In Bloom

Description

in bloom

I’ve been very lucky to have spent time in Seoul and Tokyo in cherry blossom season and I got well and truly caught up in it. I love catching a glimpse of blooms in a busy city street, the celebratory feeling of hanami (the Japanese term for flower viewing) where people of all ages make special trips to see the blossom, have picnics and enjoy limited edition Sakura versions of their favourite foods and drinks.

I thought about making this zine for a long time. I wanted to try something different, and after lots of doodling designs, fiddling about with different papers and getting frustrated with my printer I decided on this: in bloom.

It’s an A7 (7.5 x 10.5cm) zine with 12ish pages, all printed, cut, folded and sewn at home by me. There are blooms from Tokyo, Seoul, London and my own back garden. I think they’re mostly cherry but I’ve deliberately kept the title vague in case some aren’t. I’ve used different papers, including some pink card that probably dates back to the ’70s or ’80s (from my Grandad’s old stash) and I’ve written the title in pencil on the front. It was very fiddly to make and there’s not much pink card so I won’t be able to make loads of them!

As always, everything is folded by hand so it’s a little wonky, and the print is different to some of my other zines as it’s inkjet rather than commercial but I hope that adds to the unique feel.

At the moment I’m afraid I can only sell and ship zines to the UK and US, due to import requirements. I hope to add more locations when I can. If you’re elsewhere do get in touch so I can double-check your location and let you know if anything’s changed.