Tuesday Double Edition: Jane Mount

Autumnal Tuesday greetings, collectors! The fickle weather has made my iced-or-hot coffee decision unpredictably variable, confusing the counter people at my morning haunt. After polishing off a piping hot cup today, I returned home for a costume change. My dog-walking chic ensemble discarded, I am now outfitted in my beloved motorcycle boots, an engineer-striped skirt (a more fashionable interpretation of the ubiquitous overalls of my early 20s) and a long sleeve tee.

Tights and boots season, at long last! Such bliss, especially after exceeding my (admittedly low) threshold for high heels yesterday, teetering about in them long after the Important Meeting I donned them for was through. In keeping with back-to-school vibe that such seasonality inspires, I have two bookish editions to introduce today.

The utterly charming Bookshelf 29 and Bookshelf 20 are print editions based on original watercolors by Renaissance woman Jane Mount. I discovered Jane's work via the very enjoyable art and design blog my love for you is a stampede of horses and snapped up one of the originals via Etsy. Having judged her by her bookshelves, which held much in common with my own, I wanted to know more. A cursory Google-stalking of Ms. Mount and suddenly I had myself the biggest friend-crush I've had in a long time. (Who wouldn't?)

I don't use the term Renaissance woman lightly in describing Jane. An artist at heart, she's enviably accomplished in a variety of disciplines, tackling web, print and interior design with equal aplomb. I'm especially appreciative of her talents since my own ability to produce anything visually appealing, by my own hand, is limited to my excellent penmanship. Then on top of it, she's got a way with words! And she's an experienced entrepreneur and a stylish dresser to boot. She even knows a thing or two about wine, knowledge that she's generously shared with me since we took our relationship from the virtual to the real. (I'm not one to let a crush languish for long.)

Jane came into JBP HQ for a meeting several weeks ago; we talked about working together on one small design related project. As if! Flash forward to now: she's involved with almost every project we've got going (and you know that's a lot) and I'm courting her to come work with us full time.

That she's talented makes her a great addition to our team, but her omnivorous curiosity is what brings her into the family fold so easily. We're all possessed of similarly voracious appetites for a wide variety of things: architecture, art, photography, dumplings, champagne, shoes, ferris wheels, letterpress, Coke in bottles, apple-picking, bridge-crossing and naturally, books — all these things inform our work in one way or another. We've all got bookshelves with an eclecticism on par with Jane's, which is part of why these editions are so appealing.

The neat row of well-used notebooks was an instant favorite in the office. Moleskine fanatics one and all, each of us has a different favorite. Lately I'm a fan of the pocket-sized reporter, while a friend has been making some charming drawings in the storyboard version. We gave our Hey, Hot Shot! panelists craft-paper covered cahiers customized with 20x200 stickers at a recent panel review. The Moleskine dream? Custom embossed ones, with the 20x200 logo of course!

The Moleskines are in good company with the architecture-heavy shelf we chose to feature. I encourage you to check out any one of the titles depicted; they're bound to get the creative juices flowing. Thanks to the hard work of Ms. Distin, we've got a linked up reading list to share, listed left to right:

S,M,L,XL
John Pawson Works
(Un)fashion
A Mysterious Unmarked Slim White Book
McSweeney's Issue 13
Elysian Fields
Chemistry Book
Acme Novelty Datebook
1000 Extraordinary Objects
Moleskine Red Pocket Daily Planner
Mutations
Experience and Nature
Art As Experience

Having filled your day with art and books and art of books, I'm going to skedaddle. I'm back tomorrow with another double photography edition, one that I'm also quite excited to share with all of you.

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