For this episode of Book Making as an Art Form, I spoke with Hans Gremmen, a graphic designer and co-founder of Fw:Books, about Enter Enter, the Amsterdam project space he runs with friends. We recorded on 24 October at the Stedelijk Museum Library.
Enter Enter began with a practical problem.
Hans and his colleagues had to leave their studio, and Idea Books had a vacant space they could rent if they used the front room for something cultural and non-profit. They didn’t want a gallery or a bookshop, so they called it a Project Room and worked out the rest as they went.
Hans describes the room as “a shoebox, impossible size, strange ceiling, worn-out floor.” Nothing about how it runs is fixed. There are no protocols and no funding, and they deliberately avoid becoming an institution. Tasks get shared as they come up, and the costs come out of their own pockets.
We talk about what that looseness makes possible, including the day the Idea Books archive was destroyed in a fire, and how the space became a place for people to gather and then start planning again.
As Hans puts it:
“The room is so specific, but it’s also like a chameleon. Like every time it’s completely different.”
It is inspiring how much of this depends on people turning up and sharing the work, rather than on having the right conditions first. It was a good reminder for me, and maybe for you if you’re sitting on something that isn’t quite ready.
🎧 New episode out now.
ENTER ENTER
Roger Willems co-founder Roma Publications;
Ayumi Higuchi is a graphic designer based in Amsterdam;
Jordi de Vetten Co - founder BYOB, co-founder of Ryder Books, part of Roma Publications.
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Bertien van Manen 07 - Bertien van Manen, Archive 1970-2021;
San Serriffe is a bookstore located in Amsterdam's Red Light District.
W139 is a leading production and presentation space for contemporary art in the centre of Amsterdam.
00 - Mark Nagtzaam ‘Regular Features’ and Mark Manders ‘Notional Newspapers’
Irene Kopelman 44 - Irene Kopelman, Field to Form:
Jan Kempenaers 37 - Jan Kempenaers, MEMORIALS 23 May 2026
AFK The Amsterdam Fund for the Arts
In Between 34 - Hans Gremmen, In Between
39 - Noah van de Wetering, Now that I have spoken in two: who did I become? https://ryderbooks.org/now-that-i-have-spoken-in-two
Cameron Lynch 43 - Cameron Lynch, The Language
Peter Dop https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/v/duepassi/
Stephan Keppel 05 - Stephan Keppel, Soft Copy Hard Copy
Jan Dibbets https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Dibbets
Images: Birte Lemmen
Photography for the books you make
A book’s life beyond its print run also depends on how people first encounter it, including through the photographs that introduce it online. Alongside hosting Book Making as an Art Form, I photograph books for publishers, designers, artists and cultural institutions, showing the paper, binding and details that make each publication distinctive.
For those publishing several titles each year, The Book Photographer Circle offers an ongoing photography partnership built around your publishing programme.
