+- 160 Years is the most beautiful specialist book of 2021

The story of the oldest place in the world producing bentwood furniture caught the attention of the jury in the Most Beautiful Czech Books of the Year competition. The book +-160 Years: The Emergence and Expansion of Bentwood Furniture from Bystřice pod Hostýnem won the prize in the specialist literature category. The competition is now in its 57th year and was organised by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Museum of Czech Literature. The awards ceremony took place on 23 May 2022 at the Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning CAMP in Prague.

The book, published in 2021 to mark the anniversary of bentwood furniture in Bystřice pod Hostýnem, was two years in the making. Author Adam Štěch incorporated a number of interviews with contemporary eyewitnesses, design experts and historians, thus creating a book to showcase the Bystřice factory from a broader perspective. The powerful visual material, made up of snapshots by Julie Filip, Martin Chum, Lukáš Pelech, Dušan Tománek, Salim Issa, Václav Jirásek and Tomáš Souček, is supplemented by a wealth of documents from the company archives. Studio Marvil, and specifically Jiří Karásek and Tereza Pavelková, took care of the graphic design, with Lenka Sršňová ensuring production for TON.

To browse chapters from the book and read some extracts.