London shop One Good Deed Today's owners on their favourite books
If you’ve been for a walk in Hoxton, east London recently there’s a good chance you’ve come across One Good Deed Today, a recently-opened shop selling a curated collection of lifestyle and homeware objects. The objects on sale are lovely, but the approach taken by the owners Romain and Alev is even more so – the products are chosen based on how and where they are made, making it a very responsible collection, and five percent of all proceeds from the store are donated to a charity chosen by the customer at the time of purchase. Nice, huh?
Unsurprisingly the pair also has impeccable taste, so we had them show us their five favourite publications, with eclectic but gorgeous results. Have a read!
David Bryne: How Music Works
I really enjoyed this book, it gives a great overview of past and current music making and the music industry; how it became an industry and how it has changed. As a musician it was great to position and understand my creative process in this fast, ever-changing industry. It was like a very long and good conversation with a fellow musician.
Ina May Gaskin: Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
We both read this book. It was very inspiring to read positive birth stories and about natural birth, the ancient wisdom and power of women and their bodies; it is vital to know about the importance of how we birth. How we birth is not only the first feminist question to ask ourselves but a human concern; we felt that in our society it is not emphasised or appreciated enough and how we birth should be the biggest part of our conversations about children. (I’ve just lent this book to a pregnant friend, as I do with all books I loved!)
John Pawson: Visual Inventory
We found this book while we were researching for the refurbishment of our house. Initially we discovered Pawson while researching kitchens and were quite intrigued by this wonderful collection of his photographs; Pawson’s visual diary shows places, buildings, landscapes and objects. It is a beautifully inspiring book as it evokes feelings for space and pictures.
André Gorz: Lettres a D.
A professor at uni recommended this book. An incredible declaration of love and a beautiful story about not only sharing hearts but also minds. Originally written in French, which is the version Romain read.
Hackney Houses
A good friend offered us this guide when we told her that we had finally found our home in Hackney. We really wanted to improve and conserve our house and bring it back to life – but its old life – while refurbishing. It was great to have this little book to browse through and dive into Hackney’s visual history. For the refurbishment we decided to change the proportions of the old openings for the windows to traditional size, bring back the red brick arches in the front of the house and install traditional wooden sash windows. We are really happy to see that now along the road this approach is being celebrated again and it really gives the street back its beautiful look.
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Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.