My latest dose of inspiration comes from Coralie Bickford-Smith, senior designer over at Penguin, who has been praised far and wide recently for her covers for the Great Food series. They are so elegant, homey and thoughtful.
The series includes twenty titles covering the last 400 years of food writing from all over the world. I can’t wait to start collecting these, a beautifully designed book… heavily based on antiquated patterns… about food? That sounds like my heaven. Or should I say my own little piece of “domestic happiness”.
I think Coralie Bickford-Smith has struck a great balance here between something bright and modern and something that you might remember pulling off your grandmother’s shelf while “helping” bake cookies. The silhouettes work perfectly with the typography and I really tip my hat to her excellent color selection throughout. Penguin, an icon of style in itself and longtime supplier of absolutely stunning design, has definitely chosen yet another great designer to add to their long list of legendary partnerships. She certainly seems to be on a roll… and her numerous past Penguin projects are equally exciting.
Gulliver’s Travels from the Clothbound Series
The Haunted Dolls’ House from the Gothic Horror series
The 39 Steps from the Boys’ Adventures series
The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry
Alan Trotter did a neat little interview with Bickford-Smith about the series.
A serious interview with designer Coralie Bickford-Smith about her Great Food series for Penguin from Alan Trotter on Vimeo.
See more of Coralie Bickford-Smiths beautiful work here.