Designing a Borzoi
I was surfing the Knopf Doubleday website and discovered that there is a Design-a-Borzoi contest on Facebook. So off I went to see what our fans and friends had submitted. There are some beautiful photos of borzois in motion, some amazing paintings, and wonderful drawings.
It started me thinking about the many borzois that have been created throughout the ninety-six years of Alfred A. Knopf’s existence. The original borzoi, inspired by the actual breed of Russian wolfhound, was designed by co-founder Blanche Knopf in 1915. Today, there are approximately 150 variations of what has become “our logo, our calling card, our lucky charm, our way of telling you that the book you’re holding was published by Alfred A. Knopf Books, with all that entails.”
Below are some of the more interesting borzois in our collection:
If you are tempted to create your own borzoi during this long holiday weekend, here are some of the rules:
1. The borzoi must be running. They are hounds that primarily hunt by speed and sight, and their name is the masculine singular form of an archaic Russian adjective that means “fast.”
2. The borzoi should be running right to left in a jaunting manner.
3. His right front paw should look like it’s on the ground, its rear legs are kicked up, and his tail should be in motion.
4. If the borzoi is drawn realistic and to scale, he should have an ear, an eye, and four legs.
Good luck and happy designing! I look forward to seeing your endeavors. Maybe, just maybe, your borzoi will join our collection of happy doggies.