All MENDO-made books
Made and published by us
We don't just sell books... we make them too, which you can see in the showcase of our 33 MENDO-made books. Here’s the story of how our MENDO publishing house came to be.
At MENDO, we’ve always been designers. The idea to start a bookstore was conceived when founders Roy and Joost still ran a design communication agency, and was led by their affinity for images, for beautiful books and the love for paper.
In seventeen years time, the Berenstraat flagship store has become a household name. And it was in that store that customers, who were asking for particular books, planted the seeds for what would lead MENDO to become an international publishing house that creates and curates books. As our general manager Roy Rietstap says: ‘We’d like to share our insatiable hunger for visual inspiration and aesthetics’.
Like the origin story of the store, our publishing house started with our home town. Amsterdam was born from our interminable love for the always developing city of Amsterdam, and it wouldn’t be the only publication about our the Dutch capital that we would make. ‘It’s great to showcase the city’s beauty – it’s an endless inspiration to us,’ Roy says.
It’s the inspiring spirit that can be conveyed through all of our Amsterdam books. Books like Amsterdam, The Amsterdam Canals and the uniquely designed Pontsteiger focus on inspiring (parts of) the city, other MENDO-made books focus on the city’s ever-developing creative sector. The Workshop, for instance, offers a unique glimpse in the creative spaces of Dutch artists, and the recently published MOAM collects Amsterdams creativity by featuring contemporary Dutch creatives.
‘ We’d like to share our insatiable hunger for visual inspiration and aesthetics. ’
‘ We’d like to share our insatiable hunger for visual inspiration and aesthetics. ’
Another Amsterdam-focused book, Starring Amsterdam, boasts photos of visiting, groovy celebrities in the 1960s and 70s. The publication contains search suggestions to find out more about the portrayed artists online, connecting the online with the offline world of print. Roy: ‘we’d like show people from generations that grew up with only books, what the new generation of online photographers is creating’. That connection is also essential for books from the ‘Streets Of’ Collection and Depart, which let that new class of photographers leap from online photography to the offline world of print, providing them a tangible chapter in their legacy.
‘We’d like to offer social media photographers an offline platform,’ Roy says, ‘to show others that photography is changing without losing quality’. In that sense, #SENDNUDES also responded to the zeitgeist, featuring online photographers who captured female ‘nudes’ in a new and unconventional manner. ‘Just as unconventional is Ferry van der Nat’s Mr, that can be seen as a contribution to gay emancipation. We wanted to make an alluring book that boasts male nudity, which is interesting for both men and women’.
Van der Nat is just one of the many photographers we teamed up with to create lasting monographs. The first international success came with High Tide, created with the surf photographer Chris Burkard, but also Oscar Abolafia’s Icons by Oscar, Klaas Jan van der Weij’s Sportret, Adam Katz Sinding’s This is Not a F*cking Street Style Book and the MENDO-initiated Carli Hermès monograph are good examples of extraordinary overview books.
In the gradual process of setting up the full-on publishing company MENDO came to be, some of the MENDO men worked more and more from our Herengracht office. Here, our love for paper, ink and color will also in the future be the incentive to create even more books. In July, for instance, the first monograph publication of talented photographer Pie Aerts will be published, which will collect the worldly photos he has shot on his journey looking for real stories about real people. One month earlier, another travel book will see the light, which is the sequel to This Is Not A F*cking Street Style Book by Adam Katz Sinding who documents the zeitgeist of places all over the globe.
You can browse all MENDO-created books here.
All MENDO-made books in figures
Continue reading
MENDO Bookstand wins European Product Design Award
The MENDO bookstand is now officially amazing, as she's the winner of a European Product Design Award. Become the proud owner of our award winner.
Contributor's favorites
Five Amsterdam Uncovered contributors share their absolute favorite Amsterdam things from the book.
Interview
To celebrate our upcoming book with The Avocado Show, MENDO had a lunch date with its founder Ron Simpson to “peel” the success of the Avocado Show.
Six Sportret stories worth sharing
Favorite anecdotes from SPORTRET
Sportret is not only a wonderful photographic document; it is good fun to read too. Here are some of our favorite anecdotes from Sportret.
A tough lesson in human compassion
Interview with Jermain Cikic
Interview with Jermain Cikic, former MENDO employee, who created a personal and evocative documentation of a homeless shelter in Amsterdam, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
How we translated the world of Casper Reinders into a book
Made by MENDO
This book is unlike any other. And although there are more publishers saying that, we promise you, there’s absolutely nothing like this. Casper Reinders greatest interiors are collected in our…
A new chapter: MENDO at De L’Europe Amsterdam
New MENDO store
Mid-March 2020, MENDO will open a store at De L'Europe Amsterdam in the Nieuwe Doelenstraat, offering a whole new design, with a familiar vibe.
Challenging your professional life
Interview
In March, MENDO and Rebel launched a book called Challenge Your Professional Life—a book that is more relevant now than ever. We talked with Rebels Lenny van Klink and Wout…
Work in progress: the Pontsteiger book
A first glimpse at a new book project with local significance
An eye-catching new building rises along the banks of the IJ-river. MENDO is very proud to design and publish a book about it.
A brief history about (the streets of) Amsterdam
How our home base came to be
The streets of Amsterdam are full of history, that even hardcore Amsterdammers might not know about. Let us tell you a small tale about the past of our beloved home…
Slim Aarons’ world of wealth, glittering jet-setters, and beauty
Photographer's profile
Wealth, glittering jet-setters, and beauty: welcome to the world of Slim Aarons (1916-2006), and his groundbreaking lifestyle photography.
Pre-order L’HOMO. Le Book and win a night at Hotel De L’Europe
Pre-order a copy of L'HOMO. Le Book and you're in the race of winning a free night at Hotel De L'Europe in Amsterdam.
MENDO is moving to Nieuwe Doelenstraat 10
May 30, 2020
On May 30, MENDO officially opens its new store in the Nieuwe Doelenstraat, and closes its doors in De 9 Straatjes, marking the end of an era, and the beginning…
Annie Leibovitz, the Grand Dame of colourful, staged portraits
Photographer's profile
There is no better way to see movie stars and musicians than through the lens of the Grand Dame of colourful, staged portraits: Annie Leibovitz.
Adam is coming to A’dam on Friday the 29th of June
Book signing at MENDO, followed by drinks at Libertine Comptoir de Cuisine
As part of what is becoming a legendary worldwide launch tour, Adam Katz Sinding is coming to Amsterdam to sign his (and our) book This Is Not A F*cking Street…
Where he found himself – photography legend Joel Meyerowitz
Why you should know about one of the best American street photographers
With his 80 years of age, one could call Joel Meyerowitz a true veteran. Hence, it’s quite surprising that it took so long before Meyerowitz made a retrospective of his…
A conversation with Marlene Taschen
Interview
On a drooly Thursday morning, MENDO's Mikel van den Boogaard had a very fun conversation about our industry with Marlene Taschen, Managing Director at (- and daughter of Benedikt) Taschen.
“For me, it’s all about the actual prints”
Scenius Gallery
MENDO chatted with Robbert Jongkind—the genius behind Scenius Gallery, a Dutch online gallery.
Signing session with Anton Corbijn
Sunday 20 September 5PM-6.30PM
On Sunday 20 September Anton Corbijn will be at MENDO from 5PM to 6.30PM to sign his new book MOØDe.