Klaus Rules
A few weeks ago I posted on my goofy calendar-making activities. I'd written about them a few years back, and when I did I got a lovely comment from a bookbinder and artist's book maker in Germany named Klaus von Mirbach. So I circled back to Klaus to say hey and highlight his work. In a comment on his blog I expressed fondness for one of his recent projects.
A little over a week ago, that very book–a charming, idiosyncratic volume–arrived in the mail! Klaus sent it to me as a gift. (The cover promises "Suggestions, attempts to persuade, remains, something incomprehensible, poetic mysteries," etc.)
There's an event that can't be imagined without the crazy power of the internet. I rue certain aspects of online culture–particularly the dominance of searching as a mode, as distinguished from browsing–but the unpredictable point-to-point connections are wonderful. Of course that very connection was sealed with a physical object, packed up by one person, handled by plenty others en route, and received by another.
Long live the artifact.
But absent our two blogs, neither of us would know of the other.
I put my own package in the mail yesterday. Klaus, I hope you enjoy my return offering.