READ IT | Curated Collections . One

The Make Studio Inc. team is big into collecting books...B-I-G! And not just any books...books on art, music, humor - essentially creating - from tutorials, curations, artist biographys and/or instructional. Within this, the type and style of creative books we collect are as diverse as the works featured within them. We love to tour any town's local bookstore in search of a worthy book to add to our collection. There have been so many amazing book publishers willing to take risks on diverse artists, crafters and makers. It's because of this we know our collecting days are guarenteed to be long and plentiful!

As we are constantly coming in contact with this vast array of rich artistic chronicling, we will be featuring our favorites over time. In no specific order, we want to highlight some of the amazing book resources available to creatives minds or those looking to get inspired.

For our first installment, we wanted to share a few books focused on awesome curated collections. As with most any art book but specifically with curated ones, flipping through the pages one gets a mini-museum right in the palm of one's hands. You can find work from familar faces and more commonly, discover new personalities that will become favorites.

Print & Pattern - Geometric

The first book we're featuring is one of four books put out by Bowie Style (pseudonymn of a UK based designer) who runs the blog Print & Pattern. Each of these books is worthy of collecting and we will feature the others in future posts. This happens to be my favorite, given my infatuation with the Geometric. It's also a front runner for Pete, but all are outstanding looks into the amazing artists making print and/or pattern based work.

The work in this book features a range of styles like tribal, Scandinavian, Native American, along with mathematical and scientific approaches. It features an array of product types including assorted paper products, fabric, ceramics, housewares and beyond. More than the books decsription, what stands out are the assorted colors and shapes. In order for a pattern to work, there must be a destinction between different shapes which the artist achieves through selecting a specifc color palette. It's these shapes and color palettes that are the stars. Flipping through the pages you get the sensation of bouncing, a fun effect of this seamless colllection.

Pulled, a Catalog of Screen Printing

This book could be considered more niche, as it's focused entirely on screen printed work, but the collection is so diverse within that criteria. There are 256 pages of delicious art work curated by artist Mike Perry, a creative force all on his own, who has put out two other curated art books and at least two books of his own work. Again, we will feature some of those soon!

What makes this book so great is that Mike Perry is a true hard-core screen printer. He knows his stuff and surrounds himself with the works of innovative and prolific printers making their mark on the genre today. This is not a book where every few pages something nice pops up. Every page features work that is stunning.

Pattern Factory

The final book in this round up is Pattern Factory by Ayako Terashima a London/Tokyo based editor/brand-consultant. Pete discovered this stunner on one of our adventures. I could tell instantly I would be a sucker for it. The book includes 150 patterns by some of the worlds leading artists and designers and includes a CD-ROM with 85 original patterns.

A few nice features in this book beyond the diverse patterns selected are the aritsts short bios on their corresponding pages, as well as the interview pages at the end of the book. The interviews give you behind the scenes look into five artists process, inspiration, and studio views through a Q&A format. But, this one is worth it for the cover alone, am I right?

Hopefully reading about these books has inspired you to relook at some of your own (we are constantly rediscovering books we cherish!). Then, with all your free time (Hee!), treat yourself to a trip to your local bookstore or public library. Peruse their sections dedicated to creating (Art, Design, Food, Architecture, Music...). There are pages on pages of inspiration waiting for you.

Happy Reading.