Tour Eiffel

For the second image in the book, the work is done on black paper: a night photograph of the Eiffel Tower's architecture by Jo Fober, reproduced in opaque white, silver, and an iridescent white. The interplay of opaque and reflective pigments creates such an intense, high degree of white that it's almost blinding in sunlight — the spotlights in the image appear as though they're actually shining. A second illustration, of La Madeleine, was made using the same technique, with equally strong contrast and the characteristic harshness of Fober's shot. Paris — symbol of that challenge, and the site of an early apprenticeship — remains to this day a benchmark and a source of motivation: a drive shaped by seven earlier years running a self-created stationery line sold on the Rue de Grenelle, which served as a gateway to Europe and, at the same time, a lesson in holding one's own against a foreign language and steep demands.