On Friday I took home two new books from Edition Paumes to read them: Stockholm Ateliers and London Gardens. Well, read is bit exaggerated since I don’t speak a word of ようこそジュ and they are all written in Japanese but once again I was not disappointed and since you can not flip through it, here are why I love these little, cool Japanese books…..

Reason 1: I love how inspiring and creative they are. There is a bit of text but it’s all in Japanese so your attention is really on the photos. It wouldn’t be a bad thing sometimes to know what they’re writing about but it’s probably just a description of the photos so in the end, you pay a lot more attention to the details of each image and they always put a list of websites at the end or a mini guide or a list of flea markets, museums etc…it depends on the theme of the book.

Reason 2: Each time I discover the work of amazingly talented and creative people I never heard of. I know some of them because their work is commercial (like illustrators, fashion designers, product designers) but others simply work in creative environments like theatre, cinema, PR, publishing or they are photographers, boutique owners, artist agents, Chefs or food journalists….and I think it’s this mix of creative backgrounds from different countries that give these books a different, arty feel.

My favourites are all the ones from Stockholm and Copenhagen for instance because Scandinavian people’s approach to design, patterns, colours, light and family living is different to the ones I know from being born in France and having been in England for the past 15 years. Saying that, I can’t stop drooling over London gardens now that we are starting to work on our little garden because when it comes to gardening, I think England have the best gardens…and rain! No seriously have you seen the weather this morning!! Shocking for a bank holidays weekend!

Reason 3: I love their ‘slices of live‘ style. The homes featured are not styled and they are not perfect! They are real family homes with a bit of mess, colours and imperfections which we can all relate to. When we are into design and decoration, we often aspire to have gorgeous, tidy homes…well yes…that will happen when your kids move out of your home…

In the meantime, try to explain to her 5 years old that her two babies both dressed in pink or a red bike sitting in the middle of the lounge in front of your Paulistano or her Shrek and the Fantastic Mr Fox DVDs laying in in the floor out of their boxes, is not exactly the kind of look your were aiming for your lounge….yes exactly!

Reason 4: I love the design ‘a la Japonaise’…From a design point of view, I love how the pages are laid-out and how the Japanese typography look and I love how their colourful spine stands out on my shelf….

Reason 5: I think they are a real treat and make a wonderful little present. I read on some blogs that people thought they were expensive at £20/20 euros each. I tend to disagree. I buy a lot of decoration magazines and interior books and considering that a mag costs in average £3.70 in the UK, I think £20 is a good price for a book that you are going to look at over and over and cherish and I’m not saying this because we sell them on B&F because if you have been reading this blog for a while now, then you will know that it’s more a case of …I love them WHICH IS WHY they are on B&F.

However since I feel so strongly about it and I want more people to enjoy these books, this month, we will be offering one lucky winner the two books of her/his choice from the Edition Paumes series. Yep! You read it correctly, two books by Editions Paumes to one lucky winner. To participate, click here and if you haven’t done so, don’t forget to sign up to the BODIE and FOU Enewsletter to get 10% off the third Thursday of each month.

Have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend!