Visual Editions : Prize Winning

Prize Winning

26 April 2013

The funny thing about winning prizes is it makes it all, for a moment at least, look and feel so damned easy.

Take Kapow! written by Adam Thirlwell. First it got nominated for The Design Museum’s Designs of the Year 2013 (www.gov.uk rightly won but we weren’t in bad company, with the Shard, folding wheelchairs and all). Then last week, Adam was also named as part of Granta’s 2013 20 Best Under 40 novelists list. We were jumping up and down and saying “Well deserved”. It. So. Is. Kiss kiss.

“Didn’t that turn out amazing” we say, and we tweet away, and we make stickers to share Adam’s accolades on the book. All because we want as many people to know about it as possible.

And for just a second, we forget the collective Adam/ Studio Frith/Visual Editions journey (sometimes bumpy). That journey of trying to be as innovative with great writing and great design as possible, while staying true to our belief of making Great Looking Stories. And a collective amnesia sets in, forgetting the “Oh fuck” “What if” “NO. Not there” “Shouldn’t we instead” “Don’t like” “Don’t understand” “Think I actually hate it” “Sweat” “Tears” “Why can’t we!!?” that was all such a part of that journey. (All of that came from us, by the way).

But that’s kind of the cycle, we’ve realised. Making all the hard work and collective soul-searching come together and end up looking easy, happily collecting prizes with smiles all round, in the end.

Well done Adam. Well done Studio Frith. See, that was easy.

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