Turning a paperbook into a painting

Basenotes x Shide started with a simple question.

What happens if a paperbook cover is treated as a surface to paint on, rather than something to print a design onto?

Shide took five hand-bound basenotes paperbooks and worked directly onto the kraft covers, using bold fields of blue and small details that reveal themselves slowly. Each book holds the same internal pages, yet the outside has been treated as a one-off piece of work.

Some of these copies now live with collectors. One remains in the basenotes archive, and one will be shared with someone from our community.

This page holds a record of the project, the details of the edition, and the quiet story behind it.

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About this collaboration

This collaboration explores paperbook covers as working surfaces rather than finished products. Five hand-bound paperbooks were created at basenotes, then painted individually by Shide in her studio.

Brush marks, pen work and small imperfections are kept visible, so the cover reads more like a painting than packaging. No two books are the same, and there will be no reprint of this edition.

The edition in detail

The blue bells, trees and animals repeat across the edition, yet each book holds its own rhythm and spacing.
Shide illustrating a hand-painted paperbook cover on kraft paper as part of a limited collaboration with basenotes.
Finished hand-illustrated cover artwork by Shide created for the basenotes limited edition paperbooks.
Stacked paperbooks and illustrated sheets from the Shide × basenotes limited batch collaboration on hand-painted covers.
Close-up of Shide’s hands drawing blue illustrations on kraft paper during the basenotes collaboration.
Hand-painted paperbook cover created in collaboration with Shide, featuring a blue illustrated tree and figure on kraft paper.
Close-up of hand-stitched binding and painted cover from the Shide × basenotes limited paperbook collaboration.
Detailed view of blue ink illustration on kraft paper from the Shide × basenotes hand-painted cover series.
Hand-drawn blue bird illustrations on kraft paper created by Shide for the basenotes limited cover collaboration.