Bookshelf porn

You may be acquainted with individuals who read ebooks. You may even have befriended one or two such ereaders. Chances are that you yourself are such an ereader. We, however, still indulge in books in a trashy way.



We frequent libraries and bookstores, and we carefully plan our interiors to accomodate the beloved books. Over the years, we moved from one to another jurisdiction, house, job, lover. Old LPs, casettes, magazines, letters, dear gifts were more often than not lost along our way. Usually, it is only the books that make it. Each a story in its own right, they link us to our past.



And so it can hardly come as a surprise that our bookshelves are something between a shrine and a peep-show. Our books may seem accidental to an innocent bystander, but we who selected them know better. We indulge in scanning the libraries of people we know to get to know these people better.



We may have entered the sexy boudoirs of those who persuaded us to come up for a nightcap, but we hastily departed when we found their poor books or, even, no books at all. I know a man who fell under a spell of his (now) girlfriend, when he saw her bookshelves: she pins little green curtains on each individual shelf to keep books safe. How could one possibly resist that?
Photographs featured are all taken from Bookshelf Porn, a photo-blog showcasing only the best photographs of bookshelves: the ones that are nothing less than 'porn for book lovers'. Highly recommended. In the coming days, we will select and feature bookshelves we crave for.

Variations on normal

Foam sculptures


Nosing the smartphone while having a bath (featuring Wilcox himself)


A chair swing (featuring Wilcox being swung by his dad)


Honesty stamps


A measure-tape diary

There's a big chance that you've already come accross Dominic Wilcox. His war bowls are by now a classic on design blogs. He is, however, more an innovator than a designer. Wilcox's amazing blog, Variations on normal, is really a little factory of innovations. In his own words: his blog is "a place for the sketchbook thoughts, ideas, and inventions of me, Dominic Wilcox." It is hard to believe that this is a one-man factory: there seem to be no Oompa-Loompas there cheerfully slaving away.
For those of you that could honestly make use of that honesty stamp, it comes in eight variations:
I sincerely apologise for all the trouble I've caused.
In all my life I've never met anyone as beautiful as you.
All I ask for is one last chance.
I know in the past I've found it difficult to say these words but I LOVE YOU.
What do you mean I'm always too busy?
I swear on my mother's grave I'll never do that again.
You are by far the most talented person I know.
You're right, the key to a strong relationship is communication.
Very handy.









While some of his sketchbook innovations made it in the real world (see Wilcox's webshop), others may never come about. Unfortunately, because it is exactly the latter that are amusing to no end. We're shamelessly applying a handful of his sketchbook ideas in our daily routine.