It’s amazing where teaching our bookbinding skills can go.

Late last year public artist and overall lovely person Sayraphim Lothian attended one of our How to make a book – Coptic Stitch workshops. Little did we know at the time that she was planning on using her skills in a wonderful Guerilla Kindness project entitled “Sharing Ink” due to kick off in August 2013.

sharing ink

Sharing Ink is a wonderful project in which 30 books – all handmade by Sayraphim – are given to 30 local Melbourne writers and artists to inscribe with a lovely message to a stranger. These tomes of joy will then be scattered around the Melbourne CBD as a gift to whoever is lucky to find one. From the 1st to the 11th August the unsuspecting scav hunt will create a sense of awe and wonder for 30 Melbournians who stumble upon these pages filled with sentiments from strangers.

The whole project is a wonderful collaboration between artist, writer, community and indie business. Paperlab is so proud to have been a small part of that process.

You may be familiar with Sayraphim’s other public artworks and possibly even encountered these acts of Guerilla Kindness yourself.   Previous works include fake handmade cupcakes left around the CBD for a work entitled “For you, stranger”, “Lucky Street” in Newtown, Sydney utilising a yarn-bombing of the 5000 year old Nazar evil eye charm to spread good wishes throughout the community and “Collins St regulars” , a playful and interactive piece as part of White Night Melbourne that paid homage to well-known Melbourne artists John Brack and Mirka Mora with painted soft canvas sculptures that participants could take home.

sharing ink

There are many other projects where Sayraphim has created playful experiences for people and her work is held in MOMA, NYC and the National Gallery of Victoria to name a few.

From her website:

“Her participatory work creates bridges between participants, allowing moments of loveliness to flow between strangers. They are about the sharing of experiences and the fleeting but meaningful connections made.

They are about rediscovering joy in oneself and realising it abounds in other people. Sayraphim aims to facilitate meaningful connections between people through craft.”

How wonderful is that?!! So much awe and respect for her ethos, pure talent and the abundance in her work!

Be sure to follow the Sharing Ink journey via the  twitter feed and blog.

I look forward to scouring the CBD to find a piece of Guerilla Kindness for myself.