Our 6 Favourite Books to Fuel Creativity

On some days those creative juices flow easily, while on others we need a dose of inspiration. We chat with our studio team on which books they turn to when they need to kickstart their creativity.

Fedrigoni 365 by Fedrigoni and various authors

RECOMMENDED BY: Jacky, Designer

“I keep mine on my shelf and look at it from time to time to be inspired or to ogle at its prettiness.”

Fedrigoni Special Papers is one of the leading paper companies in Europe. Each year they release a book – the Fedrigoni 365 – containing a unique collection of 365 designs, randomly collated from hundreds of contributions by creatives. That’s right, each copy of the book is unique. It’s printed using neon and CYMK inks onto a range of papers from the Fedrigoni digital collection.

Malika Favre

RECOMMENDED BY: Lauren, Senior Designer

“I’m continually captivated by this illustrator’s energetic use of colour and clever exploration of shadow and light. Visually striking and a great coffee table book!”

Malika Favre is a world-renowned French illustrator and graphic artist, known for her unique illustrative style of simple vectors, elegant curves and clever use of negative space. This bold, colourful coffee-table book tells the story of this authentic artist and showcases her iconic work beautifully.

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

RECOMMENDED BY: Jade, Senior Content & Copywriter

“Whenever I’m feeling creatively stuck, reading one of the short chapters in this book helps me connect to the practice of writing again.”

Natalie Goldberg is an American author, speaker and poet. Her book Writing Down The Bones: Freeing The Writer Within focuses on helping readers cultivate a writing practice. She suggests that writing from “first thoughts” – that is, writing without editing or censoring as you go, just letting it spill out onto the page with no fear – is when some of your best writing will happen.

Beauty by Sagmeister & Walsh

RECOMMENDED BY: Minty, Senior Designer

“Surprising and exquisite, this is one of the few coffee table books I’ve actually read cover-to-cover. It makes you question the role of beauty in design.”

Sagmeister & Walsh is the design partnership of Stefan Sagmeister & Jessica Walsh. Their book Beauty explores how when beauty is displaced by functionality in design and architecture, something essential is lost – but this disregard can be reversed.

Design as Art: Bruno Munari by Penguin Books

RECOMMENDED BY: Ella, Designer

“Munari’s thoughtful musings on the role of designers is such an insightful reminder of the significance of good design in how we all experience the world around us.”

Bruno Munari was a 20th century Italian artist, designer and inventor. This book is part of the Penguin on Design series, and it explores Munari’s thinking on graphic and industrial design and the role it plays in the objects we use everyday, from lamps and posters to cars and road signs.

Dot Dot Dash! by by Hendrik Hellige, Matthias Huebner, Robert Klanten

RECOMMENDED BY: Bjorn, Studio Production Manager

Dot Dot Dash! expands on the widely popular subject of contemporary character design, exploring how vinyl figures, plush dolls, designer toys and action figures can be seen as a new movement in contemporary design, art and popular culture.