“Dead Bookstore” Gives New Life To Old Books

Whoever said that print was dead?

Designer Ben Pieratt has created a new ongoing creative project called the Dead Bookstore, in which he breathes new life into old books by turning them into pieces of art. Pieratt does this by cutting the stitched binding of old books, lying the spreads flat and then choosing the spreads with the most interesting juxtaposition of images and text. The results of this fascinating procedure are stunning, like this Jackie O. abstraction:

For the first series, Pieratt collected used art books, broke the spines of the ones he chose to use, cut the stitches of the binding and collected the loose-leaf spreads which he kept in stacks in his studio. Pieratt is already working on the second series.

Source: Fast Co.Design

Source: Fast Co.Design

Pieratt says that the project is “something anyone can do, and the process and results are genuinely stunning. It’s a bit like getting to have a great conversation with an old friend you never thought you’d see again.” Pieratt believes this so much so that, not only can all of the pieces be bought on the Dead Bookstore website (each print on the site is original and made to order), but he’ll also show you how to make them for free. Since he’s using found images that he didn’t create himself, he found it only fair to allow others to make their own prints. A “find” button under each image on the site links to a Google search for a particular book’s ISBN, showing all the places you can buy it, and a how-to page breaks down the process for making the prints, step-by-step.

Featured image via Fast Co.Design

h/t Fast Co.Design