Ladislav Sutnar

It was way back in the summer of '94 that I first learnt about Sutnar, thanks to Issue 13, Vol 4 of Eye and it's Steven Heller written article on the great man (read it here).

For those that don't know, Sutnar was a pioneer of information design, he "made Constructivism playful and used its geometry to forge the dynamics of catalogue organisation". His approach to organising complex information has, apparently, been influencial to many web designers long after his death in '76 (notably years before the advent of internet).

The man was prolific and a genius; designing toys, stage sets, ceramics and glasswear, painting saucy pictures once he'd moved to the US, as well as designing for print. You'll be pleased to know that I don't need to ramble on about him because there's an excellent website, originally set up to accompany an exhibition of his work in Prague 2003.

At the time I couldn't go; we'd just had our first child but went to great lengths to try and get hold of the accompanying book. I failed.

A year or so later we all went to Prague for a weekend break and while said small child was in our apartment having his midday sleep I went a wandering on my own. Turning down a side street I passed a secondhand bookshop and in the window was the book. I couldn't believe my luck and went straight in only to find it was the Czech version.

Fortunately, I live a blessed life and under the counter, the owner had an english copy stashed. And here it is.

More Sutnar links:
Design for Point of Sale
Design in Action exhibition review
Designer in Two Worlds exhibition review
You might be able to buy it here

Comments

[Massimo Marcucci]

I purchased the same book in Germany - is excellent !
I love Sutnar, but his work is difficult to find.
I also learned for the first time, about Sutnar, on Eye Magazine.

Great Blog !

[Ben]

That looks great. Really great.

(And how come you consistently have the best photography in the blogosphere?)

[Richard]

Cheers Ben. I don't know, I just point and click, point and click.