Designing a Coffeetable Book

The tale of garages as the birthplace of global corporations has been told time and time again. But it’s rare that successful companies stay in garage mode. For Paul Brauchart and Philipp Rabl, the founders of the cult brand Vagabund Moto, their workshop is the central place of their business. The pair designs and builds motorcycles by hand. Valuable, unique bikes, carefully assembled piece by piece, aesthetically and technically one of a kind. They are not fancy, but classy: a combination of craftsmanship and the art of omission. They are anything but standard. They are maximally beautiful. It is no surprise that the creators wanted to dedicate an illustrated book to their works of art that sometimes take them up to a year to complete.

feel the temptation when leafing through the Vagabund illustrated book. The steel-grey, cardboard cover with it’s fine stitching is subtly understated, the typo is large and yet simple, the images speak for themselves. Photos, drawings and detailed pictures showcase the pure beauty of the motorcycles and their individual parts. Grey, black and white stand for casual chic and minimalism. But despite all the coolness: The two "vagabunds" Paul Brauchart and Philipp Rabl do not like to abide by norms and rules and break the usual design patterns in the design of their coffee table book. So put your helmet on and let the elegance of each individual line work its magic on you. No doubt: these motorcycles are art.