Recently in “Books & Bookstores”

In my world books & bookcases will never, never, never be obsolete!!!!! I love the feel of books, how they look, how they smell, and how they age ........ and a bookcase for me is the center piece of a room!!!! It is home to the most unique, eclectic "accessorations" in my home. Bookshelves are designed to be tableaus that show our personalities, house our most important treasures, including the books that we have collected & cherished for decades ......... they reflect our individual histories!!!!!!!!!

British design company Mode Product Design presented the "Sticklebook" this week at the 2010 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF).  The bookcase, a solution to book storage, creates the illusion of a line of books hanging unsupported on a wall.  A comb-like strip grips the cover and pages of a paperback book and provides an "invisible bookshelf" that holds up to 12 books. This is product design at it's best!!!!

Mode Product Design website 

ARTISTS I MET AND LIKED, is the appropriate notebook for the art world's gurus, groupies, and pundits!!! It is a chic gift for lovers of: galleries, art fairs, auctions, Biennale's, and museums!!! But, art is not the only category available from Swedish company Archie Grand, there is a collection of 62 titles, each covered in a fabulous fashion color  ........  something for everyone!!! Titles include CHEFS I KNOW AND LOVE, POLITICIANS I KNOW AND LIKE, WIVES I HAD AND LIKED, LAWYERS I MET AND LIKED, CAPITALISTS I MET AND LIKED, etc.. The books are bound in a rigid leather-like laminate covers, contain 120 blank pages, and are 160x115 mm ......... a perfect fit for a jacket pocket or a small evening bag!!!!

I love the unique book projects created by Moleskine (see blog 10/16/09) and "The Hand of the Designers," curated by Francesca Serrazanetti and Matteo Schubert, and design expert Doia Giovanola, is no exception. The book is a collection if 462 reproductions of original designs and never--before-seen works by 150 internationally celebrated designers, including Karim Rashid, the Campana Brothers, Jaime Hayon, Pierro Lissoni, and Alessandro Mendini. It will be presented next month during Milan Design Week 2010, and is a fund-raising project to support the Italian National Trust. 

"Collections" and  "accessorations" go hand-in-hand and I think a complete collection of the "special" books published by Moleskine would be fabulous .... and something we should all have on our bookshelves!!!!

This work is deigned by innovative San Francisco industrial designers, Mike & Maaike. The reclaimed, hardwood shelf is combined with books selected by curator Athmeya Jayaram.  Titled Juxtaposed: Power, the shelf has slots specifically cut to house seven seminal books about power and society. The "sculpture" includes 2,451 pages, 2390 years, 2251 wars, 432 revolutions, 90 empires, 7 books, 1 shelf. The piece is offered in a limited edition of 50 and is the second in a series of curated bookshelves, the first work was a collection about religion. Both "shelves" were produced by design company Blankblank.

My favorite "accessorations" are books and art, and this is a spectacular design that incorporates both, as well as the idea of perfect minimalism (not something I am very familiar with!!) You have the perfect tomes on the perfect shelf, and are never overbooked, as I am!!!!!! Tables, chairs, the floor and sometimes even my bed are covered......no place to eat, sit, stand, or sleep!!!!!

Alexandra Penney is one of the most interesting, talented, tasty & chic women I know. She is supremely smart, an artist with a unique voice, able to juggle a million things in the air.... writer, photographer, and an "accessorator" supreme!!! She just came off a lousy year, an implosion supreme, something unimaginable and guess what ..... she once again turned really crappy lemons into really yummy lemonade!!!! 

Last week her book, The Bag Lady Papers, was published by Hyperion Books. The book, in true AP fashion, is a witty, charming, humorous and moving take on how she handled having her "greatest fear" become a reality. An enormously successful woman; editor-in-chief of Self magazine, best selling author, and dedicated artist ....... "she always harbored a secret fear that she would become a bag lady if she ever lost her life's savings." Her worst nightmare became a reality last December when she found out that "everything" had vanished overnight in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. This book is her story of renewal and reinvention ...... discovering what is meaningful and what is really unimportant ....something we should really all be thinking about!!!!

Alexandra is a powerful example for all us girls...... showing strength, courage, passion, and guts ........ she put herself out for the world to see and anyone who takes a shot at her or the book should be "bitch slapped"....... she works hard, with great passion and drive, she can laugh at herself, and let herself cry too ......... but the most important thing is that she picked herself up, dusted herself off and started over again!!!!!!!!! 

Norwegian furniture designer Amy Hunting (currently living in London) has come up with this fantastic bookshelf!!! To create this innovative and exciting design, Amy has used blocks of over 20 types of wood, found in a London timber importers waste bin and cotton rope. Reclaiming these simple materials has had stunning results!!!

According to Amy, "The dogma behind this product is probably quite obvious: what can you do with blocks of wood and cotton rope? Using a knot traditionally used for sailing and fishing you can pull the strings and the shelf will disassemble. It can easily be put together again." 

Every "accessorator" is fascinated with bookshelves ...... the most fabulous place to accessorate ...... and this design is so clever and chic ...... and ecologically appropriate!!!!!!!

Amy Hunting's website 

 

I adore books ..... reading them, as well accessorating with them!!! So, when I met Brian Wynn, owner of Middletons, I was in heaven!!!! This eco-friendly Kentucky company rescues vintage books from the public library system and turns them into studding treasures!!! Brian creates a unique library of re-claimed books, rebinding them with beautiful hand-printed papers. In addition, he also rebinds books with solid paper, and individually hand-silk screening each one. After binding, the books go through a process to soften the jackets, giving them a gently worn feeling. In addition, color or a metallic surface can be added after the binding process, creating another design element. 

Jody's pictures are film strips, a chaotic mix of beautiful and darkly funny images. She says her work is "a story composed of poured colors, geometric curvaceous shapes, large brush strokes and Freudian dream-like sketches." Jody, a part of the downtown New york art scene,  considers herself a "student of the streets absorbing everything I see."  The show , Dig it!, is a "personal excavation" of her work. Jody's influences include "street art, grafitti, advertising, movies, Africa art, and fetish objects" ...... a melange of images and objects that help her create paintings and sculptures ....... her "urban hieroglyphics." 

When I look at Jody's work, I immediately think of the Bay Area artists who's work I adore and covet ...... Chris Johanson,  Barry McGee, Clare Rojas, and the late Margaret Kilgallen ........ putting her in excellent company!!!!!

To date, illuminating Milan's opera Teatro alla Scala to resemble a bookshelf is the ultimate ACCESSORATION!!!! Mario Nanni's, "La Luce della Musica" is a visual and musical experience that takes your breath away. Opening the opera season at La Scala, this tribute to Bizet's "Carmen" is extraordinary. Nanni, the ultimate "architect of light" uses video projections and light to "highlight and compliment" the architecture of this historic structure designed by Giuseppe Piermarini (1776-78). The bookcase pattern projection is one of six that Nanni created to light the opera house. It was done as part of Milan's International Festival of Lights. Nanni is the ultimate lighting master, beginning his career as an electrician and becoming world renowned ...... this work at La Scala is monumental!!!!!!!!

The "accessorator's" favorite gifts are books or works of art, particularly works on paper, and this project is a combination of the two!!!! London designer Tim Fishlock has created this "limited-edition book presented in a screen-printed box featuring twenty removable large format prints by world-renowned artists." The edition was created exclusively for Habitat, UK and is titled 50by70. The project is limited to 4000 boxes, and the title refers back to the size of the prints (50cmx70cm), which are meant to fit into a standard size frame.

of image-makers. 50x70 is as much about introducing the work of established artist to a new audience as it is show-casing the skills of the new kids on the block."  Tim Fishlock

Artists include ........ Patrick Hughes, Kevin Cummins, Zeloot, Tim Fishlock, Tsang Kin-Wah, Alex Trochut, Adrian Johnson, Flag Jorge Chamorro, Julian House, Stephen Zirwes, Merijn Hos, John Offenbach, Phunk, Shepard Fairey, Denis Darzacq, Sroop Sunart, Aarons Johnson, Anthony Burril, and Basso & Brooke.

We know that the existence of the "printed word" is in question ...... starting with emails, blogs, on-line magazines, and kindles. Korean artist Airan Kang's project is a poignant message about our potential loss. Moving away from hard copy to digital images is made extremely apparent in this installation of "electronic Illuminated manuscripts," shown by the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery. Modern-day "illumination" has Airan appropriating existing books and converting them to resin-casted light boxes. Her exhibitions are usually thematic in concept, basing her projects around the context of information, where it is found ...... bookstores, reading rooms, or libraries. This particular installation is a cross section of her work, a "library" of sorts, where each volume is sold individually. The bottom image is a single work ..... a "stack" of Edgar Allan Poe's books.

This "accessorator" was awed by this installation ....... as a reader and collector of books, writer of text, magazine "junkie," and "blogger" it touches all parts of me. In addition, I have a particular affinity for book shelves, their design, and how to "prop" them ...... not to mention my relationship with "color." I'm left with a great deal to think about as a result of this work ....... and that's the goal of art ..... to make you think!!!!!