Propose a project

I was impressed by the openness to share in dept knowledge about how to construct and design the information flow in books, how to invite co-authors in a strategic manner and how to come to the complete realization of such a project.
In order to do so they shared their network and Freek connected me to the best graphic designer I could wish for.

It was great to work with Onomatopee!

Marina Toeters

—–

When Moore College of Art and Design invited me to do a Fellowship and suggested making a book, I asked friends about how they had gone about this. I heard horror stories from friends about publishers going bankrupt and throwing out their books, of book binding falling apart after a year, of printers using cheap ink that runs, and of artists having to mail thousands of books personally. And then, I heard about Onomatopee. They are successful because they have relationships of kindness and rigor with the designers, printers, and distributors, and they have a decade or more of experience and trust with those vendors. The result is a process and a book that Moore College of Art and Design and I are so proud of.

I recommend working with Freek / Onomatopee to all organizations, artists, and theorists who are aligned with values of transparency and generosity. Freek / Onomatopee was consistently transparent and direct in communicating about everything — providing an overview of the process of working together, supporting the conceptual development of the book, providing regular feedback, and knowing which approaches to design, printing, binding, and distribution would be most aligned with the content of the book. Working together, we created a high-quality book that is a conceptual work in and of itself.

Caroline Woolard

I had a really good experience working with Onomatopee. The process was always transparent and I felt I was in good hands.

For the people interested to approach Onomatopee for a commission/collaboration I would recommend to have a look at their website and projects they have. This will allow them to see whether or not the project will be a good fit to Onomatopee.

Yulia Popova

—–

Over the last ten years, following several books produced by Onomatopee and hearing from friends who worked with him, I’ve come to respect Freek Lomme through his work as an editor and publisher, and have been highly impressed with his approach and his taste. My experience with him, in the context of our Bestiary of the Anthropocene, has proven to me he is a multi-talented individual who brings a combination of focus and vision to everything he does; with a great efficiency, pragmatism and ambition in putting projects together.

Nicolas Nova

—–

We’ve been lucky enough to work with Onomatopee as a publisher of our latest book A Bestiary of The Anthropocene.
From the start Onomatopee’s conditions and workflow were extremely precise and transparent which is a very rare and precious quality. They have been really supportive and pro-active during the whole process, by providing refined feedbacks as our artbook project evolved. They operate with a network or extremely skilled book-makers covering all the production chain from papermaking, to printing and bookbinding, which allowed for the production of a really unique looking object.

In addition to an international distribution, you can expect to meet Onomatopee’s team in the best international Art book fairs, which is in itself a sign of credibility, and a good place to start discussing a book project — as we did when we met Freek at Los Angeles Art book fair a few years ago.

Looking forward to work on new projects and book fairs together!

Disnovation.org

—–

“Working with Onomatopee and in particular with Freek was fruitful and inspiring. Freek is curious, thorough and quirky and he pays attention to both form and content. I am very glad my book is part of the great Onomatopee collection.”

Doina Kraal

Onomatopee initiates projects by itself, but also welcomes proposals and collaborations.

Each Onomatopee project combines publishing with public programs. Publishing can be modest in ambition with the release of a zine or have bigger ambition with the release of a book. This does not mean a zine cannot look like a book; only that zines have lower distribution ambitions. Public programs can range from something small, such as hosting a book-launch, to a huge exhibition with a wider program.

As an exhibition space (in receipt of multi-year funding) Onomatopee can offer space, modest support in costs of material and fees, basic curatorial and productional service, and publicity. As a publisher Onomatopee can invest and co-produce and can advance publisher costs to be returned from first sales benefits. Both forms of investment are conditional to their content and their opportunities to connect to people along the lines of the stakes we set out for.

Onomatopee welcomes proposals on the basis of a motivated engagement with Onomatopee’s work and a smart proposal: artistic, financial, minimum and max ambition or something along those lines.

Please know we do not need a fixed plan, but value an outline of basic premises, how this premise is evidenced by the content, what the content would or could roughly be, who you would like to involve, what the indicated costs are to produce this and if you have benefits guaranteed or expected. It is also nice if you can share what you would want from Onomatopee in the production and artistic management of the project.
On this basis, we can open up conversation, advice and together deliver the project. Depending on the proposal Onomatopee can contribute to costs of research and development, production and presentation, publishing and distribution.

Onomatopee promotes progressive voices, ideas and expressions that, by their unique nature, deliver unique vocabularies. Onomatopee informs about form and discusses content, thereby turning style into cultural politics on a neutral basis. Subjects of projects might equally rest on or connect with the visible surface of the everyday as it can be more thoughtful and more demanding. We produce the alternative and voice the margin together! Onomatopee can assist in the smart setting of project ambitions, artistic and financially, and therefore appreciates receiving proposals at an early stage to get the best result in reach and content-output. It is through teaming up and release of inspiration, that Onomatopee widens the bandwidth and supports a public resistance needed for contemporary citizenship, builds and grows an independent community.

Onomatopee promotes thinkers and doers and releases impulses to citizenship and knowledge of life, normalising the ever-expanding margin of cultural innovation.

As of January 2023 we are reorganising our publishing house. We still welcome and encourage you to propose your project and we will do our very best to answer between 4 to 6 weeks.

Some testimonies of cooperators

Some info to help you reach out.

EXHIBITION SPACE, BOOKSHOP AND OFFICE