Brick & Mortar since 1991. Blogging since 2006. From Jason Thompson, Rag & Bone founder & creative director. We write about the things we love: bookbinding, book arts, paper arts, the bindery, personal stuff, our kids, our travels, sometimes food and sometimes art.
How wonderful would it be to have a reading room made from books? Czech Artist Matej Kren creates ambitious structures using old books destined for the landfill. He’s been designing bookish sculptures since 1995, some of which are permanent installations housed in libraries. The outer fascades of many of the installations feature the foredges of the books, in lieu of the spines, which I think is nice as the paper pages have an organic feel. I would like to see something like this in person some day.
Bookish objects from Ukrainian artist, Indiana resident Katya Reka - AKA Minus + Minus. This piece titled, “Neckbook”, is made from handmade flax paper, typewriter, wire and thread. Katya creates unique bindings and artworks, coptic bound books, exposed bindings, perfect bound journals and various types of bookart. Visit Katya’s Flickr, Etsy, behance pages and portfolio for more bookish images.
Potted plants inside discarded books. The process seems to be a little more involved than simply drilling a hole in a book. The hole appears to be concave and there is a wire ‘mesh’ in the bottom of the hole to keep the dirt from falling out. You can buy the books and plant at home, prices average about 45 EU ($55 US) each. I think I’ll save this one for my next book.
I did something similar to this years ago when we were living in Boston. The first Rag & Bone Bindery was in the Distillery Artist Building, it was a small studio next to our loft. I was mostly making handmade journals back then. I bound a handmade journal with seed paper and put the book in a plate of water. It was interesting watching it grow. The book seemed to come to life, yawning open to reveal the seedlings pushing their way through the book covers. Just a word of advice though, the book didn’t, um, ’smell’ very good. At all.
I’m so excited to see Mike Stilkey’s book works in this short profile. I worked with Mike on my recent book - not only is he a super talented, self-taught artist, he’s a gracious and friendly fellow as well, it was a pleasure to feature is work. I find his enthusiasm inspiring. Check out the video below and visit www.mikestilkey.com for more.
Lots of bookish goodness from artist Yvette Hawkins, who folds books - lots of them - for exhibitions, galleries and libraries. I don’t think I’ve seen so many folded books in one place, actual walls of books. See lots more at Yvette’s website & Etsy shop.
This may be old news for some of you, but I just discovered Berlin’s Book Forest. It’s described as the first public bookcase in Berlin. Need a book? Take one. Have a book? Leave one. (looks like no one wanted Colin Powell’s autobiography) How long would this last in a busy American city?
Likecool posted these shots from the ICFF show last week. Booklights by designer Myungseo Kang. They fold out and appear as if they’re made to look like books, as opposed to being actual re-used books.
The Book Light, glow of a book, is inspired by Traditional bookbinding. We combined two elements that a book and a light with pleats. According to how you open the book, it adjusts the amount of light.
Beautiful photos of deconstructed and decomposed books from photographer sculptor Jacqueline Rush Lee. Many more photos at her website www.jacquelinerushlee.com
Beautifully designed spy camera. Love the fake worn book jacket. Does anyone read Russian? SuperHeadz makes toy cameras for every occasion, including this camera disguised as a book. Reminded me of Agent 86, but his camera would have been hidden inside another camera.
• Takes 110 film
• Measures approx. 4″ x 2.5″ x 1″
• Stealthily hidden inside a book
Today I am totally loving the book inspired jewelry and objects from artist Betty Pepper, who says, “Originally inspired by a poem this collection looks at what we choose to hide about ourselves and what we reveal to others, a secretive library where things are not always what they seem”. That’s as beautiful as her bookish art pieces, which tell a story without words, but somehow use words to tell a hidden story.
Recent graduate Laura Cahill presented vases and furniture made from unwanted books at New Designers in London. Cahill cuts profiles from books using a band saw, then wraps the spines around test tubes creating waterproof vases. Clever. She sources the books from local second hand shops. “I discovered that the glue in old books make them extremely difficult to recycle,” she explains. Cahill has also developed a lamp using the technique and a stool made by bolting books together. It’s a “reading lamp”.
My idea of using second hand books came around after doing research into common unwanted objects. One of the most common unwanted objects that can be found at either charity shops, car boot sales and sometimes on the streets are books. I discovered that the glue in old books make them extremely difficult to recycle. Aware of this I challenged myself to turn the second hand books that I had been collecting, into desirable objects such as furniture, lighting and ornaments.
This last image is from www.target.com, they sell “recycled paper vases”. Who knew?
Helsinki Finland artist Janna Syvanoja’s uses book leaves to create pendants and other wearable art. Janna says, “The process of making my recycled paperjewellery pieces, involves a slow, “natural” technique. By curving each slice of paper around the steelwire, one by one, one after another, it is as if the piece grows into its shape by itself.” There is a fluid, organic nature to the folded and swirling pages - they look like little marine animals & shells, jewels from a book-loving mermaids dream.
The previous content of the material {books} referred to communication between people: message and expression. A piece of jewellery is worn for the same purpose.
