Julia
Dittberner
Is it easy? Is it a dream?
"Is it easy? Is it a dream?" is a collaboration between Julia Dittberner & Zach Clark. Born out of conversations comparing and contrasting their lives on opposite sides of the world (Tokyo for Julia, Oakland for Zach), and a mutual desire to try to find answers and understanding of how to live in our contemporary times, "Is it easy? Is it a dream?" is a formal abstraction based on call and response, in which an initial layer was made from reducing a form, and a response layer was composed using what remained.
"Is it easy? Is it a dream?" is a 5x5" 2 color risograph book, in an edition of 50, printed in Oakland, CA in July of 2018 and produced while Julia was in residence at National Monument Press as the initial "Summer Pants" resident.
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VASE and FLOWER by Akiko Tsuji
In 2012, Bay Area-based designer Akiko Tsuji began to create hand-built ceramic vases. For her first ceramics book, Tsuji invited floral designers from all around the world to create and document arrangements to highlight her vessels. In the summer of 2018, the photographs were collected and published in the book "Vase and Flower."
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Collaborators include Studio Mondine, Meryl Valerie Floral Design, Seika Kodama, Twig and Twine, Greengardann, A.P. Bio, Yorin, Gem Fleuriste, and Julia Dittberner.
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Excerpt from Julia:
"Making someone a floral arrangement is so special because it brings them a little bit of joy, whether they're celebrating or suffering. When creating an arrangement, I think about movement and simplicity to honor the products and represent how they grow in nature. I also enjoy using unexpected flowers, greenery, and vessels and frequently create 'micro-arrangements' to display in my apartment in Tokyo."
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"Vase and Flower" is an 8 1/2 x 11 full color perfect bound book, in an edition of 100, printed by Famous Aspects, 2018.
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