Friday 27 December 2013

Monday Musings: Beautiful Bookstore


I was doing a bit of research for my new collection of jewellery and I came across an image of this amazing bookstore in Aix en Provence, France. A bookstore made out of books- awesome!

My husband and I had been chatting recently about the whole idea of what place bookstores and libraries would have in a digital world. I have to admit I do have a Kindle simply for the fact that my books were either too bulky or getting trashed in my bag on the way to work. However when it comes to books that I would read over and over or art related books I definitely stick to a hard copy.

I remember when I was still at school, Borders bookshop opened in Glasgow and it was so amazing to be able to browse all of their specialist magazines and art books however that was probably part of their demise in that no-one ever bought anything!

Anyway the upshot of our chat was that if hard copies of books are still to remain of value to people they will need to come in limited editions with beautifully designed covers by contemporary designers/artists and bookshops will have to offer an experience and atmosphere that can't be rivalled by buying a digital copy from a website. I felt that even a couple of years before a lot of the bookstores in Glasgow closed down they weren't places that you wanted to spend time in, they were becoming very corporate. I think that small bookstores are attractive when they feel like a bit of an Aladdin's cave and the owner of the shop sells books because they love them.

That was a bit of a long musing so I decided to cut myself off before I had written an essay!


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