Najib Assid Corban was born in 1909, the youngest son in a family of 10 children. His parents emigrated from Lebanon, founding Corbans Wines in 1902 in the gumlands of Henderson, Auckland. He was raised in a family of New Zealand wine-industry pioneers as a vigneron, a vineyard worker. His sight began to fail at age 15, when he found he could no longer see to read, then gradually disappeared. Loss of sight did not stop a full life or hard work, however. He worked from the age of 12 until his 73rd birthday.

The book is an inventory of sorts, documenting his life through photography, metaphor, tools and his poetry. Each tool tells a story of the ongoing battle between man and nature. His poems are many and varied, most composed while working in the vineyards. The book was designed within a set of simple parameters: to fit within 100 pages and be sympathetic to its content. Sections of the book visually reference specific aspects of his life: the diminishing gold disks, his loss of sight and the blackboard he used to notate his poetry for others to transcribe.

This is a beautiful and graphically compelling piece that utilizes design, production, metaphor, images and great poetry to tell the story of Najib Corban’s 100 years of life.