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
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Picturing the Streets of Amsterdam
Meet the photographers of 'Streets of Amsterdam’
‘Streets of Amsterdam’ editor Joost Bastmeijer introduces four of the book’s contributing photographers.
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…
Some favorite contributions
For our newest book MOAM and MENDO asked 100 Dutch creatives to show and tell us what fashion in Amsterdam is.
Interview with Ali Kirby, art director at DENHAM
In January of 2018, DENHAM released the book A Decade of DENHAM, in collaboration with MENDO. We talked to DENHAM's art director Ali Kirby, driving force behind the book, about…
Introducing “Miss Avocado”: Colette Dike
Interview
We had a moment to talk with Colette, the mastermind behind most of the recipes you’ll find in The Avocado Show book.
Because people matter
Pie Aerts is one of the world’s most promising documentary photographers and he’s working on a spectacular new book with MENDO.
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…
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.
Picturing the Streets of New York
Meet the photographers of 'Streets Of New York'
‘Streets of New York’, editor Joost Bastmeijer introduces five of the book’s contributing photographers.
London: a street photographer’s idea of paradise
A sneak preview on our next book in the Streets Of... series
We're currently finalizing Streets of London, the second publication in our Streets of... series. Editor Mikel van den Boogaard learned that London can be considered as a street photographer's idea…
Awards for the new MENDO.nl
Oh, snap! The new MENDO.nl has already picked up three awards. No, wait, make that four.
Jamie Hawkesworth’s pure photographic poetry
Photographer's profile
Great Britain through the lens of Jamie Hawkesworth (1987), a young fashion photographer we admire because of his documentary work.
Photographer Pie Aerts on capturing beauty
Interview
After introducing Pie Aerts, it’s time for a chat about his first book ‘Tales From The Roads Less Traveled’, which is designed by MENDO (expected July 2019), the visual stories…
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 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.
Our series 'Meet MENDO' is where we introduce the people who make MENDO. In this episode: co-owner and founder Joost.
Creating Carli Hermès – the book
Finishing up a book is exciting and somewhat melancholic at the same time. This is the story behind the creation of Carli Hermès - the book.
#SENDNUDES–An uncensored celebration
Location: Extreme Wow Suite of W Hotel Amsterdam
On Monday night, our latest publication #SENDNUDES got the celebration it deserved: a playful and sexy evening in the Extreme Wow Suite at W Hotel Amsterdam.
MENDO pops up at Conservatorium hotel
Friday 8 September - Sunday 10 September, 11 am - 8 pm
From Friday 8 September to Sunday 10 September, MENDO pops up at Conservatorium hotel in Amsterdam, with a carefully curated selection of books. We can be found in the Lobby…
A conversation with Hendrik teNeues
MENDO sat down for a conversation with teNeues’ owner and publisher
His grandfather founded the teNeues printing company in Krefeld in 1931. Now Hendrik teNeues runs one of the leading publishing houses for illustrated books. MENDO sat down with Mr. teNeues,…