today i’m thrilled to share an interview with lena corwin and maria vettese (who’s our d*s guest blogger this week!) of lines & shapes. to celebrate the launch of their latest volume- volume seven: BREAK- and their second year of publishing small arts books, lena and maria were kind enough to sit down with me over email to talk about what inspired their series, what it’s like working on a collaborative project from different cities and to share their advice on self-publishing. it’s always fun to hear what these two talented artists have to say, so i hope you’ll enjoy their interview as much as i did.

in addition, volume 7 of lines & shapes at the lines & shapes website today. volume seven’s theme is “BREAK” and the contributing artists are reka kiraly, wayne pate, lia saile, george song, and molly wizenberg- a mix of illustrators, photographers, and a writer. maria and lena also contributed their own new work to volume 7, including photographs, some writing, and two recipes! click here for more information and to order a copy of lena and maria’s latest lines & shapes series, volume 7: BREAK.

CLICK HERE for the full interview (and photos from the new book) after the jump!

D*S: Hi Maria and Lena! Could you tell us about the new book- what can L&S fans expect with the latest release? (And what inspired the latest volume?)

M: For our first book of 2009 we wanted to change a few things but
keep the general feeling of Lines & Shapes at the same time. A few
differences are that this book is larger (we decided to go with
another 1-1/4 inches in height) and this book includes more words.
I’ll leave it at that so people can be surprised by the rest.

L: It’s always a surprise for us to see how the books come together, since
the contributing artists’ styles are usually very different. I think this
book is especially beautiful… if I do say so myself! I love the colors
in this one.

D*S: How did the two of you decide to start this book series?

M: Funny, it’s hard to remember. Lena and I talked over email about
lots of ideas. We really wanted to somehow come up with an idea where
we could involve artists and perhaps give them a chance to do
something creative and then not have to worry about selling it. Also,
we just love books. We both have huge collections of inspiration pieces.

L: Yes– we both get a lot of inspiration from books, especially small
Japanese design/lifestyle/craft books. We loved the format of the small
book/magazine and knew we wanted to collaborate with each other and
other artists.

D*S: Were you scared to self-publish? How did you decide to do that?

M: We had small hopes for Lines & Shapes at first … now we see our
hopes growing. I think when you start something with a humble idea of
where you are going you don’t feel as scared. Plus in this day you
don’t need a big publisher to put a book out. We are so proud to
publish our own books and we put our hearts into it fully.

L: It’s been interesting for me to work on a book with a big publisher
(my printing book) and to self-publish Lines & Shapes. The experiences
are very different, of course, in terms of the types of books and scale
of distribution, but it’s a great feeling to put books out into the
world and see how people enjoy them. And when you self publish it’s
very exciting to be able to do everything on your own terms.

D*S: How is it working together? Do you bounce ideas back and forth or do you each have clearly defined areas you cover? And how is it working in different areas of the country?

M: We send tons of emails! And we go back and forth to work on the
books themselves. It’s wonderful going into Lena’s studio and working
on a book. There are always new things to look at and inspire me (and
us) along the way. We work on everything together and have a few jobs
that are just our own. But still we email about those too! :)

L: It would be easier in some ways if we lived closer, but I LOVE
traveling to Maine to work on the books. Like Maria said, we take turns
working in Brooklyn and Portland. Our visits with each other always
involve lots of good food, walks, new books and inspiration, and talks
about business ideas and daydreams of future projects. We do divide
some of the work– Maria deals with shipping and I deal with the website,
for example.

D*S: Business wise- how scary was it to do decide to start this together? Did you make a business plan or just dive in?

M: Our business plan has sort of happened along the way. I don’t
think Lena and I are the types to over-plan so I guess I’d say that
we just jumped in. We have learned a few rough lessons that way but
for the most part we are really loving our process.

L: Neither of us are especially business mined, but we have both learned
a lot from having our own small businesses. We made the decision early
on to sell subscriptions, which gave buyers a good deal on the price of
the books, and gave us a way to pay for production without ever having
to go into our own savings. So that made it less scary.

D*S: Do you have any advice for friends who decide to start a business together?

M: Get out there and do research. The internet and your local in-town
resources are all there for you. Also, communicate well with all of
the parties involved. We make lists and send them back and forth via
email updating each other on all that is going on. We stay in
constant touch about it all.

L: Make sure you are both equally passionate about the business, because
it’s a lot of work. Even though we discuss almost every decision, I would
trust Maria 100% to make decisions without me– I think that confidence
in your partner is important.

D*S: Do you have any advice for artists looking to self-publish? Any tips or things to avoid?

M: Don’t be afraid to contact small publishers. I think everyone just
thinks of being published with a major publishing house as a sign of
“success” but there are some amazing small houses doing incredible
and innovative work. There are so many things going on with books; do
your research.

L: Self-publishing as we do is probably not for everyone, since it’s a lot
of work. I’ve used Blurb for small projects and have been happy with
the results. So I would recommend using a service like that to start.
From there you can look into local services, as Maria suggested.

D*S: What are you working on next- are there more volumes coming, or do you plan to expand L&S in any way?

M: Next is going to be Volume Eight. And this Summer will see the
launch of our newest series — the Journal Series. This series will
be where we house work that is ours (Lena & mine) so we will each
have a book out this Summer. Very exciting. And we have a few other
things cooking but we’ll keep those under wraps for now.

L: Our fifth book had all Swedish artists, and we’ll be doing another
book focusing on a place Maria and I would LOVE to visit one day. We
have so many ideas swirling through our heads, and I’m excited to see
what we create this year.

D*S: What is the best part of working together and running this business?

M: Lena really pushes me. I don’t know how it has happened but I feel
like I have found the perfect work partner in her. She helps me see
new ideas and look at things in different ways. I am honored and
privileged to work with her. And also I just like that we can do
whatever we want with our books. We don’t have to look at the
publishing industry and take our cues from them. Lines & Shapes is
ours and we’ll do it our way.

L: I feel completely honored to work with Maria too. I think everyone who
knows her work would agree with me that she has an absolutely incredible
eye for design and impeccable taste. Working on these books has been so
satisfying creatively, and I hope we can continue for a long time!

Click Here for more information on Maria and Lena’s series, Lines & Shapes.