Cool Hunting

I first discovered the delicate hand-bound books of Angela Liguori nearly eight years ago, while working at a design shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she happened to be a resident teacher at Hollander's School of Book and Paper Arts. Now based in Boston, Angela continues to produce custom-made invitations, business cards and books through her graphic studio, Carta, Inc.

In addition to her own studio work, Angela collaborates with her longtime cross-oceanic partner Silvana Amato on limited edition books produced under the imprint of Edizioni Almenodue (which translates as “press of at least two”). Working with a number of artists, illustrators, calligraphers, papermakers, and writers, the two create wonderfully unique editions that hearken to a bygone era.

Browsing her Etsy shop, I was hard-pressed to limit the highlights of such a diverse collection. The Italian recipe book, designed and hand-bound by Angela and Silvana, contains twelve Italian recipes printed on an accordion book structure with rounded corners and a baker twine enclosure. For die-hard food book collectors, there’s a limited edition publication of “The Fruit, Herbs, and Vegetables of Italy,” from the 1614 manuscript by Giacomo Castelvetro. Hand-bound in link stitch with white linen thread, it features illustrations by Rita Ravaioli. (See more images after the jump.)