Each book is a material citation — its physical effects fully generated by its subject matter and close dialogue with its author. Each book is an idea-object — the architecture of the page, narrative sequence, and the final form are an embodiment of the relationship between designer and author and negotiation between the latest technologies and age-old craft.

Coombs presents a selection of publications illuminating the design of the 

book as material artifact, specifically, how contents — photography, language, conversations, ideas, dreams — are translated into book form. 

SPEAKER

Laura Coombs 
American designer in New York specializing in editorial and exhibition design for artists, architects, and contemporary cultural institutions, including Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, Rhizome, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art where she has also been the head of design since 2017. Coombs holds a degree in architecture from Cornell University and a master’s degree in graphic design from the Yale School of Art (2017). She teaches graphic design at Princeton University