apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What a wasteful and sad excuse for design over function.

I'm a book-lover, book-hoarder, book-collector, and rabid reader... you name it...and I am generally appalled at "sort your bookshelves by color, wrap your books in monochrome bookjacket" design tricks....not to mention having bookshelves that are largely empty because they "look better"! But this one doesn't bother me. I think many of us have a small set of books that are special to us, that are not necessarily in regular use -- but they are "sacred objects" to us. This is a great way of displaying them -- it's less a utilitarian shelf than an art piece that still keeps the books close at hand, and in a place of honor.

I think this is a lovely idea. I have some old books that have been in my family for years (including a Bible from the 1850s and the first-edition memoir of a famous ancestor) and they are sort of lost on the shelves with my more common books. I wish I had the talent to do a DIY version!

How cute. All religions on the same level. Too bad all of them suck.

This is most definitely a beautiful piece of art, an installation piece really. I don't own a copy of any of these books tho, heh!

Pretty.

Now if only the people who follow these religions could live in such beautiful harmony...

Great job.

A great way to display a special collection. I like it a lot.

Religion, not so much. DIY? Yeah. I'm not necessarily one for ripping things off but the whole religious statement here says to me, who cares. For all its apparently originality, it's as much an invisible bookshelf of the near future as anything.

I like the way it looks, but honestly it's an insult to all of those religions. If you actually take your religion seriously, then why would you want to imply that yours is on the same level as all the others?

Goofy idea (in an interesting, though fairly labor intensive way for such limited and specific storage).

Also, the "religions" aren't at the same level. Some go deeper (on the bottom, per the pic). Conceptually, a little odd to only see religion or whatever topic from only one position instead of considering all sides/perspectives.

I like the DIY idea, but am not such a fan of the canon of religious texts idea. Sure these are some of the greats, but that shelf seems to imply that there should be no room for other religious texts. And I'm not sure that Velocity, the "Home for Modern Living" should be our source for religious texts. Also, why can't you just buy different editions of the same books that are all the same height and just get a shorter shelf, thereby presenting them all "on the same level" and in a custom shelf, but without all the gimmickry?

Visually, I'm a fan, but philosophically/logically not so much... Or I could just be in a grad-school influenced bad mood.

Jeez, people, lighten up! It's a conceptual piece. It's one person's idea of a way to represent the world's major religions.

Jennyat--yes, you should finish your MA/PhD or whatever and get the heck out of grad school. In the real world (depending on where you live and who you associate with) you can look at things without having to have such a strong philosophical opinion. Good luck!

I think religion should have died with the dark ages, but this is a very cool idea and a great conversation piece/art concept. If only they included a slot for Darwin's "Decent of Man" or Dawkin's "The God Delusion" . . .

I like this. I'm not one to assume that one religion is better or worse than any other. I try to keep an open mind about these things as there is obviously a lot we can learn from one another. The remainder of the shelf to the right isn't totally useless either. It would be a great place to display an artifact or something of significance to you beliefs or just a small vase of flowers.

....the price is pretty steep though!

The same profile on a West Elm wall shelf is useful; Choosing some socially weighted books as a part of that useful outline is clever.

I'm thinking of going through and choosing my all-time favorites and doing something similar, wood spade bits chisels = thanks for the inspiration!

Wow. I'm glad an artist decided to do something considerate and thoughtful (if expensive) concerning religion instead of spouting off like some of the people on these boards. Perhaps if your "tolerant" and "enlightened" non-religious selves could act with open minds, you'd be able to influence those who misuse ANY belief. Good job on looking worse than the people you mock.

I don't have $2,500 bucks.

I like the idea as one person's conceptual piece, but not necessarily as a piece to be sold to others, as the description suggests.

Would you just buy it and insert the exact texts for which the slots were designed? Would you have read all of the texts in order to form your own opinion as to their relative merit?

Or would it just be a "cool statement" to show your grooviness.