Book List of the Week

Book List of the Week: Five Dutch Designers and the Books That Inspire Them

Bakker, Crouwel, MVRDV

May 12, 2014

Designers from the Netherlands and the books that have influenced them are the subject of today’s Book List of the Week. The contributing designers are Droog founder Gijs Bakker, product designer Aldo Bakker, graphic designer Wim Crouwel, architect Mels Crouwel, and architect and founder of MVRDV Nathalie de Vries.

Aldo Bakker's Book List

My list consists of a selection of books that were important to me at the time I discovered them and in a way still are. As an autodidact, I have used these books over and over again to study design. They had a huge influence on my education.

I tend to be quite selective when buying books. When I love the work of an artist but do not like the way the book is designed I don’t buy it. I am convinced that the design of the book should always interact with the content.

Gijs Bakker's Book List

Alexander Calder, Benvenuto Cellini, Gerrit Rietveld.

Mels Crouwel's Book List

Just a selection—old and new.

Wim Crouwel's Book List

Charles Eames, Mies van der Rohe, Herbert Spencer.

Nathalie de Vries’s Book List

Many of the books on this list are in some way about daily life and how it can inspire us. I acquired quite a few of these during my last years as a student and the first years of my practice, roughly between 1988 and 1996—when I started to earn enough money to buy them.

Book Builder: A Conversation with Irma Boom

5 Books by Rem Koolhaas

10 Books Designed by Irma Boom

Hella Jongerius: Misfit Louise Schouwenberg

Jurriaan Schrofer Unit Editions

Wiel Arets Robert McCarter

Dutch Architects and Their Houses Frank Visser

The Dutch Photobook Frits Gierstberg

Dutch Graphic Design C Broos

Right from the Beginning—and Still True Today: Wim Crouwel’s Book List

Books Old and New, Thin and Thick: Mels Crouwel’s Book List

One Complete Story: Gijs Bakker’s Book List

Book List of the Week: Aldo Bakker

Inspired by Everyday Life: Nathalie de Vries’s Book List

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