Architecture News

Kickstarter Campaign Aims to Revive Legendary “Bolted Book” by Fortunato Depero

The Futurist graphic design gem was first published in 1927.

Bolted Book Kickstarter — *Photo © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / SIAE Rome*

Design junkies could soon get their hands on a reissue of Italian designer Fortunato Depero’s 1927 Futurist cult classic, Depero Futurista—widely known as “The Bolted Book.” Today, the website Designers & Books launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish a new facsimile edition of the Futurist masterpiece in collaboration with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART) in Italy, and the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) in New York.

Depero, a multi-talented designer and artist, is perhaps best known for his graphic explorations and his embrace of advertising as fine art. His diverse portfolio ranged from covers for publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, to an Erlenmeyer flask-shaped Campari Soda bottle, created in 1932.

First published in 1927, the artist’s landmark monograph (original copies of which are found only in major museums and libraries) was created primarily to publicize his own work and includes typographic experiments as both a freelance artist and an ad designer.

Bound by two industrial aluminum bolts (a detail that echoed the progressive machine-age mentality of the Futurist movement and inspired the tome’s nickname), the publication is widely recognized as the first modern-day artist’s book and as a paragon of avant-garde bookmaking.

The facsimile will be an exact copy of the original—including its trademark binding—and will be accompanied by a reader’s guide with English translations and essays from Depero scholars. Heather Ewing, CIMA’s executive director called the reissue “an exciting and important development for design history.”

Designers & Books hopes to raise $249,000 during the three-month Kickstarter campaign.

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Alex was an associate editor at Architectural Record. Prior to joining the magazine, she worked in marketing and communications for New York–based architecture firms. Her writing has appeared in the Architect’s Newspaper and CityLab. Alex holds a master’s degree in design criticism from the School of Visual Arts and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.