Today
is a very big day for PQ Blackwell. The New Zealand-based creator of internationally
best-selling books has launched MILK Tailor Made Books, an ambitious new project founded on a website
www.milkbooks.com that will enable people anywhere in the world
to create their own beautiful tailor made books.
I had
lunch with PQ’s Geoff Blackwell and Ruth Hobday recently and they told me that
this new iteration of their famous MILK brand has taken over two years to
develop and that it is the biggest and most ambitious project of their careers
to date. Quite a statement given some of their previous projects.
Blackwell,
who has published books with photographers and luminaries such as Nelson
Mandela and Desmond Tutu, says inspiration for MILK Tailor Made Books came to
him when his father turned seventy. “To mark my Dad’s special day, my family
and I decided to make him a book that combined our favourite photographs of
moments shared together, and then each of us – right down to the youngest
grandchild – wrote him a message telling him how much we love him. It was a
beautiful little book and giving it to him was a moment none of us will forget.”
The
experience made such an impact on Blackwell that he, Hobday, and their team of
editors and designers, have spent over two years perfecting a website that they
believe will not only enable ordinary people to make their own extraordinary
books but will also introduce new technology and unprecedented quality
standards to the photo book industry.
I have had an initial play
around on the website and I am impressed. Features that make it
unique include the collaborator tool that allows people to invite others to
edit their book, and the ability to add video to digital versions that can be
shared online. The result is an exquisitely produced object featuring designer
fabric binding and high quality art paper that reflects the high production
values that PQ Blackwell is known for.
Blackwell,
who plans to launch the website around the world in 25 languages over the next
two years, says “MILK Tailor Made Books is founded on a simple love for making
beautiful books, and a belief that every life has defining moments that are
worth recording and celebrating,”
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