Hello, and welcome to the Bee’s Knees, the weekly column focusing on some of the many creative ways words and pictures can be combined! Whether it’s a world-class stash of Avengers issues or a collection of Jane Austen’s classics, most people pay more attention to what it is that they read rather than how it’s stored. Bookshelves are bookshelves—as long as there is a place to store an ever growing stash of literature, not much mind is paid to the nature of the shelf itself. At least, not in most cases. But some people have decided to rebel against the norm.
The first set of bookshelves here are a set of boxes designed by Eva Alessandrini and Roberto Saporiti. Each one forms a different letter. Stacked up and across, they can say anything you want for a fresh new way to display your books. This is definitely one of the best ways to make a bold statement about the role of reading in your life.
Secondly is a simple and easy way to display your books on the wall in a format that anyone who’s ever read a comic will appreciate—word balloons, as designed by Mexican furniture designer Oscar Nunez. A surefire way to make your books say something about you, this is a fun way to draw attention to your reading stash and how awesome it is.
Lastly, from Italian designer Bruno Petronzi, come the book carriers: little statuettes that carry your books for you on their backs, quirky and attractive to any room. Who could resist having one of these guys standing next to the sofa, offering you your favorite selection of good reads? It’s kind of like having a butler for your library.
And that’s the bee’s knees for this week! Please join me next Friday for another way people blend words and pictures to create all-new forms of art. In the meantime, feel free to tell me if there’s something you know of I should write about. I love finding out about new things!
Great stuff. I had never really thought about book shelves as anything other than functional before. I may well need to pimp my graphic novel collection now 🙂
That's great indeed. I just love those bookshelves designs pretty much. It's good to see some unique furniture design as a book store based.