If you have been watching us closely, you'll be well aware of Spineless Classics. It is a company based in UK that turns books into beautiful posters.

I still remember gifting my friends their favorite novels so that they can keep it with them forever. But now I have a another fun option. Thanks to Spineless Classics! They are doing a wonderful job by consolidating one entire novel in a poster and ready to be hanged on wall. See the image on your left, and you'll get to know what I am talking about.

The creative guy behind this brilliant concept is Carl Pappenheim. Catch his interview below and get to know some interesting facts about Spineless Classics:


Carl, let's start with a brief introduction of yours. Tell us a bit about your background.

Hallo. I'm a reasonably unexceptional Thames Valley kid. I'm old enough to have had my fourth birthday party at Windsor Safari Park and cultured enough to recall that it was the best thing EVER. I got into web development while in college and stuck with it until February this year, when I quit to do Spineless full-time.


'A book on one page'..what a brilliant concept it is! How did such a creative idea strike to you?

Well, I'm just naturally brilliant I suppose. Kidding aside, it was an accident. My friend (and now supplier) John at the Eton Graphics Company does a lot of architectural drawings. They're very big but have tiny text on them and it got me wondering how many words it would be if we filled the whole sheet with text. A quick back-of-an-envelope calculation gave me 100,000 words, which is an average novel. I was back in the UK after a financially .. difficult time abroad and was looking for creative Christmas present ideas and he did me a deal on my Mum's favorite book. It was a pretty weak gift though as she had to spend £200 on framing the thing!





















































Would you like to describe the creative work process involved in creating these posters?

I mostly have a large team of magic elves working around the clock with very tiny movable type. However, when they're on holiday I use computer software. Often the worst part is first, cleaning and preparing digital versions of books, before importing them onto a blank page to see roughly how much space we have to play with. Then I'll try a few rough ideas, maybe do some Internet searches to get the creative juices flowing before sketching in detail. I've only recently started hiring people to do the illustrations; in the past it's all been my work. Finally comes the hardest part, making sure that I don't have hyphenated words split across white spaces, and trying to positing chapter headings in places that make sense. The power of the designs, I think, is in the fact that they stand up to close scrutiny. I don't just bang them out after hours with no regard for the details.
























































































I know it's difficult to pick but which poster is your favorite?

Probably the upcoming "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". The original has been wildly popular and it made sense to license it. A good friend of mine and amazing artist Tyler Gibb has done some sketches for it and it's going to be tremendous fun.


























What was the biggest challenge that you faced while creating them?

Finding the time to keep doing new designs is hard. Running a business takes up far too much time. It sounds backwards but in some ways I'd rather hire an MD and just be owner/artist!





































































I'm sure you must have received a huge amount of appreciation for this excellent concept. Share the best compliment you've received so far.

"Oh wow; I wish I'd seen that before slogging through Pride and Prejudice for GCSE. It doesn't look nearly as intimidating." Not really a compliment per se but certainly the one that made me feel it was all worthwhile.

So, what's next? Are you thinking of taking this project further or you'll be starting a new one?

I'm very excited about some new stuff we're launching later this year. We've got a few more modern titles in the pipeline (sadly I can't name them until it's all signed and sealed) and I'm really keen to get involved with some exciting new print processes like color and foil finishes.

What are the other things that interests you? Share your favorite activities with us.

My day job before this was in web development and I still take some pleasure in writing little utilities to smooth over the boring parts of the business and the creation of the designs. I also own a sewing machine and last year created the best pair of jeans in London. No, better than those.

What message do you have for our readers?

Join the mailing list! I send out stuff pretty infrequently but when they go out the emails occasionally include discount codes for my favorite designs.

Carl, I am sure our readers would love to join your mailing list. Thank you for sparing time to talk to us. I had a great time learning about you. All the best!

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