Meatpacking District

BACKGROUND:
Stockholm´s Meatpacking District has been the heart of the city’s food supply for over 100 years. In 2012, Stockholm city decided to document its rich culinary history by creating an elegant book about one of the most storied and industrial areas in the city. Snask was hand-picked by the agency JMW and the publishing house Informationsförlaget to create an artful book that would push the limits of capturing history with beautiful design.

THE CASE:
Together with JMW & Informationsförlaget, we set out to create a new category of books: the meat table book. A conversation-starter packed with intriguing photos, butcher´s anecdotes, Swedish traditional food recipes and never-before-seen archival photos and documents from the city museum. We named the book ”Meat & Blood” (in Swedish, “Kött & blod”) to make it eye-catching on the shelves. The design was inspired by the area’s quotidian architecture and objects, such as the dirty-white tiles, meat hooks and blood. Passing the Meatpacking District on the subway, people recognize it by its statement neon sign at the entrance. When deciding the book’s cover, we had no other choice but to honor this iconic landmark, and create the title typography as a neon sign. Snask was responsible for the entire book layout, editorial design, and art direction. Stockholm city is very proud of their new book, which features 192 pages of mind-blowing meat stories and the iconic neon sign of the Meatpacking District.