The book
A hardcover book, made one at a time
The board keeps growing. The book gives the family something to hold.
What is inside
- Era chapters
- That tell the recipient’s life chronologically through photos and key moments.
- Stories
- A chapter for the longer memories the people in their life want to tell.
- Why We Love You
- For the things their people would say out loud if they ever got the chance.
A memorial book, chapter by chapter
- Opening note from family
- Photos
- Before she was Mum
- Friends and stories
- Work and the world outside home
- Family life
- Her as your mum
- Things that were very her
- Stories people still tell
- Messages for you
A suggested shape, not a fixed one. You name the chapters, decide what goes in each, and change any of it as things arrive.
Inside a chapter, photographs are grouped onto pages, and messages are laid out so each one keeps the name of whoever wrote it. A long letter is given room to be read. A single photograph worth the space gets a page of its own.
Nothing arranges itself and stays that way. You can move any of it, take anything out, and see exactly what will be printed before you order.
What it does for the person it is about
A whole life named back to them in the voices of the people who lived it with them. The moments that mattered. The stories everyone tells. The things their people would say if they ever stood up and said them.
What it does for the person making it
The relief of saying it now. Not waiting. Not regretting. The feeling of orchestrating something good for the person who shaped you, while they’re still here to read it.
What we do, so they don’t have to
The book that arrives looks as if every contributor knew exactly what to say. They didn’t, on their own. We helped them. The structure of the book, the design of every page, the guidance for every person we ask, the prompts that fit each relationship — all from us.
Your job is to bring the people who know them. Theirs is to say what they mean. Ours is everything else. The book that arrives reads as if everyone tried hard. They did. We made trying easy.
How long it is
The shortest book we print is 40 pages. Most come out between 80 and 120, which is roughly what fifteen to thirty people contributing produces.
There is no need to aim at a number. You gather what people send, and the book is however long it needs to be.
The object itself
A square hardcover book, printed one at a time and posted to whoever you choose.
The book290 × 290 mm
A4 paper210 × 297 mm
- Size
- 290 × 290 mm square
- Binding
- Hardcover, printed cover wrapped around the boards
- Paper
- 200gsm silk paper
- Photographs
- Printed at 300 dpi
- Cover
- Printed, with the name on the front and the spine
- Printed
- One at a time, when you order it
Photographs are never enlarged to fake detail they don’t have, and none is rejected for being small. When you crop one, the editor stops you where it would start to look soft and says so — you can go further if you want to.
Where to start
Making a book begins with the person it is about and the people you want to hear from. Everything else follows from that.