OUGD502: Tetley Book Fair

The Tetley hosted a book fair to showcase well know, and unknown talents from across the country. I have grown more interested in bookmaking and editorial design so thought it would be beneficial and enjoyable to go along! Whilst there I was looking at the Cafe Royal photo book stand, and I managed to speak to Craig Atkinson (the curator, artist and publisher behind the photo book series). We discussed the collection and spoke about the sense of realism throughout the images as a whole defining Cafe Royal away from the other photo book companies and more towards a zine, giving art back to the people. This idea is something I found really inspiring, and the use of 35mm itself gives a nostalgic quality and is a factor I want to delve more into throughout my practice over digital photography. I didn't have time to get Craig Atkinson's personal email address as he was getting bombarded by other photo enthusiasts but he mentioned he was attending Look Photo Festival in Liverpool (so am I), so I hope to see him there!

There was loads of cool books and interesting concepts revolving around print present at the fair, spanning over two whole floors of The Tetley. Some of the most interesting books moved away from the traditionalism of standard bookmaking, incorporating aspects of paper cuts to create new art and even morse code. The book below by Matthew Birchall is a photo book constructed into morse code so the information of each image is presented in brail in print so blind viewers can feel a description of the images, and the actual visual images are presented on a the small USB attached. These interesting aspects of displaying ideas are much more memorable than some of the other standard books and really shows that anything could be possible when it comes to design for print.

In conjunction with a responsive brief at the time (Greenall's), I purchased a book from a Leeds College of Art Vis Com student, all about 'millennials'. The book not only contributed to my contextual knowledge of the YCN brief but I liked the idea of directly supporting the artists that need it. From this visit I learnt that by immersing yourself in these creative environments, ideas flow and collaborative discourse can occur- if you just stay in your little bubble those opportunities to network will not happen. 

I also purchased a book by Matthew Wynne called 'Approximately 200 questions to ask your ex', which is a highly typographic publication constructed in a DIY sense. I managed to speak to Wynne and was fascinated by his use of handrenderd typography. Without going to events like Tetley book fair I would have never had this opportunity to expose new ideas to my practice, one I am really keen to take on board is this...