It seems the more reliant we become on electronic media the more people prophesy on the impending redundancy of the good old 'paper' book. So if the humble book is that undesirable, why has it become the darling of the 'designer interior' set? Pretty much every supermarket-variety interior decorating magazine sprouts carefully placed Penguin 'Classics' in photo shoots of renovated lounge rooms across suburban Australia. And glossy coffee table books have never gone out of style (though they do get somewhat dusty. Here's a tip: opening them up occasionally and having a read will fix that.) But I reckon one of the worst offences against books was committed by whoever dreamed up the idea of creating those tragic faux leather book facades that the rich and stupid prop up on their bookcase to hide their Sylvester Stallone video collections in a vain attempt to look intelligent.
Welcome to Brushstroke - the uber-trendy Japanese restaurant just opened in New York where gastronomy is but one attraction... The walls of the cocktail bar and lounge were built with 12,000 second hand books. Looks pretty cool huh - brilliant even! Reading and eating, combining two of life's indisputable pleasures right? Not quite....sadly these hapless paperbacks can no longer fulfil their original purpose, jammed as they are like bricks into mortar.
The Gothamist columnist reporting on the opening asks the question on everyone's lips...: Who will be the first sake-bombed customer to idly pull out one of the books and bring the entire restaurant crashing down?
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