What could possibly be more exciting than a brutalist colouring book? How about a Belgian brutalist colouring book?
“The Brutalist Colouring book” is, its author claims, the first colouring book “entirely dedicated to the poetry of concrete architecture”. It’s the work of Marc Thomasset, a Brussels-based graphic designer, who’s had 500 copies printed on recycled paper and is now inviting you to “sharpen your cold grey and warm grey pencils and add some colour to some great concrete constructions”.
I asked Marc why he’d produced this slightly unlikely volume, because you would, wouldn’t you? Here’s his response:
The Brutalist Colouring Book is, of course, intended for all brutalism architecture lovers, and is also I hope a way to help raise appreciation for this particular architecture style: the best known original brutalist buildings are still threatened with demolition.
I also asked him whether those you’d need any pencils that weren’t grey or, at a push, beige:
It is, of course, a more brutal style of colouring than most colouring books, but everybody is free to offer their interpretation. An Italian graphic designer send me a few pictures of his black and silver colouring of the pages, it was stunning. And the skies and trees offer many possibilities for bright colours to add some contrast. I love the wide palette concrete offers, especially when it has weathered a bit.
Here are some pictures. They’ll expand if you click them:
The cover.
Look! Some green stuff!
Some brutalism in Brussels.
This one’s in San Diego.
And that’s Croatia.
If you fancy a copy of the first edition, you can buy them for €12.00 here. And if you are a graphic designer trying to promote your work through an unusual personal project very specifically targeted at the CityMetric audience, then please do feel free to get in touch.
Jonn Elledge is the editor of CityMetric. He is on Twitter, far too much, as @jonnelledge.
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All pictures courtesy of Marc Thomasset.
