LIBRARY HANDBOOK

Text_ Yvonne Yu, Yan Lam      Photos_ Panda Lei

Independent publishing is still a niche business in Macao. However, those who pay attention will notice that more and more people in the neighbouring regions of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China are joining this industry, toiling their own 'free world'. They attempt to free themselves from the rigid stereotypes of traditional publishers and conventional books. Independent publishing offers them more freedom and a sense of achievement as publishers, writers, designers and bookshop owners; which enable them to spread their wings and fly. Independent publishing is a breath of fresh air coming from the current Chinese-language publishing industry.

During the Macao Library Week 2017, two dialogues on independent publishing were held, which shed some light on this untainted field.

Dialogue between Designers of Independent Publishing

The two key speakers of this talk - Renatus Wu and Ck Cheang - are both talented designers of independent publishing from Hong Kong and Macao, respectively.

Ck Cheang, a noted Macao-based illustrator and designer as well as the founder of SomethingMoon Design, has handled most of the independently published works in Macao in recent years. He can take charge of the whole process, from communicating with authors about the book design to basic editing and even the book launch and marketing campaign at the later stage. He assisted with the come-into-being of Garden of Heaven – the Map of Old Protestant Cemetery (Macau); Ready to Wear, Us: this Era, as well as the printings of independent media like All About Macau, Ox Magazine and so on. Many of them were presented with stunning details from the choice of paper materials to graphic design, continuity and substantial breakthroughs can be seen in each work, making Cheang one of the very few book designers in the independent publishing industry in Macao.

Renatus Wu is a versatile publisher in Hong Kong. 'Designer' is just one of his many other titles. He founded the design workshop Edited, and runs the independent bookshop Book B. His experience of working in Joint Publishing a few years ago offered him an easy entry into the publishing industry. Also, the experience in participating in various book design projects has won him a good reputation and other achievements, with one of his works even awarded for the Best Design in the Book Category at the Hong Kong Designers Global Design Awards. Many celebrities, including the Hong Kong singer Chet Lam, have specially invited him to design their books.

The Clash between Papercutting and Book Cover Design

Being an awe-inspiring compilation of literary and art works, One Thousand and One Nights / Nine Sea / An Evening is a joint creation by Jam Wu, the prominent Taiwan papercutting artist and Ho Chia-Hsing, the Taiwan designer who is renowned for his excellent use of symbolism in contemporary book cover design. The concept book represents the revival and rebirth of the art of papercutting, which would not be possible without the two.

The dialogue started with an introduction of the papercutting artworks of Jam Wu, the Tainan-born artist who has been paying close attention to the inheritance of traditional handicrafts. His participation in the '2nd Wanderer Programme' initiated by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan offered him the opportunity to learn papercutting in Shanbei, the northern region of China's Shanxi Province, thereby inspiring him to become a papercutting artist. Jam Wu excels at fusing and reproducing traditional and contemporary arts. His artworks, featuring the quintessence of Chinese and Western papercutting, are inspired from life and go beyond it. On a par with other prominent designers such as Aaron Nieh and Wang Zhi-Hong, Ho Chia-Hsing is not only a designer, but also an artist whose distinctive designs of calligraphy work have earned him numerous awards and accolades. For instance, his design for Stars through the Soul was selected for Excellent Book Design in the 2016 OKAPI Good Design Awards, featuring a fusion of fine arts and his unique application of visual symbols in poetry anthology, which reveals the beauty of poetry in different layers of images.

One Thousand and One Nights / Nine Sea / An Evening is a concept book of artworks delicately designed with a white engraved front cover that takes after the back cover. The book does not follow a conventional path from paper selection to the printing effect of its inner pages. Ho Chia-Hsing chose black as the main colour for Jam Wu's papercut artworks (Chinese papercut works are usually red), and drew timelines for the poems and letters, which he had exchanged with others, on subsequent pages through the simple but creative application of the point and line concept. The uniqueness of the concept appears prominent in the design that hardly eclipses the soul of the works and the artists.

Additional Information

Exhibition of Various Zines - Books of Several Pages

Zine is a new form of publication for Macao locals. At first glance, you may take it as an advertising brochure until you find its exceptionally interesting contents while flipping through the pages. The contents can come from real-life diaries, inspiring personal ideas, notes and discussions on less talked-about subjects and so on. Cheang Chi Wai, curator of the Exhibition of Various Zines - Books of Several Pages, showed readers the infinite creative space of Zine in experience sharing sessions by its creators during the Macao Library Week.

The exhibition displayed Zines selected by four bookstores, namely, Bananafish Books in Shanghai, Wild Flower and Pon Ding in Taiwan, and Book B in Hong Kong. The exhibits also included relevant works first created by local designers or artists. 'Zine has never been a mainstream [publication]. It is an independently published characteristic work of limited quantity. Compared with Hong Kong and Taiwan, Macao is a slow starter of Zine, or we can say that it has not even started. Hence, this is an experimental exhibition, we hope that the creators and visitors can focus back on the messages that the creators want to express,' the curator commented.

A Close Look at Libraries

 Taiwan      Taipei Public Library - Beitou Branch 

Located in an ecological park, Taipei Public Library - Beitou Branch provides a reading and recreational space with an emphasis on energy conservation. The library creates a green reading environment through a number of eco-friendly designs. They include adoption of wood as its major building material, extensive use of windows, such as French windows to let in more natural light, and collection of rainwater in the roof garden for watering plants and flushing toilets.  Moreover, the facility has balconies with perpendicular wooden railings that help to reduce the entry of thermal radiation into the interior and other green features. It is noteworthy that the library is equipped with an eco-building themed book section and an area holding special collections about ecological conservation and other subjects, which match the green architectural features of the Library.