… The design ethos was centred on providing the viewer a space for their personal reflection.
… The book was well received by the public, media and presented to dignitaries from the United Kingdom, Canada and USA
…'A stunning book that will bring a lifetime of illumination and pleasure.'…
Background
There had been no serious attempts to publish a pictorial history of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. In 2009 Juga Singh provided concept layouts for the consideration of Kashi House, a specialist publisher.
The project given the green light, Juga provided creative direction and comprehensive book design, which included: A cost effective solution for the book to be released as three editions; assisting the authors with image reproduction viability; high quality images from Juga’s digital asset archive; digital imaging of recent acquisitions from a private collection; provision for new imaging from select additional private collections.
UK, India and Hong Kong targeted marketing campaigns were produced as well as photography of the book, art print series, 3d renders, leaflets, double page adverts and screen presentations.
Outcome
The book was launched to a packed auditorium on the 14th October 2011 at the DSC South Asian Literature Festival, Nehru Centre, Mayfair, London; with a panel discussion chaired by the award winning author Sathnam Sanghera. The personalised advanced order edition assisted with making the project viable. Within weeks of the January 2012 release, the 101 limited edition sold out and a repeat print run of the standard edition was ordered within the first six months.
Juga digitally captured half the images printed and the first publication to feature the Toor Collection (a private collection of Punjab related art) which secured a third of all the artworks reproduced [145/489]. The inclusion of recognisable international public and commercial collections provided a comprehensive visual account of the temple and contextualized the cultural importance of the object holdings within the collections.
The book was well received by the public, media and presented to dignitaries from the United Kingdom, Canada and USA: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron at No. 10 Downing Street, 2012 Vaisakhi reception and on his official visit to India in 2013; Leader of the Opposition, Ed Milliband MP at the House of Commons in 2012; Vice President of the United States of America, Joe Biden in 2017; Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau on his official visit to India in 2018.Receiving favourable reviews from: Anita Anand writing 'This book is a treasure trove of powerful imagery and compelling history'; Sathnam Sangera wrote 'A stunning book that will bring a lifetime of illumination and pleasure.'; Professor Ian Talbot wrote in the Journal of Punjab Studies 'a splendid and evocative representation of a hundred and fifty years history of the Golden Temple and its environs…'; Hardeep Singh Kohl writing in The Times 'Unarguably the most comprehensive, the most fascinating and the most lovingly compiled'.
The authors concluded the book acknowledgments with: ‘Finally we reserve the biggest thanks for our friend, colleague and design maestro, Juga Singh (jugasingh.com), and his incredibly supportive and patient wife… Without them, there would be no book. May their Design Bunga flourish for eternity !’
