Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.


Taschen, for those of you who don't know them, are publishers of perhaps the highest-quality massed-produced books in the world. If you'd like to, check out their site. http://www.taschen.com/

Recently I just bought a Taschen retrospective of the great Japanese artist Hiroshige. It's called "Hiroshige, 100 Views of Edo." The book is a wonder to hold and to behold. It has a silk-wrapped wooden cover. It has a stitched binding. A bone closure. And 100 absolutely precious prints.

In short, this is a book that is an experience. It pushes the book "medium" to a whole new level. In other words, it takes something ordinary and says, "we will resist the usual. We will do something absolutely stunning."

Leaf through the book here: http://www.taschen.com/lookinside/00343/index.htm

This is what all of us should do in every piece of work we approach.

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