The Bookmaker’s Studio is a photographic project by Jake Green and James Cartwright that explores the practices of some of the best established and emerging children’s illustrators working today. We tracked them down and shot them at work in their studios, where they made magic happen before our very eyes.
It’s not often you get the chance to go and hang out with some of your heroes, so the images we’ve created capture our excitement at being allowed into these otherwise unseen spaces to witness such a variety of personalities, styles and techniques.
We’re both of the opinion that these guys deserve to be celebrated for their incredible contributions to the world of children’s books. With any luck there’s plenty of you out there who agree!
The illustrators that we have included are:
Beatrice Alemagna / Laura Carlin / Kitty Crowther / Owen Davey / Benji Davies / Chris Haughton / Yasmeen Ismail / Oliver Jeffers / Joëlle Jolivet / Maggie Li / Jürg Lindenberger / Katja Spitzer / Hervé Tullet
We’ve also got a foreword by a legend of children’s publishing Roger Thorp (Thames and Hudson, formerly of Tate Publishing) who was the first person to bring the work of Kitty Crowther, Beatrice Alemagna and Hervé Tullet to the UK market.
We have an incredible little team working on this project who’ve all brought their skills to bear on the final book.
Photographer – Jake Green took all the photos for the book, which means he’s travelled all across Europe, the UK and the US over the past year hauling bagfuls of equipment into studios large and small. That’s how much he loves children’s illustration.
Editor – James Cartwright interviewed every single illustrator either in person or over Skype. He’s travelled less than Jake but still really loves children’s illustration. He’s also written a bullish introduction for you to enjoy.
Designer – Melanie Mues of Mues Design has taken care of all art direction and shaped the look and feel of the project, injecting some style and flair to the layouts.
Letterpress Artist – Russell Frost of Hooksmith Press is making us some stunning hand-printed, limited edition, letterpress covers, and creating hand-printed titles for the book.
Paper Merchants – G.F. Smith have kindly supported this project by providing the paper for our limited edition hand-printed covers.
Printers – TBC, but they’ll be luxury, we promise.
The Bookmaker’s Studio will launch on 3rd September 2015 at The House of Illustration in Kings Cross. We’ll also be launching an exhibition of the work, running from 4th September – 5th November 2015. There’ll be talks and workshops happening throughout so you can come and get stuck in if you’re that way inclined.
Specifications
This campaign aims to fund the production of a very limited run 80pp, 3-hole sewn 280mm x 200mm first edition of the book. Limited edition artist’s dust jackets featuring original artwork will also be available at a slightly higher price.
This stop frame animation is of Hervé Tullet at work in his atelier in Paris.
This stop frame animation is from a selection of stills from the shoot with Oliver Jeffers in New York.