DIY idea: bookshelf wall at The Wit | How About Orange

October 22, 2013

DIY idea: bookshelf wall at The Wit


This past weekend I spent a night at The Wit hotel in Chicago and noticed the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in this lounge. See those faces? Let's look closer.


All of those black and white portraits are formed from the spines of books.


Each book wears a jacket of plain black paper over its regular cover, and then a slice of a face is glued to the spine. (No books were harmed in the making of this project.)


If you need a statement wall in your house, copy this idea! Print and slice up a mix of celebrities, artists, and world leaders, or immortalize your family and friends. You're not reading that set of encyclopedias anymore, are you? Repurpose them as artwork.

18 comments:

Laura said...

I am in love with this idea.

Grandma G said...

Kinda weird. :)

Mum

Jessica Jones said...

Me too. It made me really happy.

Jessica Jones said...

Whoops, Mum, I was replying to Laura but you sneaked in there.

I take it you won't be doing this to all those books you don't read on your bookshelf. :)

Grandma G said...

You're right. I'm donating them to the library instead. :)

Mum

Jessica Jones said...

And I guess it would be counterproductive for the library to attempt this project. :)

Grandma G said...

Just a little, yeah. But I bet those books would get extra attention! ;)

Jeanne said...

What an incredibly creative idea! It reminds me of those large portraits of people that, when you get close enough to see, are made from small individual photos. I've even seen them made from postage stamps. But this project looks way easier....

Anonymous said...

I like the idea. There is something perverse in me that wants to reorder them though!

Sophie

Anonymous said...

Actually we can get one step weird-er and we can put the writer's face on his/her own books. Dickens,Steinbeck,Heinrich Böll in one place!

Mögelkontroll said...

it´s really Interesting to see ... thank you it's well done :)

RhondaBuss said...

That's what I was thinking. If you have a collection by one author, this is a great way to group them.

Jessica Jones said...

I love that suggestion!

LT said...

I am actually going to do this!

Lizabeth said...

It doesn't have to be pictures of book authors...

I'm thinking old old family photos that are normally tucked away out of sight, printed out large...

OR do some sort of filing box for a certain amount of DVDs with a photo representing whatever is in that box?

hana candelaria said...

I am crazy about this idea. I can hardly wait to update my bookshelves :) THANKS!!!!

Sujatha said...

Love the originality of this idea. So cool and unique.

Ays said...

wow, i love this idea. though i'd probably not do this on my favorite books.