John Maeda

Exhibited at DESIGN MIAMI. 2023

Created exclusively for the The Book of Love fundraiser for the Books & Books Literary Foundation, this limited-edition print features John Maeda’s original artwork celebrating Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, one of hundreds of beloved titles subject to recent book bans and challenges.

According to Maeda: “Strega Nona was a book I loved reading to my children, because it was about cooking as a means to express love—something I learned from my father who was a cook who did the same for me. To learn years later that the book was banned for depicting witchcraft seemed counterintuitive to me, because cooking is a kind of chemistry—which in the old days was an acceptable form of sorcery. Plus the consistent moral of each Strega Nona story is that ‘love is the secret ingredient.’ The book feels like a positive story about the ‘magic’ of both science and the love we have for each other.”

All proceeds benefit the Books & Books Literary Foundation’s urgent fight for the right to read.

About John Maeda:

“Maeda is to design what Warren Buffett is to finance.” —Wired Magazine

An early catalyst for generative art and computational design, John Maeda is an American technologist and product experience leader. He was recently named Chief Technology Officer at Everbridge and has held many high-profile leadership positions in the tech industry as well as serving on the board of esteemed organizations like the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Wieden + Kennedy. He was also President/CEO of the Rhode Island School of Design and Professor at MIT Media Lab.

Maeda many honors and recognitions include the White House’s National Design Award, the Tribeca Film Festival’s Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation Award for STEM to STEAM, the Blouin Foundation’s Creative Leadership Award, the AIGA Medal, the Raymond Loewy Foundation Prize, the Mainichi Design Prize, the Tokyo Type Directors Club Prize, and the induction into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. 

About Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola:

When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works in this classic Caldecott Honor book from Tomie dePaola.

Strega Nona—"Grandma Witch"—is the source for potions, cures, magic, and comfort in her Calabrian town. Her magical everfull pasta pot is especially intriguing to hungry Big Anthony. He is supposed to look after her house and tend her garden but one day, when she goes over the mountain to visit Strega Amelia, Big Anthony recites the magic verse over the pasta pot, with disastrous results. In this retelling of an old tale, author-illustrator Tomie dePaola combines humor in the writing and warmth in the paintings as he builds the story to its hilarious climax.