YOSHIKATSU

Design, Foraging, Printing:

GALLERY

ぼくたちは村づくりを諦めることにした

書籍

サハラ砂漠南縁に位置する西アフリカの国、ニジェール。著者の二人はこの国で小さな村を作ろうとしていた。日本でのクラウドファインディング、土地の購入、井戸掘り、そして政治や血縁などといったさまざまな問題で村づくりが立ち行かなくなっていくルポルタージュを束ねた本である。装丁を考える際には、現地の写真が収録されないこと、綺麗な本は望まれていないことを踏まえ、本文と同じ紙を折り表紙に仕立てた。チリをつけ上製本の体はなしているが簡素で弱い本を目指した。ほかにも現地の土をインクで再現する試みやプリントアウトした文字を切り貼りして制作した紙元版で入稿を行うなど、制作の痕跡が残る作り方を採用している。
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Niger is a West African country located along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. This book brings together a reportage of two authors who set out to build a small village there. It follows how the project gradually became impossible to sustain, as they faced a series of difficulties including crowdfunding in Japan, purchasing land, digging a well, and dealing with local politics and kinship relations.
In designing the book, I took into account the fact that no photographs of the site would be included, and that what was wanted was not a polished or beautiful object. The cover was therefore made by folding the same paper used for the text pages. Although it takes the form of a cloth-backed hardcover, I aimed for a book that feels simple and fragile.
I also adopted production methods that leave visible traces of the making process, including attempts to recreate the color of the local soil in ink, and preparing the print data from paste-up originals made by cutting and assembling printed text by hand.