Among Taipei’s foodies, the initials VVG already connote good eats in lovingly decorated restaurants, from the Old World ambiance of VVG Table (好樣餐桌) to the rococo fantasy land of VVG BonBon (好樣棒棒).
But VVG’s (好樣) newly opened bookstore, VVG Something (好樣本事), hopes to nourish the mind as well as the body.
“I love reading and I thought, why not create a place where customers feel welcome to sit down, relax and enjoy themselves? We’re not a regular bookstore. Customers can flip through books at their own pace and order a drink from [VVG Bistro (好樣餐廳)] across the street,” says Grace Wang (汪麗琴), one of VVG’s partners.
When you peek between its bright red sliding doors, VVG Something hardly resembles an ordinary bookstore. In lieu of shelves, vintage furniture, including a file cabinet from a Japanese middle school and shelves made with recycled wood from England, display volumes like objets d’art. A long wooden table with books carefully arranged in tidy rows on top takes up most of the 30-ping (99m²) space. But the atmosphere is far from rarefied. Comfy armchairs and well-lit nooks invite visitors to stay a little while.
Many members of the VVG group were interior or graphic designers before becoming restaurateurs and VVG Something reflects the same eclectic aesthetic as their restaurants and VVG BB&B, the group’s bed-and-breakfast. Curiosities like shovel handles are precisely arranged underneath a vintage spotlight. The store’s concrete walls were knocked down to expose the brick underneath. Oak floorboards are sanded, not varnished, and knotholes are left exposed.
“All the [VVG partners] have their own aesthetic and our businesses each have their own style. But I think this bookstore represents what is truest to our own tastes. All our shareholders contributed different ideas,” says Mao (毛家駿), art director of the VVG group and manager of VVG Something.
VVG Something’s books focus mainly on lifestyle, design, art and (of course) food and are hand-selected by VVG buyers, who travel abroad once every two to three months. Every month, the store will highlight a different theme; the current theme is Japanese books on topics ranging from handmade stationary to the patisseries of Paris. To accompany the books, VVG Something’s team brought back everyday objects from Japan, including hand-painted glassware, wooden figures and even Toto brand toilet paper in whimsical paper wrapping.
Mao says VVG’s buying team seeks volumes with appealing photos, distinct layout and simple prose (an important point because many of VVG’s books are in languages other than Chinese). They also look for periodicals by independent publishers, such as Billet Magazine, a Japanese lifestyle quarterly with a cult following.
A’Spasso per l’Italia, a book about Italian cuisine, also represents what VVG Something looks for. “The photography in here wouldn’t count as technical masterpieces, but it has its own charm,” Mao says, flipping to simple, naturally-lit close-ups of pasta dishes on vintage dishware. Another of his favorite books highlights graphic design on everyday items from the Czech Republic, including humble plastic shopping bags.
“We’d really like to go on a buying trip there. Books from countries like the Czech Republic are rare in Taiwan, but we think readers here would really like them,” says Mao.
The store’s English name signifies the diversity of the items in the store. VVG Something also carries J.C. Spec wooden eyeglass frames, 1:12 scale reproductions of modernist chairs by reac Japan and glass apple bakers from Vermont. The store recently hosted a talk by Taiwanese designer Wu Tunglung (吳東龍) on this year’s Tokyo Designers Week, and Mao foresees a roster of more speeches, roundtable discussions and food tastings.
VVG Something’s Chinese name (好樣本事) is also a play on words. Separately, ben (本) and shi (事) mean “book” and “happening,” respectively. Together, they form the word for “source material.”
“It means the beginning of a story,” says Mao. “We want our books and the events we host here to be a source of inspiration, and for our customers to see this space as a launching point for new ideas.”
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