The Button Box

THE BUTTON BOX
Rebecca Allen

Product Description: A circular sewing box with a hinged lid. The entire box has been coated in a cushioning and wrapped in a paisley pattern. Green plaited string follows the seams of the box. The interior of the box has been lined in a hemp-like material. Upon the reverse side of the lid is a pin cushion, made from the same pattern as the exterior. Within the box are a series of buttons attached to tags. Upon these are dates which have been hand stamped. Some of the buttons have become tangled, forming large clusters.

Publication Details: Circular Box, Cushioned exterior wrapped in fabric, Buttons tied with string and a paper label.

Bottles & Maps

BOTTLES AND MAPS

Product Description: An interactive piece. The viewer is introduced to a leather-bound case, which unravels to reveal a variety of ephemera. Firstly, a series of aged maps, folded and contained within a leather pocket. This subsequently leads onto the next two panels, which contain a series of tagged shells and beach-like ephemera. These have been bound using copper-colored wire. Accompanying this are a series of miniature pockets and straps, which hold vials and microscope slides.
In the final leather pocket is a black, leather-bound book (A5). Screwed to the front cover is a metal shell, with detail resembling fish scales. Central to this is a gold-window much like a porthole, revealing the crumpled maps beneath. Upon opening, it is revealed that this kit and journal, belong to a Professor who has since perished. The case is his last remaining work. The journal goes onto to detail his adventure, alongside a series of sketches. The paper has been stained and the text has been hand-rendered using ink.
Publication Details: A leather-bound, roll-up case containing glass phials, aged maps and various other ephemera. A metal-encased book with aged, heavy duty paper.

Butterfly and Dragonfly

BUTTERFLY AND DRAGONFLY
University of Portsmouth Alumni 

Product Description: An open-sided, hardback box coated in cream paper. A washed-pink butterfly decorates the cover, accompanied by a pink splatter. The box contains two books, each bound in a slim, cream bellyband with a silhouetted insect. The first, a butterfly. The book is a four-paneled concertina with cream pages. The front and back have been covered in a mold-green and mud brown. Consistently, the imagery is pink, bordered by black ink. It visualizes the organic lifecycle of a butterfly, from a caterpillar and throughout the cocooning process.
Mirroring the first book, the dragonfly book details the insect’s lifecycle, from larvae to full-grown adult. The pink-splattered pages denote surprise, celebrating the birth and growth of the natural form.
Publication Details: Two, four-paneled concertina books constructed with cream decorative paper and coated in color paper, A hard, cream-coated box.

Branches

BRANCHES
Chisato Tamabayashi

Product Description: “Branches” is a multiplatform foldout book. Sequentially, it follows the seasonal progression of various trees. Back and front of the book have been encased in a dark green book cloth. Each page of the book contains a pop-up tree, accompanied by printed pattern, assumed to be leaves. The artist describes the book: “This book is designed both as a pop-up book but also as a fold-out, full pop-up scene. The book features a family of trees, in different seasons and of different generations. When opened individually, the paper canopies slowly blossom, as if the action of opening the page gives life to the tree. Fully folded out, the spiral layout allows all the trees to gather together.”
Publication Details: 2007, A square, foldout book with concertina elements, Hardbound cover with green book cloth, Est. 200 gsm paper with multi-colored paper structures (pop outs).


chisatotamabayashi.com

Because It Is There

BECAUSE IT IS THERE

Katie Blacker

Product Description: A 37 cm x 18 cm white box with a cutout circle. The cutout reveals the rich, red imagery below.  On the spine of the box are the artists name and title, in blue. The box opens to uncover some basic information on the inside lid, all in French.

The first item is a large sheet of red, heavy duty tracing paper. Contrastingly, in large white, serifed font are the words “Because it is there”, alongside an outline of a circle.

The second is a blue, pull-out sheet, which measures just larger than A3. The image is landscape, distorted and somewhat unidentifiable.  They may be waves or mountains. Both sheets have been folded four-times to perfectly fit within the box.The materials used, alongside the box, add a sense of luxury to the piece.

Publication Details: A card box with white cover, Red tracing paper, Yellow, heavy-duty paper (folded).

Booth & Sons: Safety Matches

BOOTH & SONS: SAFETY MATCHES

Product Description:  A Small matchbox constructed using card. The box is bright pink and contains an illustration of a man.  This image can be flipped on its head, revealing the man to be burning.

Inside the box are a series of eight, 6 cm by 4 cm cards detailing various phobias. The imagery used draws upon the Rorschach test, inky imagery which, when identified, says something about the mental state of the individual.  On the reverse side are a series of illustrations reflective of the phobia. With no additional textual information, the imagery is crucial in identifying the phobia. Each of these cards has been folded in half, in order to fit within the matchbox.  On top of the cards is a miniature figure created using matchsticks and thread. It is tagged, labeling the phobia: “PEDIOPHOBIA”.

Further examples of the phobia include: nyctophobia, anatophobia and pectrophobia.

Publication Details: Card  shell containing a box, Folded, laser printed cards, Matchstick figure.

Battered

BATTERED
Damp Flat Books (Jackie Batey)

Product description:  A 9.5 cm x 22 cm artist book packaged within a white food bag. The bag is printed by a two-colour lino print. The book is covered in a PVC, yellow checkered tablecloth and bound with red silk thread. Each book contains a Mermaid Chip Fork and Miracle Fish.
Batey describes the book: "This book has a dual message; on one hand it’s a celebration of British chips but on the other it’s a lament to the declining cod stocks." She goes onto state: "The Atlantic cod is a fish in crisis, stocks have suffered heavily from overfishing on both sides of the Atlantic. All stocks are classified as being overfished or at risk of being harvested unsustainably."

"The sequence of pages through the book shows images of a packet of chips being eaten, next to an image of slowly disappearing cod. The reverse pages show photographs taken over a number of years in the U.K., Gibraltar and Spain of chip chop advertising boards or 'A' boards. The book is covered in a yellow check PVC tablecloth bound in the style of a Japanese account book - the pages are folded at the leading edge. The book is presented in a white chip shop bag that's been printed with a 2-colour lino of the title of the book."

Publication details: 2009, Brighton, United Kingdom, Hand-bound: stab stitched with red thread and covered in PVC.
Edition No. 7 of 20.

See more of Damp Flat Books here.

Blue Cross Book

BLUE CROSS BOOK
Unknown author

Product description:  A complex, hardback artist book, covered in a waxy, blue material. Each side of the five squares measures 4 cm, and contains a four page concertina fold-out.
The piece was created by a University of Portsmouth alumni student for the Level 2 ‘Bookworks’ unit. The student created a response to the classic Richard Adams’ novel “Watership Down’. The book visualizes the warrens the rabbits used through the use of mixed media, and enforced through the complexity of the bind.
Publication details: University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, hand bound: hardcover with concertina exerts.

BILINGUAL MAP OF JAPAN

Product description:  This book contains two key components, firstly a 20 cm x 14 cm glossy atlas containing relevant maps and locations of Japan. The exterior of this book is split into two shades of green, with one emphasizing the spine. The typeface contrasts the two in a vibrant blue.
The second component is an A2 folded map of Japan which contains bilingual descriptions. It is accompanied by a monochromatic descriptive index. This is packaged within a glossy cover, adorned with a geometric graphic of Japan.
Publication details: 2003, Shobunsha Puvlications, Inc, Tokyo, Japan, Mass produced with paper and gloss-card.

Bible Gum

BIBLE GUM
Distributed by Life Lines Inc.

Product description:  An 11 cm x 9 cm, 3D artist book. The exterior is an elaborate, pencil drawn biblical illustration depicting two angels. The interior of the book is hollowed out, revealing a series of 20 miniature boxes. The reader is invited to open up each box, which contains two pieces of luminous green bubblegum, accompanied by a psalm from the King James Bible. The juxtaposition between religion and commercialism adds a sense of humor.
On the back of “Bible Gum” is a list of ingredients used to create the edible product.
Publication details: 2009, Homer, Alaska, mass produced using card.

Biological Aspects of Memory

BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF MEMORY

Claire Geary

Product description: A visual exploration of memory, formed using a mixture of photography, cut and paste, typography and other digital medias. All imagery was subsequently scanned and printed prior to being cut and bound with thick string.

Geary is an alumni of the University of Portsmouth, graduating in 2008. When describing her third year project, she stated: “Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory of the past, we cannot operate in the present or think about the future.”.

Each of the 48 pages measures roughly 11.5 cm x 8.5 cm.

Publication details: 2008, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, hole punched and bound with thick string.

Edition 4 of 5.

Brush Me An Animal

BRUSH ME AN ANIMAL

Nathalie Trovato

Product description: A 8.89 cm x 11.4 cm cut-foldy. The book is encased within a brown cardboard, hinged box. The narrative, written in both English and French, documents the character’s opinion of her own hair. She uses animals as visual metaphors for these opinions.

An example includes “When I am cranky I want to look spiky and let the hedgehog speak instead of me”. The ink is monochromatic, contrasting the bright orange of the paper.

Publication details: 2008, New York, USA, Foldy enclosed within a hinged card box.

nathalietrovato.com

Birds

BIRDS
Ciara Healey

Description: This is a hardback book with a yellow card civer and a pink metallic embossing. The inside pages are printed on gloss paper. The book is 195 x 26.5cm with 37 pages. Birds by Ciara Healey is the second part in a series of 'nature library' books that explore the theme of belonging and identity throught the languge of NAtural History. Following on from 'Butterflies by Ciara Healey' the Bird imagery reflects upon the interconnections between that which has changed and that wghich remains. The book juxtaposes found images from 19th century museum displays with images of knitted bird coats in bell jars and cabinets of curiosities filled with everyday found objects. Placing these images together subverts the traditional forms of classification that continue to influence how history and identity is percieved. There are three groups of birds identified in this book; native, migrant and hybrid. The hybrid bird species occupies an in-between space, a displaced space. Floating between the records of moments passed, the birds become caught between two worlds, between the familiar and strange, between belonging and disappearance. Their paradoxical presence and absence occupies an in-between space, momentarily they are, as the poet Bernard O'Donoghue puts it, 'neither here nor there, and therefore, home."
Publication information: 2007, Dublin, Ireland, Stitched, Litho Prints, Edition 1 of 500
www.ciarahealey.com
www.ignition.ie

Butterflies

BUTTERFLIES
Ciara Healey

Description: This is a hardback book with a grey canvas cover and a pink metallic embossing. The inside pages are printed on uncoated stock paper with occasional metallic screen prints overlaid on the images. The book is 19.5 cm x 26.5cm with 60 pages. Butterflies by Ciara Healy is concerned with the past and the manner in which it intersects and affects perceptions of the present. Drawing particular inspiration from the meaning of the terms native, migratory and hybrid, and their use in relation to exile and home, the book is the first part of a ‘nature library’ series that addresses the themes of betweeness embodied by displaced and diasporic populations using Victorian archival methodologies, museological objects and institutional forms of display, as well as 19th century botanical and wildlife illustrators. In this book, the butterflies represent the many parallel lives that have lived and lost. Momentarily they overcome the brutal nature of their extinction, as seemingly disparate histories come together to form a rich tapestry of connection.
Publication information: 2006, Dublin, Ireland, Stitched, Litho Prints, Edition 1 of 500
www.ciarahealey.com
www.ignition.ie

Big Book, The

THE BIG BOOK
reassemble

Description: The dimensions of this book are 240mm x 360mm and it consists of 12 pages of manila and newsprint. The jacket is BFK Rives, blind embossed with a red reassemble belly band. on 12 pages of manila and newsprint. This book was their first endeavor into publishing a small edition and precursor to all our ensuing one off books. Largely image based with prints taken from found objects and printed imagery of collage drawings and cutouts from old books. The theme was intentionally open ,favoring chance to predetermined ideas .
Publication information: 2005, reassemble, Hackney, London, UK, Folded and blind embossed, Hand drawn mono prints, found object, mono prints, relief prints on chinese paper, screen prints and digitally printed labels etc . Edition No 21 of 43
www.reassemble.co.uk