While some say that printed books are on the way to being fully replaced by their electronic counterparts, some find ways to breathe new life into paper.
That is exactly what Anna Belaya and Dmitry Kostirko from Kyiv did, when they started the Knigli project several months ago, which turns fiction classics into trendy modern posters.
Kyivans have been receptive, buying about 400 Knigli posters per month, each at a cost of Hr 200 ($25).
The typical poster is a paper page of A2 size, framed from above and below. From a distance it looks like a simple monochrome image, but a closer look shows the drawing is actually formed of very small letters. Every single poster is one book, full and unabridged, its letters colored in different shades of gray forming an image related to the book.
To fit a whole book into one poster, Knigli uses an extremely small font. While Microsoft Word’s smallest font is eight, some of Knigli posters use 4.5.
For short books, like Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” or Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “Le Petit Prince,” a normal-size font is enough. This makes the posters readable, though for larger works a magnifying glass is required. Luckily, it comes with each delivery set, and each poster’s frame has a special pocket for it.
Currently Knigli offers over 20 custom posters, in Russian and original version, and include such classics as Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Faust” and Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
According to Belaya, the bestseller is Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita,” which was also the first novel to be turned into a Knigli poster. But “Romeo and Juliet,” printed in English, is also a fast riser. It only appeared on the catalog in late October, and sold about 100 copies in its first week.
Unlike Bulgakov, Ukraine’s classical literature pieces, also available in Knigli shop, are not very popular.
“People often ask if we have any world classics translated into Ukrainian, but they don’t seem very interested in Ukrainian classics,” says Belaya.
Knigli’s latest novelty is a poster featuring numbers only. It is representation of the number π that includes thousands of digits.
Their technique is unique and patented, and each poster’s layout is done manually. Once the text of the book is placed on the page and proofread, the artist draws a picture over the letters, using several shades. It took Belaya and her partner Kostirko several months to get the patent for this method and to find printing equipment able to print the tiny texts.
Belaya says they’ve thought about coloring their posters, “but we wanted it to be book-like, and monochrome posters seem more bookish.”
After their launch in July, Knigli now sells about 400 posters each month. “Sometimes companies order their constitution printed as a Knigli poster with the company’s logo. Circulation starts from 50 posters for corporate orders,” says Belaya.
Recently Ukraine’s office of UNICEF ordered Knigli posters, featuring UNICEF rules written in many languages. According to Belaya, those posters are planned to be used as gifts and will be placed in UNICEF offices all over the world.
Now, when business is flourishing, Belaya has some social projects in mind. She’s been trying to suggest placing book classics, printed in Knigli style, on light boxes at bus stops.
“So that anyone could read some piece of good literature while waiting for the bus. I do believe that would help reviving people’s love for reading,” she says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected].
