"SEEDS" book wins award

Seeds: Time Capsules of Life has won a gold medal at the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs). Recognised as a title that “takes chances and breaks new ground”, Seeds was named Outstanding Book of the Year for Most Original Concept, alongside its sister publication Pollen: The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers.

Seeds was created by visual artist Rob Kesseler and Dr Wolfgang Stuppy, a seed morphologist at The Millennium Seed Bank. The book reveals the innermost secret of seeds, presenting their natural history illustrated with exquisite close up photography and electron micrographs. Many of the seeds are from the vaults of the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed collection in the world. The Seed Bank recently presented a copy of Seeds to Gordon Brown to mark the banking of its billionth seed.

Pollen, by Rob Kesseler and Madeline Harley, botanical expert at Kew’s Jodrell laboratory, provides an intimate examination of the remarkable journey from plant pollination to fertilisation. Both books provide a source of inspiration for everyone fascinated by the natural world though a stunning display of original images. The titles, published by Papadakis, have already won critical plaudits: Nature described Seeds as “Stunning!”, while Pollen was described by BBC Wildlife as taking the reader “far from the dry textbook into a lush world of colour and improbably complex shapes”.

Continuing their collaboration, Kesseler and Stuppy are currently preparing Fruit; Edible, Inedible, Incredible, exploring the history and mystery of fruit, destined to be a significant contender at next years IPPY awards.