The Art of Creative Living

This book is an invitation to have a cup of tea and a quiet talk with the most important person in your life: yourself!

Like no other, Frank Berzbach understands how to detangle complex philosophical and spiritual connections and to formulate them in such a way that they can be generally understood. Thus, reading his book becomes pure joy. That alone, however, does not entirely explain the success of his mindfulness motivation.

His gift of building up a profound empathy towards his readership without knowing them individually, surely is another reason why The Art of Creative Living became just the book on mindfulness. And that in spite of countless competing titles.

And then there is his »explorer’s mind «: Like a loving anthropologist, he observes and analyses us creatives, seemingly knowing- and understanding! – us better than we do ourselves. The findings about us he uses to guide us towards self-knowledge. He holds the mirror up in front of us and raises our awareness towards the opportunities. It almost seems as though he could remove hurdles, which before seemed unsurmountable, with his sentences. Sometimes, he sets the perspective straight with just one nudging sentence- and the problem seems smaller. Frank Berzbach intentionally goes without advice and practical tips, which leaves the vital questions with the reader. And this is where they belong. Yet, his book becomes a good friend over the course of reading it. To which one listens with pleasure. A friend who understands and listens. And who provokes one’s best.

This book can change your life- and that reaches far beyond the cup of tea…

Features and design

Just like Living with Creativity, The Art of Creative Living has Katrin Schacke to thank for its sensitive design. The matter of emphasizing important thoughts she plays out especially demandingly in the typeset. She does so by linking the quotes in apricot type with that paragraph of the running text in which they appear. That is a heavy challenge for the typesetter, pure joy for the reader.

To meet the matter of mindfulness, we have printed the entire text not in black, but in warm grey. The slightly bulky paper makes the book a little bit lighter than you’d expect. A mindful life, too, is a little bit lighter. The feel of paper and cover material was a matter especially close to our hearts in this case. Both should be soft to touch without being overly sensitive. As goes for the paper, we quickly found a solution, we nearly despaired at the material for the cover. Until we were shown a fibrous material which felt exactly as we had dreamt of by friends. We had sleepless nights because of the hefty price of this material. And after having decided to go with it, we had no budget left for marketing. Without knowing, friends and fans on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, in blogs and films took on our marketing with most professional photographs and production. For that we say »thank you « from the bottom of our hearts!

The Art of Creative Living
Mindfulness motivation
design: Katrin Schacke
12^th edition
208 pages
size 13.5 x 21 cm
flexcover embossed with copper foil, apricot edge cutting and ribbon bookmark

Honored at the Tokyo TDC Annual Awards,
Paperazzo Haptik Award