In 2020, the festival Une Saison Graphique and the Théâtre de l’Hôtel de Ville of Le Havre have invited us for an exhibition. Making books together (Oct 3-31, 2020) was a great opportunity for us to think why we make books. Here is the answer. To see photographs of the exhibition, this is there.
WHO ARE WE?
Éditions Non Standard was founded in 2011, it was made possible thanks to Elodie Boyer Conseil (brand and design management consultancy). The decision to publish a book is always made by Elodie Boyer who is in charge of Creative Direction and production follow-up, together with Patrick Doan, the graphic designer of our books. Arie Lenoir (Lenoirschuring) is our exclusive printer, based in The Netherlands. In 2015, Rejane Dal Bello joins the beautiful team. She is in charge of designing the UPO collection together with Elodie Boyer. In 2017, we opened our house to new designers, Karel Martens and Aagje Martens made the book Colours on the beach with us, it was a joy. In 2018, Sébastien Morlighem joined the team of non standard designers with the publication of his book Essaime. We are proud of our great collection of authors and designers.
A PUBLISHING HOUSE, WHY ON EARTH?
We love books: texts and objects. For what they convey, for what they represent, for the pleasure they give, for the journey they offer. We love searching together; making a book together is like sharing an adventure. We enjoy designing resonance between text and image, graphic design and production. We believe this can encourage to read, to think, and to enjoy books. We take this opportunity to investigate, push the limits, expose our know-how. We apply all our values to this small entreprise: respect of authors and all actors of the chain including printer and binder of course, production only in Europe, distribution via a network of bookshops selected for each book and on-line on this site, no nasty game with stocks and finance, and we never destroy books.
WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE PUBLISHED BY ÉDITIONS NON STANDARD ?
Lettres du Havre is the first book published by Éditions Non Standard, it illustrates precisely what we are aiming at. We will not publish books on branding or corporate identity, nor a designer’s portfolio, nor a standard novel, we wish to publish personal projects that are unique. Children books, novels, documentaries, concept books, everything is possible. Our making is always exemplary high quality but our books are accessible and nice to hold. We do not make works of art, just books with bright colours, beautiful typeface, quality paper, and the lovely smell from the printing house… touching and moving objects.
HOW TO PROCEED FROM NOW ?
Team spirit and mutual respect of every skill required to produce books is critical. The only reason why we publish books is to enjoy it, both the process and the final result. If you have a non-standard project to share with us, you are most welcome.