I'm loving this video of the making of Bird, a wonderful new photography book by Andrew Zuckerman. It makes me miss Sunny, a cockatiel that I grew up with. Actually, I've been in the habit of missing all of my favorite animals lately.

Some of the children's books I edited for the Spring are now available: This is Greece and Book of Cities (in English and Italian). The original illustrator for Book of Cities (now in his eighties) was so happy to have his book released in his native tongue; things like that make my job so fun. Next season, we have This is Australia and New York: Line by Line slated for release, so be on the look out!

Tom Dixon is a huge name in the British design world. He writes about seeing design choices in everything--especially in the objects and elements of one's environment that one may think of as commonplace.

I'm inspired by his chapter on Constructivism, where he curates a number of images (some of his personal photographs and others he has pulled together) to juxtapose manmade construction with the organic and natural. I love seeing the variety of textures altogether. Tom Dixon's Interior Worlds is available here.

I had written that I wanted to publish children’s books as my career aspiration in my elementary school yearbook.

I was ten.

And today, when I held one of the first-pressed, hand-bound incarnations of a children’s book that I guided through the assembly line that is the publishing world, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Not that it was the first book that I had worked on; it wasn't. Nor that I had even written it—because it wasn’t mine in that sense. But I had edited it and brought it back to life for generations to enjoy. And there’s a beauty and accomplishment in that.

harpy's flickr

Venice Architectural Biennale 08: 'Pajubookcity' at the Republic of Korea's Pavilion
via DesignBoom
"Book making is similar to architecture in that it takes pains to design and if the design is not satisfactory, one begins again from scratch. Even in terms of design, just as a quality architectural design fully considers and researches the environment and climate of the structural site, personality, occupation and number of people who are to occupy the space, as well as the necessary building materials, book making has similar considerations."

Learn more.

A book of paper cuttings from China via Book By Its Cover. I hope to bring home some art books from my trip to Poland/Germany.

Tokyolife

Tokyolife operates as an insider's guide to the impressive creative forces that have dominated the Tokyo art and design fields for the past few years.

I was lucky enough to have worked on the book; it's really quite remarkable.

I do love a good book.

I've noticed a trend in the many ways books are being styled in lifestyle/interior design magazines. Stacked and piled, alone or in groups, color coordinated or wrapped up uniformly in brown kraft paper—books are the hottest design object and you can never never have too many of them.