It has been the private joke amongst booksellers for the longest
time -- a customer comes into the shop and buys hardbacks by the
yard (or metre) to decorate a room in his house. We once had two women
customers who wanted us to order several dozen copies of books by
Jane Austen which they were going to cut up and roll into beads to make
a 'literary' bead curtain. Wired Magazine reported recently: 'What
happens when product designer Philippe Starck needs 1,500 books?all
with white spines?to fill out the shelves in a posh new Miami hotel?
He calls on Thatcher Wine (that's a name, not a varietal) to curate
the collection.
Now Wine isn't a book designer, but he does design with books.'The story has it that Wine started by browsing thrift store and Ebay to fulfil special orders by customers. But this ended in him looking for books to outfit entire rooms in building. Wine, who owns Juniper Books, fills his shelves with custom of classic works and curated selections of current works.
I was shocked by the ladies who wanted to cut up the books for beads, but this I can take. Anything to sell books!
