If you’ve ever spent much time exploring Denver, CO, you have probably seen the work of Detour (aka Thomas Evans) and his colorful street art.
Nearly five years ago, Juniper Books founder Thatcher Wine was preparing to give a TEDx Talk that would take place in Denver's RiNo (River North) neighborhood. RiNo is an arts district with an amazing array of constantly changing street art created by diverse artists.
When the organizers of TEDxRiNo invited Thatcher to install examples of the work of Juniper Books at the event, he immediately had the idea to capture photos of the vibrant local art scene, then print them on book jackets in large bookcase displays.
One of the images that Thatcher captured in an alley in RiNo and then turned into a large book mural, had been created by Detour. The two had never met before, but when Detour (whose social media savvy is as abundant as his creative talent!) saw his work tagged on Instagram, he reached out with excitement about seeing his work presented in a new format. Detour and Thatcher soon met up and Juniper Books’ first artist collaboration was born.
The first two sets that resulted from the collaboration were collections of books by Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, each graced with colorful portraits by Detour across the spines. Our work at Juniper Books goes beyond selling great books for reading, we use design to convey emotion and inspire thought, even when the books are sitting on the shelves.
Working with Detour on the artwork for book sets by two of the most important African American writers in our history has allowed us to give these authors and their work the monumental presence that they deserve on bookshelves around the world.
Another collaboration soon followed when Thatcher had a feeling that Detour could bring Aslan the lion from CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series to life in a way that no other artist could. Our Narnia set is iconic, and one of our bestsellers!
Our Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Narnia that resulted from our Artist Series collaboration with Detour are available on our site. You can follow Detour on Instagram and purchase works on his website. We also highly recommend visiting the RiNo neighborhood in Denver where you are almost certain to see one of his impressive murals in person.
Shop the sets Detour helped us create
