Artomatic closure will be great loss to our industry

I am overcome with sadness after reading an e-mail from Artomatic saying it’ll be closing immediately.

To the uninitiated, Artomatic was both an archive library full of printed examples on almost every material imaginable and also a fountain of information where questions could be answered, ideas resolved and, more importantly, inspiration was at hand.

While on the surface things seemed rosey. Talk of a Web catalogue to help those not living in London, a concession store in Selfridges and an ever-expanding resource library.

I feel guilty that I took for granted what had obviously taken decades to acquire. While the people involved will inevitably bounce back, design will be the big loser.

All those projects that spent time in the ‘too hard’ basket will probably remain there. I fear that Artomatic has payed the price for being too special.

Dean Radley

Designer

Ann Summers

Whyteleafe CR3 0GG