Transform

By Caterina Testa - 3 October 2022

The 2021/2022 Zumtobel Group’s Artistic Annual Report, now in its 31^st edition, continues the company’s tradition of each year inviting a well-known figure from the world of architecture, art or graphic design to create a publication to demonstrate the company’s close connection to art and culture at group level, and to create a design language beyond the corporate design guidelines of the individual brands.

This year the Annual Report was entrusted to Ben van Berkel, co-founder and principal architect at UNStudio, a renowned Dutch architectural firm. Entitled Transform, the publication deals with the theme of transformation, tracing UNStudio’s creative processes over the past three decades, looking at the transformations that have taken place in their work, but also bearing witness to design’s propensity to open up to the future, developing strategies that herald change. An attitude that unites architects and the manufacturing world, as summarized in the words of Isabel Zumtobel, Head of Arts & Culture at Zumtobel Group: "Architects strive to improve room quality and we, the lighting industry, support them in implementing these aspirations. A major information and transformation process is underway, providing many new opportunities for these goals. The combination of design and planning with technical tools such as LED and light control allows us to address individual needs holistically".

Printed in 16.5x12 cm format, the publication consists of two volumes – an art book and the company’s financial statements – of around 300 pages explaining how ideas and concepts develop to take on physical form. The pages of the art book are horizontally color-graded, the bright color of the outer edge darkening towards the center. The glow-in-the-dark finish on the outlines turns the book, when fully open, into a circular object radiating light on account of the dark-bright...