I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library – so said Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) and we agree.
Books are such an important part of our lives. We love to hold them, smell them; we love to turn the pages and we love to travel the journeys they unfold and the insights they reveal and we hope that we have many more years to buy and read. For us books offer the quintessential ‘hunting and gathering’ way of life in the most traditional ethnographic sense – sustenance. Our library is not large; each book is valued for a variety of reasons and the collection grows.
We read about Amos Groth in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald and filed it for future reference. We wanted to create a permanent home for our library and we wanted it to reflect the feel of our apartment. We needed easy access, maximum capacity, a little colour that would set the atmosphere of our living spaces, but most of all we wanted a library ladder – the ultimate symbol of ‘libraryness’. We ended up with two!
It goes without saying that Amos’s cabinetry skills are exceptional and we are so pleased with how things have turned out. In fact, so pleased, that the library has expanded from the study and living room to the hallway and we are contemplating new possibilities.
For Heather and I the most important process in the development of the library was the design stage, looking at professional drawings illustrating various siting options, evaluating costs and benefits and considering aesthetic outcomes, paint finishes, colours and responses to the height and shape of our living and working spaces.
What we found in Amos was an approach to problem solving through grand design. In such a scenario responses to context are critical to our thinking, however, a strong focus on detail leads to lasting satisfaction. And we also have a secret cupboard. What more could you ask for?