Joost Elffers didn’t inherit his unrestrained creativity from strangers: his parents were (graphic) designer Dick Elffers and photographer Emmy Andriesse. He educated himself in the field of design, but soon found out, that designing other people’s initiatives was to constraining for him. He much rather produced and published his own ideas. In 1973 Elffers produced Tangram, an old Chinese puzzle, of which 1,5 million copies were sold worldwide. Another great success was the exhibition Elffers organised two years later in the Rijksmuseum, Anamorphosen en het spel met perspectief. In 1978 Elffers moved to New York, where he settled as a publisher of special projects. For example Giftwraps by Artist, 16 small books with gift-wraps designed by great artists, which you could tear out of the books. Approximately 2,5 million copies were sold.
Other bestsellers of Elffers include The Secret Language of Birthdays, and together with Andreas Landshoff Play with your Food and The Laws of Power, a totally a-moral book that he produced and sold in 16 countries.