LITERARY LUNCH - Various
Literary Lunch combines two of the best things in life – food and literature. From Bridget Jones’s Blue Soup to Mary’s Mango Pickle of Guilt from Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, there’s a dish and a story for all tastes. Dublin based commercial artist Niall McCormack was tasked with the job of creating a suitably enticing cover design:
The starting inspiration was some recipe book covers from the late 1940s and early 1950s, The Small Canteen by G. Cumberlege and Mushrooms Galore by André Simon.
I created some designs based on repeat patterns using book and food icons as elements. I use a lot of texture in my work and love the look of rough print on coarse paper that is particular to so much mid-century ephemera.
A new colourway was suggested along with a move away from the repeat pattern approach, although one of the original designs, in the new colours, appears as a pattern on the inside cover of the finished book.
I developed some new drafts using bold silhouettes of cooking utensils and stationary in various combinations. A typewriter was introduced to address the balance and a final arrangement agreed upon.“
Literary Lunch is
published by Vintage books today.
