A DECADE TO DOWNLOAD – The Internet Yami-Ichi 2012 – 2021

The “Internet Yami-Ichi” is an online flea market that was launched ten years ago, and that until now spread across more than 30 cities around the world. Based on the idea to celebrate these ten years with a printed book that recaps the event’s history, we got in touch with those who previously participated in the market, and had them create designs for each page that were ultimately collected on a dedicated online platform. About 200 participants were free to compose their own pages as they liked, resulting in a book that offers as much fun as a flea market taking place on its pages. As this is a printed incarnation of an Internet-based concept, there are all kinds of gimmicks such as download status bars to indicate pages, instead of conventional pagination. The result is a massive 800-page, 4-kilo book that, also haptically, communicates the weight of the period of ten years. The fact that this award was given to a special kind of book that was realized by such an unconventional approach, makes me feel very hopeful. My greetings and thanks go to the production team and everyone involved in the making, including the Yami-Ichi participants in all parts of the world!