Irma Boom's Books and Other Stuff

One of the things that I've learned in the past year is that book design is a very specific and demanding art. The best book designers make something that is much more than the sum of the text and images that are its parts. I love this New York Times article about Irma Boom, a book designer who is, apparently, the person you go to when you want an extraordinary and unusual book. Boom makes miniature books to explore design ideas, and when invited to make a retrospective book, she took that process all the way.

Here's a five-minute video that lets you flip through 20 of Boom's books.

In other news: the Slow Cloth discussion group on Facebook has nearly 1800 members now, though most don't participate in discussions; I wish more people would, but I understand. I'm still pondering exactly what to do with the group. In response to some nasty mail I got today, let me reiterate that I am not getting "royalties" from anything to do with Slow Cloth. I'd love to see that change, and would love to make Slow Cloth into something that is funded -- to run an organization, put out a publication, and support research and philanthropy -- but right now it's all volunteer. I think the nasty person thinks that I must be making money or I wouldn't care about attribution and copyright; it's just the opposite.

And finally, for some visuals, I've been painting text-weight paper with acrylic inks with the intent of making some handmade books. Here are some details:

Comments

[Eva]

My husband gets nasty calls every day because he works for a shop as a customers' service man. He found out by "taming" them -- patiently finding out about their problems, giving them room to talk and making very clear what he can do for them and what not -- that often they end up apologizing like mad and being nicer than someone who started out with a sensible approach. Nastiness sometimes expresses a hidden need, in the case of this nasty mail to your address, badly veiled by envy.

[Jill]

I can only reiterate what others have said re the unpleasant emails re Slow Cloth - sadly there are folk who won't allow that others are altruistic and honest in their intent. I love the idea of Slow Cloth, over the last year returning to my first love of textiles - and that was mostly down to you and your ideas of Slow Cloth and Jude Hill - I am a quiet member of the Facebook Group but am nevertheless deeply grateful for its existence.

[Martine]

Allways and ever there will be nasty people. Mostly out of jealousy.
Try to ignore them.
I'm with you and slow cloth from the start and i will stay.........and try to contribute more often.
XXXm

[Jane]

What a shame that people feel the need to be nasty. It's like those people who complain about TV or films they don't approve of, I think they forget about the OFF button! Don't take part if you have problems of any kind with the group.
Been busy updating my sites and linking various web presences so have not visited the group for a while, but I too appreciate the work you and everyone puts into the group. Thank you.

[Lainie]

Thank you Bobbi, they are indeed, and you don't need to apologize for anything! I really appreciate your kind words. I had a tough weekend and your nice comment (and Sandra's too) is very uplifting. Thank you.

[bobbi]

I hope the nasty emails are in the tiny minority...I appreciate your hard work and am sorry I don't contribute more often.

[Lainie]

Hi Sandra, thank you so much for your support. Yes, I've had quite a few nasty e-mails, but this one was particularly unpleasant, and I regretfully engaged with her instead of just ignoring it. But onward we go. Thanks again for reading, for being here, and for your kind message.

[Sandra]

Sorry, that should have been Facebook and not Yahoo group.
My apologies.

[Sandra]

I'm sitting here, shaking my head over your nasty e-mail. Why is it some folks feel the need to be nasty? Isn't life kick butt nasty enough? Apparently not...sigh.
But thanks for mentioning the Yahoo group; I'd like to join, learn and eventually share.