Artbeet's "12 Months": A Seasonal Culinary Journey

Revolutionizing Cookbooks with Artistic Flair and Environmental Consciousness

The inspiration for "12 Months" stems from the desire to create a cookbook that not only meets high standards in terms of quality and artistic value but also promotes an environmentally conscious approach. The design team, led by Artbeet, drew inspiration from nature and its produce throughout the year. The result is a modern, minimalistic, and timeless design that stays close to nature in both its content and use of materials.

"12 Months" is not just a cookbook, but a heavy and complex coffee table book that stands out with its artistic food and landscape photography, minimalistic graphic design, and hand-made ceramics. The chapters follow the changes of seasons on our plates and in nature, enhancing the concept of seasonality. The content and design were carefully crafted to meet the requirements of a premium category cookbook.

The book's unique properties extend to its realization technology. For each chapter, representing a month of the year, the team used analogue techniques to create fruit and vegetable patterns reflecting the verbal content. The cover features delicate technical details such as silver and matte black hot foil, blind embossing, and a bright yellow canvas hardcover binding. The end sheets are a radiating purple tone, a secret favorite color of the author.

The book is designed to be user-friendly, with crafted pictograms to ease navigation amongst recipes for those with special diets. The theme overall enhances health and environment-conscious choices through promoting consumption of seasonal local food and zero waste. The book opens with the author's introduction and a forty-page practical information package on salad ingredients. The content unfolds through 12 chapters dedicated to each month of the year, each opening with a list of local and import seasonal produces and 8 seasonal recipes.

The project started in Budapest in January 2017 and spanned almost a year. The team faced challenges such as weather issues while tracking landscape changes throughout the production. However, their dedication and artistic vision resulted in a unique cookbook that not only provides delicious recipes but also promotes a sustainable and environmentally conscious lifestyle. The "12 Months" cookbook was awarded Silver in A' Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Award in 2018, a testament to its outstanding expertise and innovation.