10 December 2005
Book Design
|
No one is quite sure when the Frankfurt Book Fair began but, it's claimed
Johann Gutenberg sold his Bibles there - shortly after he'd invented movable type - and as he died around 1470, we can reasonably assume that the famous annual fair dates from the latter part of the 15th century.
It's the largest book fair in the world - this year there were 380,000 publications on display and almost 300,000 visitors.
It is, fundamentally, a market - across national and language borders, yet, it's not entirely mercantile. It's also an exhibition. This year Jack Carmody went along, with lots of other members of the public, for the last two days of the fair and found himself attracted to some beautiful hand made books.
Jack was reassured to find out that the designs and processes of the past haven't been forgotten at the Frankfurt Book Fair. One of the six huge exhibition halls at the Fair had part of a floor devoted to traditional book crafts, which have not yet been displaced by electronic and talking books, like paper making, paper colouring, and binding by hand.
Guests
Uta Schneider
Managing Director of "Foundation for the Art of the Book", or the Stiftung's Buchkunst, which is a diverse international competition encompassing many facets of book design.
Marshall Weber from the Booklyn Artists' Alliance
Marshall Weber will be visiting Australia early in 2006 to become the Artist in Residence at the ANU in Canberra.
Urs Düggelin
Head of the firm, Faksimile Verlag Luzern, which makes reproductions of old and rare books.
Susanne Krause
Works with coloured pastes to recreate some beautiful decorated papers. she is a restorer of old books but also creates paper for new books.
Further Information
Booklyn Alliance
Write: 37 Greenpoint Avenue, 4th Floor, Brooklyn, New York 11222 USA Phone: 1 718 383 9621 Marshall Weber's visit to Australia includes: 25th February 2006 - Keynote speaker at Annual Australian Artists' Book Fair in Mackay, Queensland 2-16 March - Artist in Residence in Environmental Art Studio at the Australian National University, Canberra
http://www.booklyn.org
Book Design Competition - Stiftung Buchkunst
http://www.stiftung-buchkunst.de
Faksimile Verlag Luzern - Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland
Write: Maihofstrasse 25, CH-6000 Lucerne 6, Switzerland Phone: 41 41 429 0820
http://www.faksimile.ch
