Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    WHAT do most people do with old books? Throw them away? Donate them? A stylish young mother in Shenzhen has found her own way to give new life to old books.

    Book purses, a type of woman’s purse made from hardcover books, may not be a new thing in China. There have always been people who like to personally customize their own stylish accessories with things around the house. However, mother of one Li Junya wants more: to explore a new business of design and promote a new kind of style.

    As the founder of BSSJ, Li, 29, is now busy collecting raw materials from around the world, helping to customize unique purses for her clients and promoting an ecological fashion sense. She doesn’t have the biggest dreams for her business; she just wants to provide something special for women who like fashion and design as much as her.

    “I want something that cannot be found on the market, and I want to achieve that with people who want the same. In this way I am entering a new era of my life,” she said.

    Founding design studio

    “I’ve always been a trendy woman who likes beautiful things,” Li said.

    She first found out about book purses from a fashion magazine. “A Hollywood celebrity carried the purse while walking down the red carpet. It was so special and eye-catching. I couldn’t help but fall in love with it,” she said.

    Li found that most of these book purses were made by an overseas luxury brand, Olympia Le-Tan. The brand designs book purses with covers from different works of classic literature. “Each purse is priced at more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,626) and it is very difficult to find in China,” she said.

    Six months later, Li finally found a niche brand in Hong Kong where book purses are sold for about HK$1,500 (US$194) each. “The store said that they made the purses themselves, and I happily bought one. But after using it a few times, the button and the cover were broken,” she said. “Later I learned that this purse was made with cheap fake books and buttons which could be found on online shops. I was so disappointed. Why couldn’t I find a quality book purse at affordable prices?”

    One day when Li was looking for a handmade necklace on the Internet, she came across some family workshops remaking used books into book purses in Australia and the United States. The workshops said that they wanted to promote the concept of environmental protection and wanted to give a second life to the old books. “They said on their ads that old books have lied in your storage rooms for too long, and it’s time to take them out for a walk. I liked this concept so much that I decided to order one immediately,” Li said.

    Although the purse shipped from the United States was not as delicate as she expected, she couldn’t stop thinking about the concept.

    Eventually, she called the family workshop, hoping to cooperate with them and improve their products’ quality. Soon after she started BSSJ.

    An ecological and

    cultural business

    Finding book covers is one of Li’s main tasks.

    “We have different sources for used books. Some are from schools and some are our designers’ own childhood books. Some are secondhand books donated by libraries,” she said.

    If it is a new book, they will only take the hardcovers and wrap up the rest of the book in clear covers and donate them to local orphanages.

    “This is a very special business model. It does not waste any materials and can also help promote reading. The most important thing is that I can do my business while helping others, and encourage more people to help the needy,” she said.

    “We can do any kind of book. Customers can also ask for imported books if they don’t mind the international shipping costs,” she said.

    Recently, an Indian businessman saw her purses in a book bar and liked it, so he ordered some purses and planned to sell them in India. Of course, he wanted to use covers of Indian books.

    Once Li was asked to make a book purse for a little girl named Gemma. “We cannot find a book with the name Gemma, but we had a book called ‘Emma,’ so we used some crystals to make a ‘G’ in front of ‘Emma.’ She was very happy about it,” she said. “This is the charm of book purses. They can meet everyone’s demands because there are so many different kinds of books in the world.”

    The sizes of the books may vary. “Smaller books can be made into clutches, while very large dictionaries can become shoulder bags,” she added.

    Promoting book purses

    Presently, most of Li’s purses are sold on websites for special customers who like both unique styles and ecological conservationism, and she is confident about the market.

    In her opinion, the book purse is a way of life which fits everyone. “Books are an important part of everybody’s life and it goes with everything. What kind of book you are carrying can also be an expression of yourself and show others what kind of person you are,” she said.

    Another designer in Shenzhen has started cooperating with Li, as he wants to make some purses with poetry books to go with his new clothing line called “Poetry.”

    “I wanted something that I couldn’t find on the market, so I decided to do it myself with a group of people who are pursuing the same thing. Nothing is more exciting than achieving a dream like this,” Li said.

    As a new businesswoman, she does not have big dreams at the moment. “What I care about most is how to further improve the quality and lower the prices. I hope more people will be able to afford the bags and support our concepts,” she said.