“Rumi – kærlighedens digter”, monograph by Folmer Blume Leide (hardcover).

BOOK DESIGN

“Rumi is an introduction to the poet and sufi master Jalaluddin Rumi, who lived in the area of Turkey between 1244 and 1273 AD. The author has retranslated a large part of the poems and teching stories of Rumi. First, as I often do, I read the manuscript and extracted a number of keywords, that capture the essence of the book: spiral movement, light and darkness, longing, melancholy, union, love. I continued with “spiral movement” and “light and darkness” in the attempt to translate them into images. Searching and researching took me to the French photographer Reza and a poetic image of dancing dervishes. The photo beautifully captures both the spiral movement and the tension between light and darkness. There’s even a slightly melancholic atmosphere in the photo. But the cover seemed too static and lacked the sense of striving from the texts of Rumi. By constructing a swash for the title, I paraphrased the spiral movement and added just enough dynamic to the image, so that the pieces fell into place.”