mazzottibooks - Tumblr blog

[mazzottibooks]

What could mycelium materials be used for...?

...the potential applications are countless and here at the studio we're constantly exploring a wide variety of those...

...as, for instance, utilising pure fungal materials as alternative to animal leather, traditionally implemented in book-making.

The Mycelium Books, part of "The Growing Lab - Mycelia" collection, are an ongoing exploration carried out by Officina Corpuscoli in close collaboration with  MAZZOTTI BOOKS/London, an independent bookbinding and letterpress studio.

The Growing Lab: http://www.corpuscoli.com/projects/the-growing-lab/

Mazzotti Books: https://mazzottibooks.co.uk/

#Mycelium #Book #AnimalFree #VeganBook #MaterialCulture #Fungi #Craft #Innovation

[mazzottibooks]

Seaside Bound

One of the sleepless night when I was a teenager,  I saw “La Jetee” by Chris Marker on TV and decided to make a photo book. I used a half broken cheap camera which I found in a cupboard, one of those camera just has a shutter but nothing else. The pictures are a story is about a boy cycling up to the sea.  I asked my friend to cycled up to the sea in my home town along the river. I cut 35mm B/W prints, stuck on a paper, photocopied it and bound all the papers together.

I showed the book to my photography teacher at collage. A week later, my teacher brought a beautiful self published book which he got given by his colleague when he was working at an advertisement agency as a photographer in 60’s. The book was done by Nobuyoshi Araki. My teacher used to work with Araki, “We used to process films together throughout the night” “He was always working on his personal projects and making books.” My teacher said. At the final year, my teacher asked me “ Do you want to do photography?” I said “Yes!” without thinking too much. He set up a meeting at the photographic studio in Tokyo for me and I worked there for two years before moving to London. When I got the job, “Keep making books.” he said

[mazzottibooks]

Regina Gimenez

[mazzottibooks]

Gina Gimenez

[mazzottibooks]

Personalised business card holder available at mazzottibooks.co.uk/shop/ 

[mazzottibooks]

Salt works, Motoi Yamamoto

[mazzottibooks]

if you like you can follow me on instagram too

[mazzottibooks]

These gorgeous examples of decorated paper come from A Specimen Book of Pattern Papers Designed for and in Use at the Curwen Press (1928). While this paper most commonly would have been used as endpapers, Paul Nash explains in his introduction that he chose “pattern paper” as a more general term since this paper would also be used for book covers and jackets. 

The 31 samples included in this book range from florals reminiscent of wallpaper to bold modernist wood engravings. They were designed by artists Lovat Fraser, Albert Rutherston, Margaret Calkin James, Thomas Lowinsky, E.O. Hoppé, Edward Bawden, Paul Nash, Enid Marx, Eric Ravilious, and Harry Carter. 

[mazzottibooks]

Twen Magazine: 1959-1970

Many designers will be familiar with Twen magazine as much has been written about its pioneering design. I wanted to collect together a few of my favourite layouts.

Twen was published monthly throughout the ’60s. Not shy of nudity, the slick German magazine was aimed at “people in their twenties, from 15 to 30” (hence it’s name), the first generation to grow-up after the Second World War.

Willy Fleckhaus (1925-1983) art directed the title throughout its lifespan and took on much of the editor’s role. Fleckhause’s design principle was to ‘illuminate words’ which he achieved through ground-breaking typography and bold picture usage. The ADC him as:

“…a master of visual montage. Each, through selective cropping, framing, reducing and enlarging, were able to elicit specific editorial and emotional responses from readers and viewers alike. Power of this magnitude was indeed a stroke of genius!”

Its stylish typography and bold photography still look innovative today. Every layout tool is being used and every page-busting design turns your head and teases you in to look closer.

Further Reading:

Eye Magazine, Paint it black 1991

Mike Dempsey’s Graphic Journey

Magazine Designing: The most influential magazine of all times

[mazzottibooks]

Liz Collini

[mazzottibooks]

Type Hype

These greeting cards, notebooks and cushions were designed by Berlin based design agency, Strichpunkt (Semicolon). Created for their own alphabet focussed online store, Type Hype, many of the product designs won recognition in the recently announced 2014 TDC awards.

“The design lines for paper goods, the home collection, accessories and fine food range from Bauhaus to vintage and are all produced on a sustainable basis.”

One cool idea is the ‘Set Creator’, which allows you to type in a word and the store will bring back random products that spell it out, voila!:

I noticed the team had also designed this excellent 2014 typographic calendar for their client Papierfabrik Scheufelen.

(Using: FF Scala Regular, Caps, Italic and Univers Condensed).

[mazzottibooks]

Diane Victor in the Studio

[mazzottibooks]

visual-poetry:

“雨 rain” by seiichi niikuni (1966)

[mazzottibooks]

"Here’s The Smallest Reproducible Font of Caps In The World!"

Whoa, this is impressive. Legendary. We’ve heard tell of such a matrix from some retired local line casters, but to see it up close and personal is quite impressive. A cap alphabet in the space of a 6pt em space (roughly). This mat was created and distributed as a promotional piece used to demonstrate the level of quality that Linotype’s “typographic laboratory of the world” was capable of. 

We recently ran it through our machine and cast a couple slugs. Sure enough, as advertised, it casts and prints. 

Thanks to our neighbors at Lowell who gifted us this piece of Linotype history.

[mazzottibooks]

Aquatints

of typography letterings within the urban life made around 1850 with aquatint method by Antonio Basoli. He was an italian engraver, scenic designer, interior designer and painter living in Bologna. One of his most important references is the scenography in the theatre of rome and of yourse his works above. Enjoy them!

[mazzottibooks]

[mazzottibooks]

Karel Martens, letterpress monoprints on catalogue cards from the Stedeljk Museum