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The Tome Canvas

How One Boulder Company is Promoting the Beauty of Books Both Inside and Out

Article by Lisa Van Horne

Photography by Amanda Proudfit

Originally published in Boulder Lifestyle

When it came to naming his company at its inception in 2001, Thatcher Wine wanted a moniker that would represent both the steadfast past and enduring future of the tangible written word.

“Juniper trees live for hundreds of years,” Thatcher says. “By adopting the name Juniper Books, we’re respecting the history of printed books and contributing to their potential to be around for hundreds of years more.”

This is one of the founding missions of Boulder-based Juniper Books—to continually reinvent the potential of books through creative presentations that are both thematically meaningful and exquisitely artistic. In an age of ebooks and other electronic reading options, it’s a mission that Thatcher—the company’s founder and CEO—and his team pursue on a daily basis through their stunning book sets and custom design services.

“What we are really doing,” Thatcher says, “is helping people tell the story of who they are through the books on their shelves.”

Juniper Books began as a personal passion project for Thatcher, an avid reader with a penchant for discovering old books, researching them, telling their stories and connecting them with book lovers who would appreciate and revere their history. Today, Juniper Books has grown into a business that promotes the beauty of books—both inside and out—on an international level through three main products and services.

First and most prominent are Juniper Books’ special edition books sets, which are meticulously and thoughtfully crafted to draw the themes of the pages within and out and onto their exteriors. From the Harry Potter series to The Lord of the Rings, the works of Ernest Hemingway, the Jane Austen collection and hundreds more, these gorgeous sets are meant to exude the feelings contained within through their unique designs and presentation. The Juniper Books team also takes on numerous custom projects, both large and small in scale. From individual gifts for special occasions to working with homeowners, business owners and artists around the world to design truly unique libraries, these custom projects bring thoughtful, artistic book design to the next level.

Juniper Books’ subscription programs represent yet another way to be immersed in the beauty of literature both old and new. Through their “Books Everyone Should Own” umbrella of three subscription options, Thatcher notes that readers are able to build their libraries over time, acquiring classic novels, modern works and contemporary fiction books in original jacket designs that are exclusive to subscribers.

As Juniper Books celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, Thatcher and his team continue to look for new ways to elevate the tangible impact of books and stories. The company has recently introduced book sets that have a nonprofit donation component, including the “Start Here” book set, which features books by Black authors writing about racism and with portions of sales going to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The “Our Earth Day Everyday” book set and “True Colors” book sets are additional examples of how Juniper Books is trying to encourage learning and positive change while supporting organizations that are dedicated to it.

Thatcher also notes that he has seen the staying power of tangible tomes grow over the past year and a half, during which the pandemic has caused both shifts in the company’s most popular book sets and increased interest in Juniper Books products.

“Our business has grown substantially in recent years as more people have either returned or recommitted to reading printed books and have also added spaces for reading to their homes,” Thatcher says.

This December, Thatcher is also celebrating the release of his own written work, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better, which he notes carries much of Juniper Books’ philosophy in its content. Both with this book and with the continued success of his business, he hopes to further encourage more people to create more space in their homes and in their lives for books.

“Most days I feel like Juniper Books is just getting started on what we can achieve. There is so much creative potential,” Thatcher says. “We are constantly reinventing what we do and how we do it, but the ‘why’ has stayed the same. It’s all about a love of books and reading, and sharing that with the world.”

JuniperBooks.com

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