Hasta La Ideas

Isaac Salazar is an accountant in New Mexico. When he’s not crunching numbers he’s working on his side project, called “Book of Art,” which is pretty freaking awesome:

We love that he doesn’t cut the pages, but accomplishes the desired forms through careful folding. And we think you’ll find his bio interesting:

I am someone who has never taken an art class in my life but have stumbled upon making Book Art / Book Origami. I didn’t think I had an artistic bone in my body and never thought of myself as creative. I had seen the Readers Digest christmas trees and wondered if it was possible to create a different design or use words.

I first started off doing simple letters, alternating pages for each fold but now I am doing more complex and intricate fonts. I use simple arithmetic and an exacto knife as my supplies along with lots of time. It takes me anywhere from a day for the simpler styles to 2 weeks for the more complex styles. I have recently ventured into logos and symbols and would like to pursue this area more.

My inspiration comes from multiple things and places. I can browse the used book section for titles that stand out to me. For example the recycle symbol was created on a book titled “A World with out Trees”.

I like to take a book that would otherwise end up in a landfill and turn it into art. Rarely do I use new books, unless I am commissioned to. I like to watch Planet Green, and am into alternative energy, recycling and repurposing so it’s a good feeling to know my art can contribute to reducing waste.

Some of Salazar’s books are available for sale on Etsy, and he’s got a Flickr gallery of his work here.

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