Second Editions is a Berkeley-based business run by Jim Rosenau, a software developer and carpenter. He builds furniture out of books — mostly books ("I remove some of the paper and replace it with a sturdy armature of salvaged lumber."). The idea is to produce an urban version of the rural crafter's twig-furniture ("I envied rural craftspeople who could spend time in the woods, gathering elegant natural materials for their work. I was relegated to what I could find on the sidewalk and in Dumpsters, my head swiveling as I passed each pile of discards."). The furniture itself is gorgeous, witty and bloody useful, and produced with an eye to archiving ethics ("I research all apparently valuable books and try to place them with dealers but rarely succeed."). I want all of this.
(Thanks, Robin!)
