In front of me is a photo of a diary entry by Peter Schulthess from 1984, in which he writes how much he would like to create a book from his Photos, drawings, texts and paintings. In 2008, this wish still seems to be very much alive, as we were able to welcome him as a Bookfactory customer for the first time. Today, 16 years later, Peter Schulthess is still a loyal Bookfactory and Bubu customer. He has already realised over 100 projects with us and is always enthusiastic about our products.
Peter Schulthess, who grew up in Uster, is not only an artist but also a researcher. He describes himself as his own curator. He has already had the honour of exhibiting his projects throughout Switzerland. Even as a child, he had his own museum in the cellar with stones, plants and drawings on evolution, biology and botany. His interests were already very diverse back then. He has a MAS in Applied History from the University of Zurich and is currently completing a CAS in Theory and History of Photography at the University of Zurich.
How did the enthusiasm for Photo books come into your life?
I completed my training as a textile merchant 47 years ago. My job has enabled me to travel the world and get to know different cultures. I was able to broaden my horizons enormously. I have always enjoyed design, colours and surfaces. I had visions of self-designed books early on. In 1975, I began to create my first photo reportages of various countries. In 1990 I started the big project “Gen Atlas”. Over the years, I produced 30 large-format, hand-crafted book volumes with drawings, photographs, texts and paintings for this project.
I’ve actually been making albums all my life. I collect, mediate, research and exhibit. Albums have been the most important containers for Photos since the advent of photography.
I am currently interested in the question of what constitutes an album. I am interested in the complexity of an album. I am therefore studying the book “ALBUM. Organisational Form of Narrative Coherence” by Anke Kramer and Anngret Pelz.
As you can see, I’ve been interested in Photo books for most of my life.
You have had several projects produced via PDF-to-Book. What do you particularly like about PDF-to-Book?
Whether Bookfactory Photo books or PDF-to-Book, I am delighted with the print results of the Indigo! The digital print is very forgiving, even though some of my Photos were only 150 dpi, that was enough for the print. The result is still very good. The decisive factor is that the Photos are sharp and the contrast is good. Digital printing is very forgiving when it comes to the rest!
What I find brilliant about PDF-to-Book is that you can have books produced from a print run of 1. I’ve been able to have many unique copies made by you.
Do you have a favourite book of yours?
Difficult… but I really like the book, for example, which you published in a blog post in 2013. A work of art. A box with an embossing and in the box was my photo reportage about the Zurich Oberland, more precisely the Bachtel. There was an exhibition, a local history magazine, guided tours of the town, several lectures by scientists and much more. The box also contained two stones and a CD with a video about the Aabach.
But when I think about it, my favourite book is probably my “Gen Atlas”, a work about the beauty of failure. It’s almost impossible to describe this project: 150 folders are the “Gen Atlas”! Individual sheets, drawings or photographs are in these folders.
What kind of books do you design most often with us?
Many of my current projects are special orders.
Insert: Special orders are, for example, individual print runs that cannot be realised via PDF-to-Book because you want a different format or special embossing. In such cases, you can send us an enquiry. We will then be happy to send you a quote if you have a specific book project in mind. You can find more information here: Bubu a-z (bookfactory.ch)
However, I still often produce books via PDF-to-Book and Bookfactory. When I produce books via PDF-to-Book, I prefer thread sewing and have my books finished with a headband.
With the Photo books from Bookfactory, I often opt for the Photobook Booklet. A booklet with wire stitching is quickly designed using the software and is ideal as a prototype for the “real book”.
Peter Schulthess
