A heritage book for a trade, a place, a house.
Craft, gestures, territories, collective memory: SMK Éditions makes books that record a heritage before it fades.
Who it is for
Houses with a craft: workshops, manufacturers, cooperatives, estates. Towns and sites that want to keep a record of a place before it changes. Families of entrepreneurs who want to tell the story of a trade across generations. Cultural institutions with a collection to show.
What the book contains
The gestures, photographed as they happen. The tools, the materials, the places. The words of the trade, gathered from those who use them. The archives, where they exist; living witnesses, where they do not. And a text that ties it all together without freezing it: an investigation, not a catalogue.
How we work
We go on site, several times, in the seasons that matter. Photographs and illustrations are made for the book, by artists we choose with you. Witnesses are recorded. Archives are sorted and brought to light. The result serves the house that commissions it and, often, the region around it.
Timeline and budget
Between ten and fourteen months, because the field sets the pace: a harvest, a campaign, a production season. Formats range from the monograph of a trade to a series in several volumes, by way of the book of a town or a site.
The budget is quoted once the project has been framed. It depends on the format, the number of pages, the imagery to be produced and the print run. We always propose two options, so that the decision rests on figures rather than impressions.
What you keep
The rights to the texts, photographs and illustrations produced for the book are assigned to you by contract, with the permitted uses specified. The sorted archives, recorded interviews and documented imagery stay with you, and can be reused in other media.
Frequently asked questions
Our craft is disappearing. Is now still the time?
Now is precisely the time. As long as there are people left to show the gesture and name it, the book is possible. After that, only the objects remain.
Can the book be sold in bookshops?
Yes. A heritage book often has an audience beyond the house that commissions it. It can be published by Adansonia and join its catalogue, with bookshop distribution.
Do we need an illustrator as well as a photographer?
Not always. Drawing shows what photography cannot: a gesture broken down, a tool in cross-section, a place that no longer exists. We propose it when the subject calls for it.
Is your company turning 25, 50 or 100?
An anniversary book is prepared twelve to eighteen months before the date. Tell us the year and we will tell you what is still possible.