Miglė Rudaitytė is a designer, art director, and founder of BOY, an independent creative practice based in Vilnius, Lithuania. She is the creator of Mozaika, an experimental digital archive dedicated to Lithuanian children’s book illustrations from the latter half of the 20th century. The project revives the work of Lithuanian illustrators from that era, preserving their art through digitization and reintroducing it to a new generation.
Which three books would you recommend?
Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles 1628-1900 (1)Jan Tholenaar
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves type (and illustration!) and is seeking inspiration – crafted meticulously by hand, beyond today’s trends. I’d even recommend it to those unfamiliar with typography, as it offers a fresh perspective on something as seemingly mundane as letters, with the potential to spark newfound admiration.
Interwar Lithuanian Advertising Ramūnas Minkevičius
For anyone interested in the history of advertising. The brief interwar period in Lithuania – between World War I and World War II – was surprisingly rich in American spirit. Western brands like Shell, BMW, Philips, Wrigley’s Spearmint and others advertised themselves in brilliantly naive and sincere ways, both in text and visuals. It’s the kind of book that makes you smile and long for those simpler (at least in some ways) days.
An interesting fact about the cover – hard to catch if you don’t speak Lithuanian – is that it “hijacks” an old advertisement. Originally promoting the cigarette brand My Mate, the text was reworked to reference the book itself, reading: No! No, no, no! The experts won’t read others. For them, the best book is only Interwar Lithuanian Advertising.
Everything is Programmed Antanas Kazakauskas
Once again, it’s the inspirations from the past – I especially enjoy those. Antanas Kazakauskas (1937–2019) is considered the first advertising graphic artist in Communist-ruled Lithuania. His pioneering advertising projects from the 1960s, innovative book series designs, conceptually foreign collages, and graphic design experiments in the magazine Our Nature, along with his graphic art prints, serve as a remarkable testament to the modernisation of Soviet Lithuanian culture.
What is your favourite bookstore or library?
When in Vilnius, make sure to stop by Bookstore Eureka!