of this scarcity to stand ahead. It’s even in their packaging, in the detail of the pressure when opening a new box, which is always perfect.

This sample book is Eric GIll in essence, from the typeface, to the bookbinding and the craft of the object. I often think of Gill’s statement that cheap manufacturers use ornament to hide cheap production. The opposite is also true. It is much to my dismay that the plainest most beautiful made objects, particularly clothes, are items way beyond my budget.

There was something about this book. Everything. Even the logo G.F Smith and it’s play on the i.

I stumbled across who designed it yesterday. Makes sense now.

And no, you can’t borrow it…sorry.

https://www.madethought.com/to-make/g-f-smith/