Featuring a lively contemporary work by Japanese American artist Yuko Shimizu, this design brings a touch of whimsy to the Paperblanks collection. Originally created for a 2012 magazine article on the Dutch pension system, the illustration reproduced here demonstrates Shimizu’s artistic conception of “leading by example.”
Brian Froud has drawn inspiration from the landscapes of the English moorlands to create an unparalleled body of creative work. He is the genius behind Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. We have reproduced a scene from his 2007 book Brian Froud’s World of Faerie for our Mischievous Creatures cover design.
Ancient spiritual practices meet modern digital art in this kaleidoscopic cover featuring the work of Android Jones. Dharma Dragon asks the viewer to focus on the potential for awakening, the power of the ancient third eye and the early reverberations of the time that lies before us.
“Maki-e” translates from Japanese to mean “sprinkled pictures,” a definition that perfectly captures the art form that has inspired this cover. Purchased from a private collector in Kyoto, the original maki-e lacquer box carrying this design dates back to either the Edo or Meiji period.
This design comes from an 1893 binding housing Voltaire’s Zadig, or The Book of Fate. First published in 1747, it tells the story of Zadig, an ancient Babylonian philosopher. The book is a philosophical treatise that provides thematic inspiration for the modern detective story, including for Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin.
This cover urges you to imagine yourself walking along the winding lanes that are home to the weavers of Varanasi, India. At one time there were as many as 300,000 weavers in the area, but today there are no more than 40,000. We have named it Gulabi after the Urdu word for “pink.”
Laurel Burch was an American artist with an unmistakable style that was the physical manifestation of her love of life. From her fertile imagination she created vibrantly coloured and exquisitely embellished works of art, such as the painting reproduced on this journal cover.
We have gone back to our publishing roots with our collection of Old Leather Classics, celebrating what it is about Renaissance-style gold tooled bindings that we have always found so captivating: the rich hues of the dyed leather. The timeless beauty of an antique leather binding is brought into the present on the cover of this deep blue book.
Inspired by a 17th-century Italian book binding, Oceania showcases a floral rosette motif. The original book contained a series of illustrations in the tondo form, a style of circular art. Once a popular artistic style in ancient Greece, tondo experienced a brief revitalization by Italian artists during the Renaissance.
top the lionfish rides the regal queen of the sea in this artwork by artist James C. Christensen (1942–2017). This design shows why Christensen’s art, inspired by myth, legend and fantasy, so dazzled his legions of fans. He was renowned not just for his pure imagination, but also for his embrace of curiosity and bravery.
A defining characteristic of Laurel Burch’s artwork is her use of vibrant colours that are embellished in gold and silver. On this brilliantly coloured journal cover, we’ve reproduced one of her paintings that perfectly captures these attributes as well as her joyful personality.
Morocco leather is a pliable material that has been valued in luxury book bindings since the late 16th century, and such finely wrought Renaissance-style designs have inspired our Black Moroccan Bold cover.
Capturing the flavour of Renaissance-style bound books, our Flint cover pays homage to the craft of delicate gold tooling. For this Old Leather design, we have incorporated a textured white design reminiscent of chalk, flint or limestone, adding an edginess to the look of finely wrought leather.
Originally titled “Imagine,” the Laurel Burch painting reproduced on this cover celebrates her imaginative nature and love of life. Burch’s goal was to inspire joy and raise people’s spirits and, though she passed away in 2007, her uplifting artworks continue to spread happiness today.
Inspired by the New Romantics’ reclamation of bygone aesthetics, we have revived our Romantic Sensibility designs in bold new colours for the 21st century. This deep black journal celebrates the drama that made the New Romantic movement some of the most ironic good times popular culture has ever had.
Olena Skytsiuk is one of the foremost practitioners of Ukrainian Petrykivka painting, a technique in which special brushes crafted from cat hairs create a visual effect unlike any other. In each design, like that reproduced on our Moonlight cover, thousands of small strokes combine to create colourful miniature scenes.
The design reproduced on this cover centres around a sensitive plant surrounded by other richly hued flowers, foliage and butterflies. The binding was used for The Sensitive Plant and Early Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley and is a celebration of the creative spirit.
The artistic mecca of Shiraz, Iran is the place of origin for this design. Created during the high point of Persia’s Safavid Dynasty, the book that inspired this cover is said to have been in the possession of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire’s longest-reigning Sultan.
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, futurist and engineer. Our cover features a sketch of his turbine research, reproducing a document held in Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Museum. Today, his legacy endures with Tesla, Inc., which specializes in electric vehicles, solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.
This cover is based on the binding for a book titled Chroniques, published by Salel Binder in Paris in 1514. The exuberance of the design reflects the splendour of the Renaissance approach to decoration. In this green-blue journal cover you may see the intricacies of your own stories.
