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Bookish Birds – Giving New Life to Old Books

By March 1, 2020Arty

As a bookworm, it’s sad to see a book damaged beyond reading, its spine bent so far back the binding is broken, pages that flutter out when you open it, torn, water damaged and no longer loved. The Bookish Birds, however, see these poor, tattered books as the start of a new, amazing piece of art to be created.

Diana and Roz are the owners of Bookish Birds, a literary store which aims to give “new life to old books.” They have been best friends since their days as room-mates at Wake Forest University “many moons ago.” Their journey into business and owning a shop together, however, began when Diana made some ornaments as gifts and people loved them so much they asked where they could buy them – which inspired the best friend duo to set up their own shop.

As serious bookworms themselves, Diana and Roz decided that adding books to the ornaments was a great idea and set out in search of old books that could be repurposed into art and sold as gifts. They scoured thrift stores, libraries, Goodwill clearances, and used bookstores to find damaged books, maps and music sheets which would otherwise be destined for the trash. “We hope we are giving new life to the books and we ease our hearts as we hate to see books being thrown away,” explain Diana and Roz.

These rescued artefacts are saved from trash or pulping by these book-loving artists and are instead upcycled into beautiful works of page art and ornaments that any literary lovers would be proud to have in their home.

Literary gifts from Bookish Birds can be found on Etsy where you can find the work from these two ‘book murdering’ artists. These creations include page art with quotes from books, movies and TV printed onto old book pages. They also create ornaments by taking damaged books and slicing and curling the pages of much-loved classics from Where the Wild Things Are to The Great Gatsby. What’s more, if the quote you’re looking for isn’t available, the artists are open to custom orders which you can request online.

As well as selling their art online, those local to North Carolina might catch the Bookish Birds at local craft fairs or even find their artwork in local independent bookstores. “We love being able to supply these stores with unique items for their readers that, in turn, help the stores keep doing all the great things indie bookstores do in their communities.”

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