Visionaire 34: Paris

Rating:
Summary: A somewhat disappointing book from some most exciting names
Review: Paris, Visionaire, Hedi Slimane, Mario Testino, Greg Lynn... Looking at these names you'd think it'd be a pretty amazing effort. Well, that's what I thought, so I bought #1084 of the only 5500 copies in the world. And sadly it failed to amaze me. Maybe I had too much expetation, who knows. First off, the case. On Greg Lynn's website, it states the case is made from aluminum. Except it isn't. Mine's made from steel with a coat of standard grey paint on it. The finish is far from great, it doesn't make you go "whoa". In fact I'd rate it poor. As poor as a cheap toolbox. And it's huge, bigger than I expected, so it's HEAVY (which it wouldn't have been if they used aluminum). The interior, which are 2 sets of interlocking teeth (made out of cheap think plastic) that were supposed to eliminate all mechanical attachments, simply don't work. Yes they did eliminate locks and hings, but they don't actually lock or open like it has hings either. They don't do anything other than holding the book in place. If you hold the lid the bottom will fall (yes it's 2-piece, not "monolithic"). Now the book. Keep in mind this is Hedi's work, if you've seen his other books, you'd know that he doesn't write his books -- he designs his books. From the material to the print to the finish, the actual content is nothing but just the media that he uses to show the whole design. Even with that in mind, I'm still disappointed. The finish just doesn't cut it. It might help to bring out the content if the finish was better, but instead it makes the whole thing feel worse -- there's no feelings to it at all. I guess it was the publisher, their cost-cutting process went a bit too far. But priced at $175, I don't see why they couldn't pull it off. I know great designs can't be measured by money, that's why I spent my money on it. Although I only paid a discounted $100 (from Powells, couldn't say more nice things about them), I still feel like I was cheated by Visionair. My conclusion? Another great concept ruined by reality. Hedi and other contributors just happen to be the victims this time.