Ace Jet 170

Found Type Friday #91

Cc:

Just in case you didn't get the email Bryan Edmondson from SEA is talking at UU on 11th November, at 6.45pm. £4 to get in, or £2 if you're a student. You can book a place by emailing Kelly Gordon. Bryan's also bringing an exhibition of SEA work which will be running until 15th.

Photos are of the rather good Gmund Paper mailers SEA did for GF Smith recently.

First Blood

Mike and Kate Hyde are Bespoke Editions. Here's their idea: We've reached tipping point with ebooks; the physical book is, clearly, no longer the most appropriate medium for the delivery of everyday texts. But for important, classic and treasured texts, it is highly likely that the physical book will grow in popularity as a prized and precious artefact. The evidence is all around us.

Bespoke Editions is a one-off edition press; offering beautiful custom-made classic books, printed on demand and hand-finished to order. Personalised and unique, each edition will be made using specially selected cover papers and finishes. Personally, I think it's a great and timely idea. It's spot on; imagine being able to buy someone their favourite, classic novel, made to your unique specification. The idea totally works for me. Which is why I'm working for them.

It's been a while since I did any book work but over the last few weeks I've been helping Kate and Mike develop the layout and style sheets for the internal pages. Drawing on Hochuli's seminal book on book design and Tschichold's timeless book work, I've really enjoyed the understated discipline of book design again.

The editions will be in a Demy format and the page layouts will be based on the Van de Graaf Canon. After a set of tests, we've settled on the beautiful Hoefler Text for the typesetting and each title page will feature a carefully chosen typographic ornament that has some relevance to the particular book.

I'm pretty excited to be involved and will be reporting on progress as things move along but you can also hear from Kate and Mike on the Bespoke Editions blog.

Crack Addict

And while beautiful panoramas abound at Castle Ward, I can be invariable found looking in a groundwards direction.

Arse

OK, so we were down at Castle Ward (again!) last weekend, this time for the Pumpkin Festive. And we thought, hey, let's go find The Bum Tree! The weird thing was though, although I'm damned sure that this was the right tree, that's not the right bum.

Lost in (the loft) Space #05

Interesting but seriously under-promising, the cover of this guidebook (circa 1955) does little to prepare you for what's inside. Each section starts with an illustrated divider page, beautifully illustrated by Michel Bouchaud.

See more here.

V&A and him and her and whatsit and thingy

Mr Johnson very kindly sent me a full set of the V&A and me maps that johnsonbanks revealed to the world recently (OK, I coerced them from him). They are amazing. I love them because: a) they're amazing, and b) they're a good example, in my view, of minimum means (unfolded, they're a standard A2 sheet) but maximum effect; if I were visiting the V&A during the London Design Festival and picked one of these up I'd be delighted with my free souvenir. 

If you're not up to speed with the idea: for each leaflet a particular creative type was asked what they liked most about the Museum. Favourites were then plotted onto a custom-designed map-like layout; the "maps" then folded in an unconventional way so that the contents of each piece can be glimpsed when it is closed.

The invited creative luminaries included: Paul Smith, Nick Rhodes, Anya Hindmarch, museum director Sir Mark Jones, hat man Stephen Jones, Erin O'Connor and Florence (and the Machine) Welch…amongst others.

There's more to read on JB's blog.

Wonderlust

Twitter followers of Marian Bantjes will know she's practically on tour at the moment promoting her amazing new book, "I Wonder". Described, on the back, as a "compelling collection of observations on visual culture and design", the book is a (literally) dazzling piece of work and a tribute to Bantjes' inspirations. Before reading a word it's clear that she's inspired by illuminated manuscripts and Bantjes brings the discipline bang up-to-date with a mix of high production values, precisely drawn patterning and repetitive photographic motifery. Like Sagmeister's books (he wrote the foreword incidentally), it's one of those publications you probably should buy whether you actually like her work or not. Love it or not (and there is loads to love) it's an amazing and startling object.

Read more about it on Marian's Blog here.

Tooth and Claw

A parcel arrived last week. It contained the following items:

• 1 glass vial containing a real fake tooth, found near St Lucia

• 1 size comparison chart, illustrating the Beast's size relative to the Empire State Building

• 1 letter from expert hoax investigator, assuring us of the non-existent Beast's existence

• 1 DVD containing actual footage of made up footage

• 1 bottle of inky black rum

More evidence of The Kraken brand's mythical awesomeness.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

We were at W5 last week. It was Star Wars day and Noah wanted to be photographed under attack from a variety of Empirical villainy. After the onslaught, we explored the more educational and, overall, more dead Nature Quest installations.

We had a great time until some "wee shit" nicked Noah's light saber when we weren't looking. We tried using The Force to track it down but The Force was bloody hopeless. So I used My Wallet to buy a new one instead.

Thieving Jedi Bastards.

Special Delivery

That's W. Reginald Bray. It's 1903 and the postman's just delivered W. and his bike, by registered post, to his "patient" father, Edmund. The story goes that in 1898 Bray got his hands on the Post Office Guide and discovered, after scrutinising the small print, that you can quite legally post all manner of weirdness and the Post Office are obliged to deliver.

So he stamped up a turnip, a bowler hat, some dog biscuits, a bit of seaweed and his Irish Terrier. Needless to say, he didn't stop there and eventually gained the moniker, "The Human Letter". He died in 1939 when the Post Office installed new sorting machinery that stuffed him into an air tight sack and he suffocated.

Actually, I made that last bit up. He did actually die in 1939 but I'm not quite sure how; natural causes probably.

The Englishman Who Posted Himself And Other Curious Objects by John Tingey is another great book from Princeton Architectural Press. By now you'll have gathered I'm getting review copies from the press and it might be fair to think I'm, subsequently, rather biased towards them. 

A fair but inaccurate assumption; the PA Press is just publishing a steady stream of truly superb titles. Titles that appeal, in particular, because they (the PA Press) seem to be focussing greatly on original ideas. A bit eclectic, a bit bonkers at time, but highly original. Check out their current list and it's packed full of weird and wonderful obsessions.

And they're beautifully designed too, with great attention to detail and theme.

From the darkest depths of the deep

I'll be posting it up here over the next few days but an amazing package arrived on Friday, from Kraken. Full of amazing things. Including a DVD of these brilliantly written and superbly narrated micro-films…and, amazingly, a bottle of their finest strong, rich, black and smooth stuff. Which I promptly opened.

You've got to gape in awe at the Kraken brand; I have no idea how well sales are going but the dedication and commitment leveled at design and writing craft used to market the product is rare, brave and impressive.

Chicken Watch #28: Nogg

You want one, don't you? Via Daniel, via Ian.