“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. All photos courtesy Tomoko Takeda | click to enlarge
If you had to distill a book down to a single image, what would it be? In essence, that’s the idea behind Tomoko Takeda’s latest project monogatari no danpen (fragments of stories). Except the artist and art director takes her concept one step – or one cut, if you will – further.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
By meticulously cutting and folding the actual pages, Takeda creates “books that are enjoyed by looking rather than reading.” The work is reminiscent of artists like Noriko Ambe and Nerhol, who also use books and their pages as canvas. The Tokyo-based Takeda, an art director for major ad agency Dentsu, chose major literary masterpieces like “Flowers for Algernon” and Soseki Natsume’s seminal “I am a cat.” You can see more of her work on Behance.
Kokoro by Soseki Natsume
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Night on the Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa
The spider’s thread and other stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
I am a cat by Soseki Natsume
Two Years’ Vacation by Jules Verne
