Holycrap: Renn Lim by Renn Lim

 

“Renn Lim by Renn Lim” is yet another one of Holycrap’s creative ventures. I really like how this little book is put together, it reminds me so much of my own journals and how I save little scraps of paper and other ephemera that I love a lot.

What I love about Holycrap’s design approach is that they have a very distinctive and original style. They work with what their large archive of material and make an aesthetic out of it. It is absolutely okay to be messy, or when things get stained. From the viewpoint of a book lover and a creative, I think that sometimes it is important to embrace some of the imperfections and make it a part of design. This book is an example of how elements of art, craft, and design can come together and complement each other perfectly, and make the experience of going through the book so pleasant. Books are meant to come in contact with our touch, dog-eared pages and stains are inevitable. Books should feel at home in our hands.

 

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Paper bits that are scanned, printed, and deliberately crumpled by hand.Photo 16-8-15 11 45 09 am Photo 16-8-15 11 45 19 am Photo 16-8-15 11 45 24 am Photo 16-8-15 11 45 30 am Photo 16-8-15 11 46 37 am

Super adorable and amazing replica of the envelopes from photo shops. I laid an actual one next to it for comparison. It even folds up like the real thing. Inside the envelopes are small prints of Renn’s paintings.Photo 16-8-15 11 46 44 am Photo 16-8-15 11 46 55 am Photo 16-8-15 11 47 15 am Photo 16-8-15 11 47 21 am Photo 16-8-15 11 47 53 am Photo 16-8-15 11 47 54 am Photo 16-8-15 11 47 56 am

Holycrap: Till Death Do Us Part

 

Really enjoyed looking at the second famzine by Holycrap. This issue is particularly inspiring for me in terms of the way the contents are being presented. I have been busy scanning some of my journals and other little things. Looking at this work gives me many ideas on how I can present my data in a manner that is true to the medium. Most importantly, how can I capture the ephemeral quality of these things?

Holycrap had a sharing session at Deck two weeks ago and they talked about how the made the second zine. The second famzine is a tribute to the grandparents of Renn and Aira, a celebration of the older Lims’ 50th wedding anniversary. The cover design is an old Chinese National Language School folder, which was scanned and redesigned to fit the mini-books.Photo 16-8-15 11 39 52 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 01 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 07 am

Absolutely charming details being put into this work. Each copy of the zine is individually hand-stamped with the title of the work. And then the folder is intentionally “wrecked” and taped over to give the worn look. If you look closely, the yellow stains are actually scans from the actual folder. It is all very realistic. I’m interesting in going for this design approach with regards to my work because I think the data cannot be simply arranged on InDesign, printed, and that’s it.Photo 16-8-15 11 40 19 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 24 am

Inside the folder is a 5-part book series with different chapters for their findings. What a brilliant and unique way of designing.Photo 16-8-15 11 40 32 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 39 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 45 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 51 am Photo 16-8-15 11 40 53 am

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Mini (super realistic) replicas of ephemera makes for a very engaging and intimate experience when going through this work.Photo 16-8-15 11 42 05 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 10 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 17 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 23 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 28 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 36 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 41 am Photo 16-8-15 11 42 50 am

Holycrap: Google Translating Tokyoto

 

A good friend gave me the brilliant Rubbish Famzines by Holycrap. I’ve been looking through this over the last few weeks. These are some really inspirational work in terms of design and documentation which I will be looking at quite plenty for reference in the course of my FYP.

Holycrap is a local art collective made up of Pann Lim, Claire Lim, and their two children Renn and Aira. They have been making the Rubbish Famzines for two years now and recently launched their fourth famzine entitled “The Incomplete Herbarium and Other Garden City Exploits”.

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to listen to the family share about their project and how they work together to make these brilliant famzines. The family defines the famzines as a family magazine, a compilation of all that they find interesting and memorable to them as a family.

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Holycrap at DECK two weeks ago.Photo 16-8-15 11 43 22 am

Google Translating Tokyoto is the first famzine that they made in 2013. It is a brilliantly pink book documenting their first trip together as a family. Some pages from the zine.Photo 16-8-15 11 43 19 am  Photo 16-8-15 11 43 30 am

Incorporating screenshots, film photos and text.Photo 16-8-15 11 43 47 am

Never thought of it, but QR codes are actually a brilliant way of incorporating virtual content with print. During the talk, the family demonstrated the use of these QR codes, which leads to funny YouTube videos and Vimeo clips. Photo 16-8-15 11 43 55 am Photo 16-8-15 11 44 07 am Photo 16-8-15 11 44 13 am Photo 16-8-15 11 44 33 am