Explore our new fall 2014 catalogue!

The fact that President Obama turned to a Dutch consultant (Henk Ovink) to address the water problems of America’s low-lying coastal areas confirms the unique position of the Netherlands as a country that has learned to live with the water. After the success of Sweet & Salt, with the publication of Dutch Dikes we are again doing something that very much resembles national hygiene: until now, the total stock of our dikes had never been collected, literally mapped out, and studied both in the technical and cultural-historical sense. The dike has been the primary means of keeping our feet dry for centuries, it is the pivotal element in the Dutch landscape, and now it is also the focus of intense attention from designers, scientists, and policy makers.

The tension between tradition and innovation is fundamental to the discipline of architecture. Now Winy Maas, Bernard Hulsman, and The Why Factory are boldly dispensing with the modernist cult of novelty. In the book Copy Paste, they provide a guide to copying; a positive appreciation of the reuse of good ideas.

An abundance of good ideas is collected in Dutch Design, the annual survey of the best designs and the most important themes and trends in Dutch design. Just how iconic design can be is shown in the festive book Ontwerpen aan het spoor: in the 175th year of the railways, this book traces how, after the Second World War, the design of pretty much everything on and around the railway was used to provide the traveller with a recognizable, safe, and comfortable travel experience.

nai010 publishers is continuing its cooperation with the Frans Hals Museum under its new director Ann Demeester with a surprising introduction to the phenomenon of Hals, as well as an innovative publication about the painting of emotions during the Golden Age. The collaboration with the Rijksmuseum is also resulting in new publications, in this case about the museum’s wonderful photography collection. And also about photography: a special anniversary edition marks the twentieth year (and sixth printing) of Exactitudes, the legendary photo project by Ari Versluis and Elli Uyttenbroek; with ten new series, it now gives an even richer picture of the surprisingly paradoxical uniformity with which we try to distinguish ourselves in terms of our choice of clothes. And we are also expanding our fund to include film, with two new publications for the new EYE film museum.

With a variety of publications in the field of architecture, design, and the arts, we present the entire spectrum of what these disciplines have to offer: from self-preservation to pure enjoyment.

Eelco van Welie
director