Wednesday, 29 August 2018

How 'The Bookshop' was stocked

Tracking down a first-edition copy of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 classic “Lolita” isn’t too difficult. But for her latest film, “The Bookshop,” set in 1959, director Isabel Coixet needed 250 of them. "It took us about a year to get all those books,” the filmmaker tells The Post, adding that she and production designer Llorenç Miquel settled on a mixture of actual vintage tomes and convincing reproductions of the real thing. “It was really important for me to have details that really belonged to the moment of the film — from the food, to the landscapes, to, of course, the books."
More at the  New York Post

Tuesday, 28 August 2018

Minimal bookshelf

A minimal bookshelf with gaps at both ends. Slot a book in it and it acts as a bookend.
Chan Hwee Chong

Tuesday, 21 August 2018

Mosquito table bookshelf

Screw and glue - less furniture. The design came from the pursuit of stability and balance without the need of any physical or chemical unions.
Bruno Suraski

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

Expired library books photo series

Photographer Kerry Mansfield shows old, well-worn library books with titles ranging from Charlotte’s Web and Madeline in London to the Babar series... For photographer Kerry Mansfield, library books are full of stories and are part of a disappearing shared experience that deserves to be studied and chronicled. Her photo series Expired captures former library books, showcasing the unique traits they’ve gained during their time in circulation. Mansfield photographed over 180 books to create the 175 photographs in the series. (She plans to shoot 75 more.) Seventy-three of the images have been collected into a book, each copy with its own library check-out card and envelope in the front.
Architectural Digest

Wednesday, 25 July 2018

Library bus


Peter Callesen has recently been working on the decoration of a public library bus, which is a commission work for the Danish Art Council in collaboration with the Borough of Guldborgsund, at Falster in the southern part of Denmark. First Peter Callesen has photographed around 500 different books from the local library, He then asked the local residents of the area to come up with their own titles for books, which he afterwards exchanged with the old titles. This has resulted in around 500 different authors and made-up titles, which now embellish the exterior of the bus in a mosaic pattern of books in different bright colors. Some examples of the book titles:

Daniel Holst Kjeldesen : The Frog With No Hand
Laust Kjæp Dengsøe : Jelly Wars
Kine Torstensen : I Wish I Were A Professional Cinderella
Ramses II : My Life In A Coffin
Eric von Zoo : Singing with Animals
Tom Jerne: As Far As I Remember
Inger Malling: Don't Miss Out On Anything
Dirk Sværte: I always give up

Peter Callesen

Tuesday, 24 July 2018

Bookshelves in the IKEA Reading Rooms

As the boundaries between our work and home lives become more blurred, it’s become harder to switch off. Our homes aren’t the haven they once were. Yet reading for just six minutes a day can be enough to reduce stress levels by more than two-thirds. That’s why we’ve created a series of reading spaces dedicated to pure relaxation at IKEA Wembley. Curl up with the finest fiction from The Man Booker Prize 2018 longlist. Book a slot from Tuesday 31st July – Sunday 5th August and get some well-earned time out.
IKEA

Friday, 20 July 2018

Behind the Desk of a Used-Book Buyer

"Books come to me in cardboard boxes, paper bags, reusable totes, children’s organizational cubes, rattan baskets, and plastic bins. These are all a welcome sight; the books will tend to be recently purchased and in reasonable condition. What I dread are the decrepit cardboard boxes or trash bags. Books schlepped in a rippling thirty-gallon plastic bag are not books in reasonable condition; they are books which have become recyclables or a mold hazard. And yet occasionally there are treasures."
More at Popula

Tuesday, 17 July 2018

Bookmark bookcase


The books we are currently reading can easily be misplaced or the page lost. This slimline bookcase can solve these problems. The bookcase stores a minimum of four books, holding them open at the current page. This makes a feature of the book you are currently reading and also acts as a bookmark.
Rachel Proctor

Friday, 13 July 2018

Home library design ideas

Kit Kemp explains how shelves of carefully chosen books can transform a room.
More at Country Life

Thursday, 12 July 2018

Magic Library: A Jacob's Ladder for Book Lovers

This classic creative amusement uses optical illusion to surprise, inspire, and focus energy. Crafted from wood and hand-painted to look like a stack of leather-bound volumes, it will keep your imagination in perpetual motion.
Chronicle Books

Monday, 9 July 2018

Shelf Life


My latest book Shelf Life will be published by The British Library in early October. Here's the info:
Books; reading, collecting and the physical housing of them has brought the book-lover joy and stress for centuries. Fascinated writers have tried to capture the particular relationships we form with our library, and the desperate troubles we will undergo to preserve it. With Alex Johnson as your guide, immerse yourself in this eclectic anthology and hear from an iconic Prime Minister musing over the best way to store your books and an illustrious US President explaining the best works to read outdoors. Enjoy serious speculations on the psychological implications of reading from a 19th century philosopher, and less serious ones concerning the predicament of dispensing with unwanted volumes or the danger of letting children (the enemies of books) near your collection. The many facets of book-mania are pondered and celebrated with both sincerity and irreverence in this lively selection of essays, poems, lectures and commentaries ranging from the 16th to the 20th century.

Wednesday, 4 July 2018

Köllen bookshelf


The bookshelf is inspired by the Nordic style, in its name, Köllen, which is Swedish for Alps, and the materials and shapes used. The former is essentially natural and uses light tones with shades of white. The shapes represent the mountains, in a nod to the piece's originary region. Created from the repetition of adaptable pieces in matter of size and shape of the objects on it. Its autonomous structure allows an independent working of each of the strips, so that they can be placed in different positions according to the user’s need.
Köllen Design

Köllen Design | Köllen Bookshelf from Köllen Design on Vimeo.

Friday, 29 June 2018

Beach book bars

Tourists read books at a book bar on the beach in Haigang District, Qinhuangdao city, North China's Hebei province. Qinhuangdao set up 6 book bars in several beaches. People can read books and have leisure in these bars for free.
China Daily

Thursday, 28 June 2018

Book beach shade

Location and photographer unknown (let me know if it's you so we can credit you). One suggestion is that it could be this - https://www.weekendnotes.com/sculpture-by-the-sea-cottesloe/130266/

Monday, 25 June 2018

concretelibraries on Instagram


 
Library architecture photography | Toronto 🇨🇦 All 📷 by @timtom | Thomas Guignard🇨🇭 📬 tom@timtom.ch ~ say hi! 👋🏻 thomasguignard.info/about

Monday, 18 June 2018

Parisian open-air booksellers apply for UNESCO status

"After baguettes and bistros, second-hand booksellers along the banks of the Seine River in Paris are pushing to be recognised as one of the world's cultural treasures on UNESCO's list of "intangible heritage". Calling themselves "the biggest open-air bookshop in the world", the "bouquinistes" and their dark green stalls have been a fixture of the French capital since the 17th century."
More at AFP
Photo: Pierre Bourru

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Ben Fogle's colour-coded bookshelves


Thursday, 7 June 2018

Owning books vs ebooks: New study

"Participants described being more emotionally attached to physical books, and said they use physical books to establish a sense of self and belonging. Participants across age groups frequently spoke about their nostalgia for certain childhood books. They also talked about experiencing physical books through multiple senses — describing, for example, the sound, smell and tactile experience of opening a new book, and the ability to highlight or write notes on paper pages. Participants also said they use their physical book collections to express their identity to others who might be perusing their shelves. E-books did not have these associations."
University of Arizona

Wednesday, 6 June 2018

Zex bookshelves


Each of these elements can be in five different color solutions. Shelves made of veneered boards and sheet metal.
Leo D'uk