During my sixth semester, I opted to take a two week workshop to learn book-making and book- arts. Being a book and craft enthusiast, I have always been keen to learn how to make my own notebooks and design them with different covers and binding styles, but never had the opportunity to get hands-on tutoring till this workshop.
For the first week of the project, we were introduced to the differences between book making and book art, and got to try out some popular DIY books ourselves. Although the act of making a book implies exact measurements, and a clean finish, I had never really knew how precise and meticulous one needs to be when it comes to actually cutting pages down to size, creating a cover that fits the pages exactly, and binding it without making it look too shabby.
The first book form we worked on was a traditional accordion with a hard-cover.
A flag book, part of the accordion family. Made with a concertina-fold coloured bind and hard-cover
A 50 page notebook with a cloth-wrapped cover and hand-stitched binding.
A Japanese stab-bound book, with a hard-cover and single-stitch binding.
A fish-bone fold book, made from a single sheet of paper.
During the second week, we moved on to book arts, wherein we got to work on individual projects based on a common theme. The theme that was set for us was creating a book that accurately represented a particular piece of architecture in Bangalore. We were given a list of various places within the city that were vastly different from one another in architectural styles, and then asked to pick one for the project. Then, after visiting the place several times and documenting everything about it (not just architecturally speaking), we were expected to produce book art from any aspect we wanted to convey about the chosen space.
I chose Venkatappa Art Gallery, which is a government art gallery build in the modernist style. Right beside the gallery is a cultural museum which is built in the Neoclassic style. I picked this particular place, because I found the juxtaposition of both styles of architecture visually very interesting. Though both these buildings are situated right beside a busy main road, the entire property is covered with greenery and water bodies, that somehow cut it off from the rest of the modern hotels and offices around it. The sound of the road barely filters through, and the abundance of shade, trees, and water make it a haven of sorts in one of the busiest parts of Bangalore.
For my book art, I decided that I wanted to represent the gallery and museum as a space that is removed from its current context of busy, urban Bangalore. To create this effect, the book would need to be physically fencing the readers attention off from the outside world, while at the same time creating an experience for them while inside the space. I wanted the book to be seen and experienced exactly as how one would see and experience it if they were at the gallery themselves.
To do this, I decided to make the book in a hexagonal shape, with six facing sides, on which I would paint a 360 degree view of the gallery and museum space from the centre of the property. The book would be suspended from the ceiling at eye level. In order to see the book, one would have to duck and stand physically ‘inside’ the book (just like being ‘inside’ a space), and turn 360 degrees to experience the place.
To connect this almost installation-like object to the idea of a book, I added black pages over all the six sides, so that one would be able to experience only one view of the place at a time before moving on to a different view.
Though in this short workshop I was unable to provide a professional finish to the book, the idea seemed to be successful, as when I was exhibiting it, many people were intrigued by the structure of the book, and were curious to get inside it to uncover what it was about.
pictures of the gallery and museum space.
Mock-up of the final prototype.
The final book installation.
