features
vol 1. issue 3.
The art of print Sales of books may be dwindling, but a number of Irish printers are creating works that will ensure that an ebook simply won’t do. Claire Dalton gets her hands on some of the illustrious products coming out of Ireland The idea is often bandied about that books, due to the decline of printing and rise of digital will become something of a collectors’ item. Bookcases will be adorned with books, as walls are with art. Only the most beautiful and carefully crafted artworks in content and design will survive, and only the most serious booklovers will possess them. Whether the death of books as we know it is imminent, the artists featured below are proving there is still a battle to be fought. Some have filled their books with words and some haven’t but all are producing the original handheld device in a unique and stunning way. HP & Gleeson Printed Works HP & Gleeson are fresh from their first adorable publication entitled Penguin Pie - a tall tale of, well, penguins and pies for children and “confused adults” and are about to release their second effort this year, A Giraffe At The Door. The creative pair of Helene Pertl and Pierce Gleeson screenprint and handbind their work in their Dublin studio which they describe as a “semiorganised collection of inks, screens and paper that is moved opportunistically between tables, rooms and properties... a drying rack [consisting fourteen
of ] an elaborate web of string and paper clamps... the exposure unit; a high-watt bulb attached to a sturdy old painting easel and a darkroom inside Helene’s wardrobe.” Pertl is an accomplished illustrator, screenprinter and bookmaker and Gleeson a skilled writer and designer. Together, they create truly inspired works to hold and to read. Using delicate, sparse and poignant illustrations, Pertl compliments Gleeson’s thoughtful scribe perfectly. All their products are available to buy through their website. hpandgleeson.com Poddle A river runs through it Rising in northern Tallaght (or Cookstown, for poetics) and joining the Liffey, the Poddle is the best known of the hundreds of waterways in Dublin. It is also the namesake of a new, handcrafted book. Helene Pertl (also of HP & Gleeson) is one half of ‘Poddle’ alongside Ruth Hallinan. Issue one was released earlier this year at Commonplace Studios and the project is described as bringing “new and imaginative words and pictures to the surface”. It is looking for submissions for its second edition, inspired by the theme of ‘small lives’. Dive in to their website for more information. You can