Hasta La Ideas

Do you love books? I mean, do you love books with paper pages? Do you enjoy the feel of turning the pages? Do you relish that experience? While digital books offer the same content as their paper counterparts, the experience is not exactly the same, is it? You can’t smell the paper. You can’t feel the paper’s texture. I used to think that it was these nuances that made books so difficult to let go. But, could it be more than that?

The author of the blog Epic Writer summed up the complex relationship she has with books (and that many people have with books) in her post Show Me Your Book Clutter:

The problem is I have so many books I want to read. Or, that I need to read. It’s funny how varied the genres are–from reference to family history to novels to religious to just about everything. Aside from my cluttered side table, I have digital and paper clutter where I have recorded books I want to read. From my “wants” list on Goodreads.com to titles scribbled on scraps of paper, I am overwhelmed with the amount of books I will get to someday. Even with feeling almost buried by it all, I have no desire to change. I love books. I want to see books everywhere.

I also discovered that how one selects a book to purchase seemed almost as important as the book itself. From Dell Smith’s post on the blog Beyond the Margins, The Psychology of Books: Why We Read What We Read:

Buying and reading books are deeply emotional and personal acts. Your choices of reading material are based on an intricate and truly limitless combination of marketing influences and mercurial emotions. This goes for both buying books and deciding which book to read next. Two different things, but closely related as each is influenced by a mysterious algorithm of instinct and urge, want and need, stimulus both external and internal. Your desire to buy and read a book uncovers the dark hinterland of your soul. Your choices are often a reflection of your id.

Clearly, people love books and everything about them. But, it is possible keep a reasonable number so that they don’t contribute to the clutter in your living spaces. As challenging as it may be to let your books go, if they are truly meaningful to you, you won’t let them languish haphazardly on bookshelves and nightstands. Otherwise, they would simply be taking up space and you wouldn’t benefit from having them.

And, if your books feel like old friends, then it would seem like a one-sided relationship if they simply lay about your home, untouched and waiting to be read someday. Most people tend to interact with their friends, to call them on the phone, and even meet them for coffee. So, instead of waiting for some far-off day to eventually read (or finish) that book that you will probably never read, why not pass it on to someone else who would appreciate it? Like an interesting movie or new restaurant, books are meant to be shared with others. When you share (let go), you’ll be creating new memories (that you can capture with pictures or record in your journal).

The books you choose to have in your life can indeed be very meaningful to you. They may very well be an extension of who you are, of who you aspire to be. You can honor them by being selective about the ones you purchase and by keeping your collection in order. Then you wouldn’t have to choose between enjoying them and having a uncluttered space.

Need help getting organized? Buy the DRM-free audiobook version of Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week today for only $8.99.

From the Golden Triangle to Central America, varieties of the indigofera plant have been cultivated and used in textile production for centuries. While synthetic dyes have largely replaced the lengthy and somewhat cumbersome method used to create indigo—it takes nearly a year to…

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Australian ad agency BMF has partnered with publisher Random House Australia to realise a nifty book donation charity campaign which turns the humble dust jacket into a pre-paid envelope…

BMF came up with the campaign, entitled Mailbooks For Good, as a way to make it super simple to donate books to The Footpath Library – a charity which provides books for homeless and disadvantaged Australians.

The idea is gloriously simple: once readers have finished a book sporting one of the specially designed dust jackets, they can simply remove said dust jacket, turn it inside out and wrap it back around the book at which point it becomes a perfectly fitting, pre-paid envelope. Et voila, the book is now ready to send direct to the charity for distribution:

The campaign works particularly well for The Footpath Library as they encourage the donation of books in good condition. “It’s important for our readers to receive books before they are old or broken,” says Sarah Garnett, founder of the charity. “When you don’t have very much, the gift of a beautiful book reminds you that you are connected to the world and that the world cares.”

Earlier this month Random House released several titles sporting Mailbooks For Good jackets in Sydney’s Gleebooks book shop, displayed in special point-of-sale shelves (as above) . The agency and charity hope to roll out the campaign internationally in the near future.

Find out more about the campaign at mailbooksforgood.com.

The April print issue of CR presents the work of three young animators and animation teams to watch. Plus, we go in search of illustrator John Hanna, test out the claims of a new app to have uncovered the secrets of viral ad success and see how visual communications can both help keep us safe and help us recover in hospital

Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

To illustrate its new How To Boil An Egg book by chef Rose Carrarini of Rose Bakery, publisher Phaidon – and the book’s designer Studio Frith – turned not to a food photographer or illustrator but to award-winning botanical artist Fiona Strickland…

The hardback, 136 page book (cover shown above) features 39 illustrations by Strickland in total, all created meticulously in watercolour to an incredible, almost photographic level of detail.

So where did the idea to commission a botanical artist come from? “There was a beautiful show of botanical prints at the Victoria and Albert Museum a couple of years ago at which the seed was sown,” the book’s designer Frith Kerr of Studio Frith tells us.

“After the success of her Breakfast Lunch Tea book, Rose Carrarini was keen to try something other than photography,” Kerr explains, “so we did exhaustive research with Phaidon to find a botanical illustrator to work with.”

But, Kerr tells us, finding a botanical illustrator to work with wasn’t an easy task, given that they would be tasking an artist to step outside their comfort zone. “In the end we made a short list of botantical illustrators whose work we liked and asked them each to paint an egg, in what we referred to as The Egg Test,” says Kerr. “Fiona’s egg stood out for its intense detailing and precision.”

An egg, we’d imagine here at CR would be mere child’s play compared to some of the illustrations produced by Strickland for the book. Take, for example, this stunning illustration of a Pumpkin Cake:

Perhaps surprisingly, given the quality of the illustrations in the book, these images represent Strickland’s very first foray into food illustration, and when she was commissioned, it was the prospect of having her work published in a book that was, the artist told CR, one of the persuading factors that made her take on the project.

“I do like to work from life although with botanical art and the transience of subjects sometimes I have also to rely on photographic images to support my drawings,” Strickland explained to us when we asked about the processes involved creating these images. “In this case a photographer travelled to Paris with editors from Phaidon to take photographs of the recipes which they then forwarded to me,” she says.

“In drawing and painting the images I had to resize the images and make colour swatches to match the photographs. Each photograph took sometime to draw and then paint, some taking over three weeks.”

“Watercolour can be a difficult medium to handle,” adds Strickland, “and to recreate some of the textures and colours of the food took sometime to build up to as close to a photograph as possible, I like to work with only the very transparent group of watercolours slowly building layers of tone and colour and this can be time consuming although giving beautiful results.”

How To Boil An Egg by Rose Carrarini is published by Phaidon at £22.95.

See more of Strickland’s illustration at fionastrickland.com, and more of Studio Frith’s work at studiofrith.com.

The April print issue of CR presents the work of three young animators and animation teams to watch. Plus, we go in search of illustrator John Hanna, test out the claims of a new app to have uncovered the secrets of viral ad success and see how visual communications can both help keep us safe and help us recover in hospital

Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

Rather than producing a set of press or poster adverts to promote the various destinations in the South West of the UK reachable by First Great Western, the train operating company has commissioned something a little more engaging: a culinary guidebook by restauranteur and chef Mitch Tonks…

“The book [entitled My Little Black Book of Seafood] was put together so people could pick it up on the train and work out how to go and eat some of the best seafood on the planet,” says Tonks (who owns seafood restaurants in Dartmouth and Bristol) of the project which he conceived together with First Great Western. The train company then approached The Leith Agency to develop the concept.

As well as designing and producing the book, Leith commissioned CIA illustrator Jill Calder to inject the project with no small amount of charm through a host of illustrations and hand drawn type which appear throughout the handy tome.

Calder also designed the hand-lettered cover:

My Little Black Book of Seafood by Mitch Tonks costs a mere £1.50 and is available from the Express Café onboard any First Great Western train. In a rather nice touch, all proceeds go to The Fisherman’s Mission, a charity which provides support and care to fishermen and their families.

You can also view the book digitally online here.

leith.co.uk

The April print issue of CR presents the work of three young animators and animation teams to watch. Plus, we go in search of illustrator John Hanna, test out the claims of a new app to have uncovered the secrets of viral ad success and see how visual communications can both help keep us safe and help us recover in hospital

Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.