A Literary Partnership
Riverhead Books has teamed up with MakerBot to create a limited-edition 3D printed slipcase for award-winning novelist Chang-rae Lee’s upcoming novel, On Such a Full Sea. It’s due to be released on January 7th, 2014.
Helen Yentus and members of the MakerBot team designed the slipcase, and 200 of them will be made with the MakerBot® Replicator® 2 Desktop 3D Printer. Each will include a copy of the book signed by Lee.
The Perfect Complement
With so much writing migrating to digital media, it’s exciting for readers who prefer physical books to have a connection to a leading-edge technology while still enjoying the pleasures of the printed page.
Lee thought the slipcase was a terrific idea.
“What I like about this is that it revisits the book as an object rather than only content. Content is what’s most important ultimately of course, but this is a book with a certain movement to it that regular books don’t have.”He continued by commenting on how the exterior design brought an added energy and grace to the book’s presentation.
“Maybe it’s the particular design, but it feels as if it’s kinetic. What is inside is kinetic, but the physical thing is usually not. It’s supposed to sort of sit there and not move. But this one feels like it’s sort of moving, which I like. It’s also quite elegant.”3D Printing: The Future of Publishing? We hope that the 3D printed slipcase for On Such a Full Sea inspires authors and publishers to find innovative ways to use 3D printing to enhance the experience for their readers. Of course we don’t know what those will be yet, but that’s the exciting part!