About

Matita is an independent publishing house founded in Venice by Delphine Trouillard, in 2023. Its aim is to publish each year two silent books, curated and/or illustrated by architects, about architecture, urbanism, design and the environment.

These books are intended for both budding and real architects, for the chronically curious and for lovers of illustrations, for very young readers and for older children.

Matita is driven by a set of values that it is committed to respecting throughout the production and distribution process of its books:

100% local production. Matita is committed to supporting the entire Italian book industry by entrusting the production of its books to local printers, renowned for their know-how and excellence.
An eco-responsible policy. The paper chosen for the printing of its books carries the FSC label, certifying the sustainable management of the forests from which it comes. Furthermore, by producing its books locally, Matita is committed to drastically reducing the carbon footprint of the transportation of its books.
Distribution in solidarity. Convinced that culture can make the world – the world of children and the world they share with adults – a better place, Matita is committed to donating copies of its books to children who do not have any. For every ten books sold, one book will be donated to an association working for children who do not have access to culture.

Why books without text?
Books without text tend to intimidate parents who are afraid of not knowing how to use them to tell a story to their children and yet… the pictures speak for themselves and silent books have many advantages!
Here are some of them:

For toddlers, observing a picture is essential for the development of language and vocabulary
the details help to sharpen the sense of observation of children and adults
it is universal, everyone can interpret it and make it their own, whatever their cultural or linguistic background
it offers a great moment of sharing and exchange between parents and children

Why architecture for children?
From their first steps, children have their own way of discovering their environment, whether it is their home, their school or the city they live in. For them, each place is a playground to explore and we found that few books accompanied them in this learning process. So we wanted to create them.

Why ask architects to direct or draw the books?
Because it’s more realistic! When Matita wanted to talk about cities, housing and interiors, she naturally turned to those who draw them! Secondly, because we wanted a new kind of publishing, books that were both amusing and rigorous, offbeat and educational. We needed an unusual team to carry out this project.

Why choose Made in Italy?
More than 60% of hardback books for toddlers, but also a significant number of picture books and albums are printed outside Europe. This means that for the majority of these titles, the quality of the paper and inks is unknown, the incentive to recycle is absent and, for most of them, the printers are not certified (ISO, FSC).
By choosing to produce its books in Venice, Matita avoids having books travel thousands of kilometres from the other side of the world, and guarantees a high level of quality for its albums, as Italy has always been one of the countries with the greatest expertise in the printing industry. It also guarantees that the books are produced in compliance with human rights standards.

Why not produce more books?
At Matita we like to do a good job: we only undertake what we are sure we can do. That’s why we prefer to focus on a limited number of projects but to carry them out with all our heart and to defend them for a long time.

Do you accept editorial projects or collaborations ?
Do you have a project or an idea ? We would be very happy to have a look at it !
Submit it at info@matitaedizioni.com

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