Dear Everyone ~
I am over-the-moon delighted to announce that Volume R for Rag & Pulp (R&P), in the Uppercase Encyclopedia of Inspiration has just arrived at Bari Zaki Studio. We are honoured, chuffed, and thrilled to be included in this international assemblage of people who make their living (and their lives!) using paper. BZS is doubly happy that Janine Vangool, designer and publisher extraordinaire, chose a photo of one of my books (Coptic-stitch binding) to grace the spine of R&P.
I mused with Alyson Kuhn—my postal and everything-paper muse—about ways to personalize copies of Rag & Pulp for customers. We entertained several embellishments, and settled on a multi-medium BZS bookmark on Saunders Waterford watercolour paper: gentle undulations (bordering on squiggles) of the various writing implements stocked in the shop—Lyra Colour Giant, Kuretake brush pen, Kyo-no-oto fountain pen ink, Le Pen, and sumi-e ink. For good measure, a row of hand-stitching with waxed-linen thread. As a footnote, my anniversary seal-of-approval with Cambridge Imprint chevroned paper ribbons.
If you’ve e’d me to request your copy of R&P, I have set it aside and will e you a direct payment link. If you fancy having your book personalized, please e me what you’d like me to write, whether you are acquiring a copy for yourself or for a friend. And if you had already pre-ordered or purchased your R&P through Uppercase, but would enjoy receiving a bookmark, please e me for details.
As you might imagine, I’m also offering dressy gift-wrapping. We’ve chosen the Genius Geometric palette by Grafiche Tassotti, beribboned with a 2-inch double stripe ribbon by Studio Carta, with a tiny pencil we've covered in Japanese paper tucked into the bow.
Correy Baldwin, the writer extraordinaire of Rag & Pulp, included several of my direct quotes in my—count them!—five spreads, one of which I’d like to wrap up with here, because it distills the essence of why I love books and why my collaborations with customers and students alike are so meaningful to me.
“ I think of a book or box I’ve made as being at the beginning of its functional life. My part is finished, but it's the customer or ultimate recipient who determines what it will become and what its future will hold. Once you begin using the book, it actually gets more beautiful! Yes, the book itself is a lovely object, but it is what’s inside that makes it engaging to flip through, and therefore memorable. ”
Volume R for Rag & Pulp
Book bliss, Bari