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North Center Shop Is Like the Anti-Apple Store, All About Paper and Pencils

NORTH CENTER — In this digital age, artist and new shop owner Bari Zaki is banking on the humble appeal of paper and pencils.

After practicing bookbinding in private for more than 25 years, Zaki is "coming out from behind the curtain" and combining her art studio with a paper goods store, Bari Zaki Studio, opening Saturday at 3858 N. Lincoln Ave.

Bari Zaki has turned a lifelong love of paper into a business. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

"I've always wanted a studio and shop and space to teach classes," said Zaki, 51. "I just can't say no to myself anymore."

Zaki's work space will occupy roughly two-thirds of the storefront and is stocked floor to ceiling with the materials of her trade — shelf after shelf of paper, ribbons and fabrics.

The materials of the bookbinding trade. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

The front of the airy, light-filled shop is devoted to items either crafted by Zaki — journals, stationery, water color drawings — or in some way related to paper.

"It's truly just a love of paper," she said of the shop's overarching theme.

There are tablets of paper imported from Germany, binder clips wrapped in Japanese paper and pencils in every color of the rainbow.

"I have an absolute pencil fetish," Zaki confessed.

Zaki's self-professed "pencil fetish" is on full display in her new shop. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

She's convinced, from the commissions she receives and the reactions she gets from customers at craft shows, that others share her passion for these simple pleasures.

"It's that tactile, wonderful quality," she said. "It's about the color, the feel."

Zaki was born into a family of printers — her grandfather founded Werner Printing, still run by her uncle and cousin in the West Loop — and her mother was "super creative, always making things."

But she said it didn't occur to her until after college, where she "dabbled in photography" at the University of Iowa, that her love of books and paper could be anything more than a hobby.

The gift of a small book from a friend sparked something in Zaki.

"I thought, 'I need to learn how to make a book,' " she said. "It resonated with me deeply."

She gradually built a business crafting handmade books and boxes from papers and fabrics she discovered in her travels to Europe and Japan.

"I used to do a lot of wedding albums and photography portfolios," Zaki said.

A sampling of Zaki's work: journals, desk accessories and pencils all covered in exquisite papers. [Bari Zaki]

Today, she might bind someone's book of personal poetry or cover clothing storage boxes in Missoni fabric for a client.

"Somehow the work always evolved," said Zaki, who lives in Uptown with her husband of 27 years. "It's about making the everyday very beautiful and special."

For the past couple of years, a range of Zaki's items have been for sale at Union Handmade, Leigh Deleonardo's designer collective at 3860 N. Lincoln Ave. When the adjacent storefront became available, Zaki decided the time was right to make her dream of a combined studio/shop a reality.

Classes, she anticipates, will start in the fall, after she gets a few months of shopkeeping under her belt.

"Right now, it's just me" with an assist from friends and her husband, she said. "I'm going to have a lot of balls in the air."

Hours for Bari Zaki Studio: Wednesday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Bari Zaki Studio, 3858 N. Lincoln Ave. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]

 

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