Nederlandse Kabelfabriek (NFK) Cable Catalogs

Piet Zwart’s NKF Cable Catalogs are a series of industrial design publications created for the Dutch cable manufacturing company Nederlandse Kabelfabriek (NKF) in the mid-1920s. Zwart, who referred to himself as a “typotect” (a hybrid of typographer and architect), brought avant-garde design principles into the commercial and technical sphere with these groundbreaking catalogs.

Rather than approaching these catalogs as mere technical documents, Zwart infused them with dynamic layouts, asymmetric compositions, and a bold use of typography and color. He combined De Stijl aesthetics with Constructivist influences, striking a balance between structure and visual play. His use of sans-serif type, photomontage, and gridded yet energetic spreads marked a radical departure from traditional catalog design, which was often dense and text-heavy.

Each spread in the NKF catalogs is a lesson in visual hierarchy and clarity. Zwart’s goal was to make complex information easy and exciting to navigate. He experimented with scale, rotated type, and contrasting colors (often red, black, and white) to highlight technical details while maintaining a strong visual rhythm.