Today the book that existed only in my imagination landed on my doorstep, The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living, written and compiled by Australian blogger Oliver Dupon for Thames & Hudson. It's a massive volume of contemporary craft for every lover of handmade, an abbreviated craft encyclopedia of sorts, that will certainly be on my bookcase for years to come. Bravo, Oliver!

From the gorgeous cover illustration by Richard McAdams (of Puddin'head fame) to the content which delivers some of the best of the best makers out there today, it's a book that blog addicts everywhere won't want to miss. I've written about many of the talents found in this book or linked to them at one time or another on Facebook or Twitter, so if you love the work that you've seen on decor8 and on other blogs like mine, then you'll love The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living as it's like having a blog-as-book with beautifully curated contemporary crafts at your fingertips, all in a single (very hefty) book. Here are some spreads that I enjoyed and a list of 18 of my personal favorite artisans linked below. There are 75 designers all over the world featured in The New Artisans so you are sure to find many favorites for yourself. What a treat!

Most of this book showcases individual artisans with their work and in some cases, their work studios and usually each artist has a few spreads dedicated to only them with text and imagery. As a nice unexpected surprise, another area has a visual directory sorted by category such as illustration, jewelry, furniture, etc. It is such a helpful resource and for me, a most excellent one as it's very visual with light text vs. only text as so many directories typically are. I like that the author took all 75 of the artists and broke them down by group so if you are looking for a quick gift, you can turn to the Jewelry pages for instance and locate artists who make jewelry. If you want to learn more about that particular artist, you can then locate them in the index in the front of the book, find the page numbers where they've been featured, and you're off! Practical!

Here are 18 of my personal favorites from this book:

• Andrea Williamson, UK : Knitted accessories.
• Angus & Celeste, Australia: Ceramics - jewelry and for the home.
• Ann Wood, USA: Textile + paper arts.
• Anna Emilia Laitinen, Finland: Illustration.
• Atsuko Ishii, France: Artist.
• Bailey Doesn't Bark, USA: Ceramics.
• Claire Coles, UK: Textiles + wallpaper.
• Depeapa, Spain: Illustration.
• Furor Brillante, France: Embellished textiles.
• JamesPlumb, UK: Lighting, furniture, etc.
• Jen Deschenes, UK: Screenprinting.
• Jurianne Matter, Netherlands: Paper artist.
• Laura Strasser, Germany: Ceramics.
• Marie Christophe, France: Sculptor.
• Mel Robson, Australia: Ceramics
• Nathalie Choux, France: Illustrator.
• Puddin'head, Australia
• Studio mhl, Netherlands: Jewelry.

This is a most wonderful book and I highly recommend picking up a copy -- you'll love it and it would make for a terrific present.

Pick up your copy where fine books are sold or online at Amazon.

Please note: The links to Amazon in this blog post are affiliate links which means that for each copy of this book sold after you click on them, I earn a small percentage (6.00%) that I put into purchasing more books to review on my site as not all are press copies provided by the publisher. If this offends you, simply google the book in a new tab or window. Thank you!

(images: holly becker for decor8)