As soon as we were introduced to the brief, my Grandfather was the first person in my mind. Not only is he

a man that i think deserves recognition, and not only did i have exterior motives for commemorating him outside of a project for university but it was also an opportunity for me to delve into the sporadic collection of photographs, paper work and stories i had all about him. But most of all it was a chance for me to make a book for my Dad, who has always wanted a place for all things about my Grandad, and has always wanted his history, particualrly his military side remembered.

The decision to make a book was pretty immediate to me, i had lots of images, and lots of words about my granddad, and they all needed a home. I wanted to choose an authentic and classic memorial, and i also wanted something that could be kept but not neccessarily on show, so a space ont he book shelf seemed an appropriate way to keep his memory in the family but in a personal and poignant way.

The first step was to draw together all the articles i had to do with my Granddads military history. I had medals, old photographs, holsters, badge pins, letters, notes and official

and unofficial paperwork. The idea of a die-cut storage system came from the relative un-organised conglomerate that was my all of my Granddads items. They were the pieces of an unwritten story and although this may not be the finsihed item in the long run, creating this book has been a real inspiration.

Not only did i have imagery, i had all these stories i had been told, as well as some of my Granddads own written word about what he went through. The evidence of the need for a consolidated book is right here in the scrawled memoirs of my Grandfather on the back of an envelope.

I battled with how to present the book. Originally i felt i wanted to create something in my own style, but the development of it i found restricted as i wanted it to look more reminiscent of the time. One of the biggest inspirations was this book by Richard Overy entitled ‘the battle of britain’ ireally liked it’s appearance in that it felt more like a memorial than just a book. It included lots of imagery and was largely to do with story telling. It really created the feel of a war time story and engulfed the reader in a different time period.

Another book i found helpful was ‘Josip Broz Tito’ the Yugoslavian Partizan leader, the book was written by Sir Fitzroy Maclean and my Granddad was involved with both men during the war. I found some crucial images such as the bridge oppisite which my Granddad himself destroyed.

The Die-cut i found very challenging, though i like the idea, it helps to bring the book and the stories to life. It’s like you have lived through the stories and are seeing the evidence. I would need to make the book bigger if i was to contain all of the items we have, either this or i would rid the book of this storage system and focus on the words and images alone.