A meeting on the street Hans Eijkelboom Mirelle Thijsen's Choice of Company Photobooks Photography

EIJKELBOOM, HANS - A meeting on the street.

Amsterdam, NEROC'VGM, 2003 orig stiff wrappers in orig plastic slipcase 48 pp with foldout for every page 15 x 21 cm issued without dustjacket text in English

NEROC’VGM might not be the most instantly memorable of names for a company, but a new offbeat promotion from agency KesselsKramer hopes to change that. Given that the company’s description of what it does is almost as un-catchy (they call themselves a ‘marketing communication productions company’), it seems to have come just in time.

The company’s specialty is producing print, especially more elaborate or complex printing tasks for a range of creative clients. KK know all about this, having used their services for years to produce many an innovative and effective printed piece which has garnered press and acclaim for both client and agency worldwide. As such, it probably wasn’t too much of a stretch for KesselsKramer to persuade NEROC’VGM that they really shouldn’t go the traditional brochure route but should show off their abilities and promote themselves as truly creative and innovative to the core. 

As such, the two have collaborated to produce a series of books. Themed around different kinds of meetings (let’s face it, we’ve all been in enough of them), different artists were given free rein to do with the books what they would. So Hans Eijkelboom’s A Meeting On The Street features candid snapshots of faintly harassed European shoppers while German artist Joachim Schmid produced a book of postcards for A Meeting on Holiday. All the books are simply styled to be instantly recognisable as a series, which is lucky given that they plan to publish new titles every two months.

What genuinely elevates these books above the norm is the quality of the writing, complete with its occasional Dutch twist. Affectionate and welcoming, the reader genuinely feels a warm glow for reading the book. Right down to the last page which states: ‘if you are reading this now it says a lot about your character: it shows you have a great attention to detail and are a warm, charismatic person with many friends.’ Nonsense, of course, but no less appealing for that. But it’s not all touchy-feely, KK do not shy away from detailing who is behind the book, describing NEROC’VGM in a precise 209 words. So it’s a creative project which genuinely serves its client, what a treat. 

Image One
From Hans Eijkelboom A meeting on the street

Open publication - Free publishing - More photography

Image Two
From Canadian artist Cynthia Hathaway’s A meeting in the super market (which comes complete with receipts).

Image Three
From Joachim Schmid’s book of postcards, A meeting on holiday.

Images Four and Five
The series as a whole and its own personal vending machine...