The Do Book Co.

What's NewMarch 11, 2016 · Miranda West

We're excited to announce three new additions to the Do Books collection. All published on 5th May 2016. For news about launch events, festival appearances - including the Hay Literary Festival - head to our Twitter and Instagram feeds.

 

Do Fly: Find your way. Make a living. Be your best self. GAVIN STRANGE

Do Work You Love. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But the reality can be quite different. Whether you’re just starting out or simply ready to head in a new direction, you’re going to need some help turning your natural skills into success-seeking missiles of radness.

On hand is Gavin Strange, a creative working by night under the name of JamFactory and, by day, at Aardman Animations – the Academy Award-winning studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

With advice, encouragement and a reminder that life’s too short to not pursue your passion, Do Fly will inspire you to:

  • Change your perspective and revamp your mindset
  • Develop creative side projects
  • Stay optimistic and resilient
  • Discover skills and passions you never knew you had!

 Do Fly is your all-in-one guide, ticket and passport to a new destination. Are you ready for take off?

Gavin Strange is a senior creative at Aardman Animations, the Academy Award-winning studio behind Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit. He is a believer in creative side projects and, by night, develops his own under the name, JamFactory. He is a speaker on the global circuit including OFFF, FITC and Wired: Next Generation. He took an unconventional route to get to where he is and urges young people to find a fulfilling vocation, to be stimulated and inspired every day. Gavin lives in Bristol, England with his wife and their greyhound Arnie.

Do Design: Why beauty is key to everything. ALAN MOORE

'An excellent guide to the essence of beauty — the freedom to create it and an argument for its power and importance to the soul' 

Tim Smit, The Eden Project

So much passes us by, unnoticed. We multi-task, switch between screens, work faster. When was the last time you paused to consider a beautifully made object or stunning natural landscape? Yet this is when our spirits lift, our soul is restored.

Designer Alan Moore invites us to rethink not only what we produce – whether it’s a website, a handmade chair, or a business – but how and why. With examples including Pixar, Apple, Yeo Valley and Blitz Motorcycles, we are encouraged to ask: Is it useful and considered. Is it a thing of beauty?

Do Design will inspire you to:

  • Improve your creative process
  • Raise the quality and craft of your work
  • Consider the experience as much as the product
  • Adopt simplicity, utility and honesty as guiding principles

We are creative beings. We love to make things. This book will inspire you to create better things for better reasons. Things that people will love – for a long time to come. Some say beauty is a luxury. But what if it is key to creating a better world for us all?

Alan Moore has designed and created everything from books to businesses. He has a unique grasp on the forces that are reshaping our world and how to creatively respond to them. Working on six continents, Alan has shared his knowledge in the form of board and advisory positions at companies such as Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and Coca Cola, workshops and speaking as well as teaching in institutions as wide ranging as MIT and Reading University’s Typography Department, Sloan School of Management and INSEAD. He is the author of four books on creativity, marketing and business transformation including No Straight Lines: Making sense of our nonlinear world (2011). He still works as an artist. He tries everyday to lead a life as beautifully as he possibly can. 

Do Preserve: Make your own jams, chutneys, pickles and cordials. 
ANJA DUNK, JEN GOSS, MIMI BEAVEN 

How do you capture the intense flavour of freshly picked seasonal produce to enjoy all year round?

Combining their experience as cooks, caterers, foragers and farmers, three friends bring you the essential guide to preserving. With techniques and recipes handed-down through the generations and deliciously inventive recipes from their own kitchens, you’ll soon learn:

  • Basic principles and methods of preserving
  • Equipment and ingredients you need to get started
  • Best preserving agents to use: sugar, vinegar, alcohol, oil and salt
  • Over 80 stunning recipes from Green Tomato Chutney to Strawberry Gin Fizz

Let the slow art of preserving become your new favourite pastime – and delight in having nature’s most vibrant flavours and colours in your kitchen.

Anja Dunk grew up in the Welsh countryside where homegrown produce and wild foraging were part of daily life. Here began her love for preserving. She now lives with her young family just outside London where she is a caterer and freelance cook.

Mimi Beaven and her husband Richard, founded the brand Made In Ghent a few years ago. For them, preserving the flavours of the year’s harvest is essential preparation for the cold winter months on the family farm that they are rebuilding in the Hudson Valley, New York. They raise pigs, bees and chickens. Mimi bakes sourdough and cooks super-seasonal goods in the farm kitchen which is sold to the local community from their farm store.

Jennifer Goss lives on a smallholding in West Wales with her family, following a lifelong dream to live by the sea and work the land. Her produce – and that from surrounding hedgerows - provides ample supplies for Our Two Acres, her catering company.

If you are a journalist interested in receiving a review copy, please contact Charlotte at: info@thedobook.co