SpeakerIrma Boom is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer specialising in book making.
Boom studied graphic design at the AKI Art Academy in Enschede. After graduating she worked for five years at the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office in The Hague. In 1991 she founded Irma Boom Office, which works nationally and internationally in both the cultural and commercial sectors. Clients include the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Paul Fentener van Vlissingen (1941-2006), Inside Outside, Museum, Boijmans Van Beuningen, Zumtobel, Ferrari, Vitra International, NAi Publishers, United Nations and OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Koninklijke Tichelaar, and Camper.
Since 1992 Boom has been a critic at Yale University in the US and gives lectures and workshops worldwide, including at Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the California Institute of the Arts.. She has been the recipient of many awards for her book designs and was the youngest-ever laureate to receive the prestigious Gutenberg prize for her complete oeuvre.
For five years she worked (editing and concept/design) on the 2136-page SHV Think Book 1996-1896, commissioned by SHV Holdings in Utrecht. The book was published in English and Chinese.
Her design for Weaving as Metaphor by American artist Sheila Hicks was awarded The Most Beautiful Book in the World at the Leipzig Book Fair.