Tara Books and the making of a book by hand From her studio Minus 9 Design, Rathna Ramanathan has worked with Tara Books on projects over the last sixteen years. Here, she reflects on her experiences of collaborating with Tara Books in the context of sustainable modes of design and production, and alternative models of [...]
Reflecting on our blossoming relationship with Korea “For me, Tara Books is a publisher which has a strong identity. And this identity lies on the border between not only what is local and what is universal, but also what is traditional and what is contemporary. Their approach to the book is something between the view [...]
Earlier this year Mithila art expert and enthusiast Peter Zirnis visited India’s Madhubani region. There he met with a range of artists working in what can broadly be defined as the Mithila style of folk art. He was guided by the artist Rambharos Jha, the talented author behind our latest handmade title Waterlife Since Peter discussed the book [...]
Tara’s outgoing resident designer Jonathan Yamakami reflects upon the creative journey he embarked upon when working on ‘I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail’. A 17th century English ‘trick’ poem, Tara’s version is illustrated by artist Ramsingh Urveti from India’s Gond tribe. 25 people like this post. Like Unlike
I was invited to the Guadalajara book fair, recently, on a publisher’s fellowship. Afterwards, my travels around Mexico took me to the state of Chiapas, to visit an extraordinary book making cooperative of Mayan women called Taller Lenateros, The Woodlanders’ Workshop. Impossible to sum up otherwise, I decided to turn my experience into a small [...]
A Workshop Exploring Indian Floor Patterns All over India, there are enduring traditions of women decorating the threshold of their homes with decorative patterns. Known by different names in various communities, they are called kolam in Tamil Nadu. Women create them every day with rice paste or powder, and by nightfall, they are usually gone. [...]
Founded and run by our Production Manager C. Arumugam – Mr A, as he is affectionately known – our handmade printing workshop is a unique undertaking. This is where each and every one of our handmade titles is screen-printed and hand bound. After producing 180,000 books (that’s around eleven million pulls in the silkscreen printing process!) the workshop has now left its original thatched home for a larger, safer and brighter purpose-built space. The unit is run on fair trade practices, and the printers live and work together as a commune.