Ontwerp voor een diploma van de Vereniging ter Bevordering van de Belangen des Boekhandels 1914

This is Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries’ "Ontwerp voor een diploma van de Vereniging ter Bevordering van de Belangen des Boekhandels", made with pen and ink on paper. Just imagine, it's the early 20th century, and Vries is hunched over this page. He’s carefully plotting out this design, thinking about honour, achievement and books! It must have been a real labour of love, each line so precise and deliberate. I find myself drawn to the lettering. It's so decorative. It is like Vries isn't just writing words; he’s crafting an image, thinking about the interplay between legibility and beauty, precision and flourishes. Looking at this, I think about other designers and letterers, people like William Morris. There is this common desire to bring beauty into the everyday, to make even functional objects things of pleasure. It’s like they’re all in conversation across time, riffing off each other's ideas. This diploma design invites us to see the world with fresh eyes, appreciating the artistry embedded in the ordinary.