Tuesday, January 15

Magazine. Book. Mook.

I made a visit to the Kinokuniya book shop in San Francisco's Japantown last week - one of my favorite places to go. I love all the beautifully photographed books, even though I can't read a single word! My favorite thing to pick up are the Mooks (magazine/books). I grabbed quite a few and thought I'd like to share some of the pretty pages with y'all, since they can be hard to come by.


If there isn't a Kinokuniya book shop near you, you can also find Japanese books and mooks online at Pie Books , and Paumes as well as on eBay. It sometimes takes some searching, but so well worth the hunt. I picked up three small mooks, Stockholm's Ateliers, Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Project and Stockholm's Love Apartments, as well as a couple of larger mooks, one of designs from Cath Kidston and another I have no idea how translate for you (see photo below). Here's a small glimpse of of those two first.








A few pages from a mook from British designer Cath Kidston. This one came with a
cute canvas shopping bag tucked inside - good thing, since I had a lot to carry home!



Stockholm's Love Apartments is exactly that: the apartments
of some of Stockholm's most stylish live-in loves.






Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Project contains a load of fun home projects.




I also found Stockholm's Ateliers available on eBay. Here's a few inspiring pages...




Editor's note: Holly from Decor8 just emailed me this great link to ordering Japanese books from Paumes - you can learn more here. And here are the ISBN #'s you need to order:
Handmade Project: ISBN978-4-579-11148-0
Stockholm's Love Apartments: ISBN978-4-07-259330-1
Stockholm Ateliers: ISBN978-4-07-258158-2
Cath Kidston: ISBN978-4-7966-5937-6
'Mystery' Mook: ISBN978-4-87303-545-1

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

gorgeous! i love how the people in them aren't japanese tho.

Uncle Beefy said...

Oh yeah, Victoria. I love our Kinokuniya bookstore! These are some great pics. Really love the Stockholm Ateliers as it is great inspiration for me as I construct my own studio. Must be on the lookout for that one :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Victoria, I'm really interested in the Cath Kidston book, maybe you could include some ISBN numbers because most books are also for sale at Amazon.co.jp or Yes Asia. Finding them over there without ISBN numbers is a pain so yes that would be great.

Suzanne : : S.HOPtalk said...

What a fun, new source of inspiration. I had no idea these existed...thanks for the tip.

haus maus said...

I notice a few Jeu de Paume books there. Yay! They are really amazing. Do you know about the Flickr group Jeu de Paume Inspired?

http://flickr.com/groups/paumeinspired/

sfgirlbybay said...

I've added the ISBN# to the bottom of the post if anyone would like to order. Thanks Holly for the tip!

Stephanie said...

wow! great books victoria! i am visiting san francisco this summer so hopefully i will be able to go to this fabulous store!

PamKittyMorning said...

I love those Mooks! I usually go to San Jose for my Kinokuniya fix. I love the little Paris Apartment series. Thanks for the new source online as well.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad we have a Kinokuniya bookstore here as well in Kuala Lumpur and whenever I'm looking for some inspiration I just go there, take a seat and browse through the craft section, nice to see your post about it. ..irene..

Unknown said...

So much inspiration! These are some great books. Thanks for sharing the links for where to get them. :)

Anonymous said...

I made the mistake of stopping by after work yesterday. Japanese magazines are my weakness! My wallet is lighter - but hey, I got a nice new free tote out of it all!

Anonymous said...

Love your selections! Thanks for sharing:) I'm so tempted to drive over there now... and to pick up some mochi too of course.

Jen of MadeByGirl said...

the books look super interesting , very much my style...thanks for sharing..its quite nice to find books online you havent seen and then you go out and buy them for yourself...nice treat!!


Jen Ramos
'100% Recycled DESIGNER Cards'
www.madebygirl.com

Anonymous said...

i love these kino' books! my boyfriend bought me ten of them for christmas last year. that is why he is my boyfriend.

Nathalie said...

Wow I am totally new to these Japanese Books, what an amazing find ! Thanks Victoria for sharing this :)

Anonymous said...

The mystery mook is called "Interior and Home No.4." This is apparently part of a series, see the additional titles section on the amazon japan listing below:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/4873035457/ref=dp_change_lang/250-3874161-4837055?ie=UTF8&language=en%5FJP


For those feeling adventurous, you can order from bk1 or amazon japan. Guides to help navigate the Japanese:

http://www.geocities.com/psgrisham/aj.html

http://www.yaoi.ca/bgbk11.php

Looks like amazon japan will switch to an English interface, though you do lose things like the summary.

Inka said...

I just love Mooks! Those books of yours look absolutely beautiful. Thank heaven for the internet, otherwise I would never had even found out about Mooks :)

Anonymous said...

HI! I don't know if you're super interested, but this website has Cath Kidston bedding and towelling SUPER cheap... http://www.cathkidstonhome.com/