Daniel Eatock Imprint
Daniel Eatock

Imagine the work of a young designer for whom concept and humor are more important than the glossy aesthetics of mainstream periodicals and design annuals and for whom the message trumps the media, and you begin to get an idea of the refreshingly smart and thought-provoking work of Daniel Eatock. Rejecting the widely held opinion that work made without a client is "art" and work for hire is "design," Eatock challenges both categories by purposely blurring the distinction. Whether he is solving client problems or those of his own choosing, Eatock's work responds to personal fascinations and the desire to invent, discover, and present.

His commissioned works for clients include an exhibition catalog featuring sound chips, a flip book, handwritten notes, and a cover wrapped in the upholstery fabric used on London transit seating, as well as the graphic identity of the UK's Big Brother reality-TV series, among many others. Eatock's idea of "entrepreneurial authorship" has resulted in numerous self-published limited-edition works such as an edition of prints made using every color of Pantone's felt-tip pens and his Untitled Beatles Poster, which includes the lyrics from every Beatles song. Eatock's most personal self-initiated artworks share an unabashed enthusiasm for punch lines, miscommunication, and seriality: there's the search for a stone that weighs exactly one stone; a perfectly hand-drawn circle, the world's largest signed and numbered limited-edition artwork, utilitarian greeting cards, price label wrapping paper, car alarm dances, and a fruit bowl stickered with fruit labels.

The first monograph on this unconventional practitioner, Daniel Eatock Imprint is as unconventional as the artist himself. While utilizing and embracing the expectations of a traditional monograph, the London-based designer also challenges and subverts them, presenting works based on connections and associations through color, composition, titles, material, and format rather than in chronological or hierarchical order. Constantly oscillating between art and graphic design, this book is full of Eatock's astute observations and eccentric obsessions.


Daniel Eatock is a graduate of Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication and the Royal College of Art. His independent art and design studio Eatock Ltd. focuses on both self-initiated art projects and commissioned design work.
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Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review:
"Eatock, a young British designer, believes a silly idea can create something profound. His monograph of images and words includes Complete Roll of Brown Packing Tape Bow." — Tara McKelvey (September 26, 2008)

British design star Eatock, in Glenside, Philly.com:
"You've seen some of the strategies in Daniel Eatock's work before. The embrace of the vernacular everything, seriality, obsessive collecting and child's play recall earlier efforts by Charles and Ray Eames, Paula Scher, Andy Warhol, Walker Evans and Jan Dibbets, as well as those by such contemporary artists as Damien Hirst and Tony Feher.Written and designed by Eatock, the book features more than 1,000 images from more than 100 of his projects and tells you everything you ever wanted to know about him and his career. (He's collected his nail clippings, is a Formula 1 fan, hates smoking. He read Lucy Lippard's 1973 art-history classic Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object when he was 18 and it made him realize that "art and design were no longer disciplines that were motivated purely by aesthetics." He likes participatory projects.)" (September 28, 2008)

British Designer Leaves His Mark on Early Retrospective, Media Bistro:
"about halfway through the book, there's a sheet of yellow paper onto which Eatock has hand-drawn a circle; apparently he did a bunch of these sheets and sent them off to be bound into the books at random locations.Oh, and Eatock's actual thumbprint is on the book's spine. click HERE to watch the video of Eatock inking each spine with his own imprint." (August 6, 2008)

Cool Hunting:
"Throughout the book, Eatock takes strides to make his document more than a just stack of colored paper. To make a more personal, unique monograph, each book bears his thumbprint. The artist went to the Indiana warehouse storing his books and inked each and every volume. He also included a page with a hand-drawn circle in every book. Randomly inserted by the printer at a different place in each book, it's meant to surprise the reader and add a level of uncertainty to the generally homogeneous process of mass book production." — Doug Black (August 6, 2008)

Dwell:
"Eatock shot to design -world fame when his East London -based firm designed a logo for the reality-TV super-show Big Brother (UK): a now-iconic all-seeing eye that seems to throb and spin with juxtaposed patterns and colors. For Big Brother season 7, Eatock straight-facedly explained to a London newspaper that anyone who stared at the logo long enough, while turning it in circles, could then look at a blank piece of paper and find a secret message. The amount of office time wasted as a result of this joke remains impossible to calculate." — Daniel Eatock (February, 2008)

Wallpaper:
"Daniel Eatock is a designer with a practised eye, able to switch from big bucks corporate and media branding - the Big Brother Eye, for example - to micro scale personal works that present an unvarnished view of the world. Eatock's work is also bound up in his website, Eatock.com, which solicits photography from like-minded individuals around the world.As a result, the designer's first monograph has the feel of a carefully curated weblog, with images that revel in juxtaposition and coincidence paired with his own playful works. It also wouldn't be an Eatock project without a slight subversion of the repetitious nature of the printed book - each copy contains a hand-drawn circle, drawn by the designer himself at a marathon session at the printing plant." (September 3, 2008)

Daniel Eatock Imprint, Designers Review of Books:
"I have been wanting to write the review of Daniel Eatocks book, Imprint, (Amazon: US | CA| UK |DE) for some time. It has lain on my desk for weeks and I have delved into it over an over, but the truth is that I have struggled to really work out how to describe it...Opening with a long and entertaining interview with Eatock and interspersed with insightful captions, Imprint is a glimpse into a remarkable mind. Clearly Eatock is obsessive, whether listing ideas, facts, images or seeing an idea through to its extreme end, but there is such a sharp intelligence to the obsessiveness that it is hard not to be infected by it. No wonder the participatory projects do so well....Imprint is at times hilarious and others a confirmation that a simple idea, well-executed or, indeed, executed at all, has enormous potency... Imprint makes so much sense when it is in your hands that it has become one of my favourite books of inspiration and reference. To read the full review on designersreviewofbooks.com click HERE. " (September 30, 2009)

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