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Putting together a book is not easy. If you are the writer, or the photographer, or the designer, or the editor, it does not matter. Making a book is a labor of love—believe me, I have been there. What then, when you are all of the above? and you have no publisher? just a burning desire to see this project come to life, a project that speaks to you as you hope it will speak on to others.

This project was home-grown. No money, no publisher, no client. At least not at first. For this reason, the project is as much about what you don’t see as what you see: the book models, proposals, grant applications, meetings with museum directors, excluded materials and dozens upon dozens of rejection letters from publishers. Well not physical letters, but you get the idea. This book was destined to be made because it holds such a great story. A young man walks into Harvard during World War II and wants to be an architect. He worked construction for his father, so he knew how to draw and build. He ends up on a scholarship, Marcel Breuer’s first U.S. employee, and moves back to Rhode Island to define the modern vernacular. True post-war modernism for the masses.

Perhaps the lesson for me from this project is to push when it’s worth pushing. This applied as much with research as it did with finding a publisher. There was a ton of good material that came late in the process. There were a bunch of great projects that we discovered years into scouting. Yes, it was a four-year project. And months before completion, we found great buildings to photograph and images to include. It was all open until it was all closed. Nothing precious, nothing quite finished until it was completely finished.

It’s a rare project in that I was completely responsible for the design and contents of the book. William Stout is a great publisher to work with; and a great fit for this project.

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8 Faces Magazine

Ira Rakatansky: As Modern As Tomorrow Monograph

Production Method

Design

The Design Office: John Caserta
Editing: Lynnette Widder and John Caserta
Essays: Joan Ockman and Lynnette Widder
Photography: Thad Russell and John Caserta
Production assistants: Elise Porter a

Printing

Overseas Printing