edited by Anežka Minaříková
288 pages, softcover, $35
Published by Inventory Press
inventorypress.com

Though some monographs focus solely on the process and outcome, A Life Among Letters is anything but clinical: it’s a deeply intimate glimpse into pioneering designer Clara Istlerová’s intuitive approach shaped by her daily experiences. In an interview between Istlerová and Anežka Minaříková, the book’s editor, Istlerová shares how her family encouraged her creativity, being a young designer against the backdrop of a Soviet invasion in Prague and her romantic partnerships that opened windows to other creative worlds, as she puts it.

In the section “On Books,” Istlerová notes her triumphs and struggles with each project, much like having a friend flip through their family album, recounting stories as they go. In the Reflexe series, she recalls her inspiration from distorted text projected by a darkroom enlarger as her partner of the time, photographer Honza Malý, adjusted the negatives, revealing “unexpected sweeping lines” that became the basis for the book’s title treatment. For a later book project about Czech Holocaust survivor Arnošt Lustig, Tachles, Lustig, Istlerová worked alongside her husband, journalist Karel Hvížďala, and her son, photographer Jan Malý, for a striking outcome. Istlerová mentions how when she had dinner with Hvížďala in Crete, the yellow sunset served as the inspiration for the all-yellow book, printed on “carefully chosen” yellow satin paper—another chance occurrence translated into a distinctive design feature.

Any reader struggling to balance the demands of work with their relationships will find comfort in Istlerová’s adventurous and playful designs, as they are reminded that personal events serve as a deep well of creativity they can tap into. —Haniya Rae ca