70 WSJ. MAGAZINE
WHAT’S NEWSBoulder, Colorado–based entrepreneur
Thatcher Wine was raised in New York
City, where his parents owned and oper-
ated the famed 1980s restaurant
the Quilted Giraff e. After doing time
in the tech-startup world, Wine founded
the custom-library company Juniper
Books in 2001. The 47-year-old counts
one of his childhood friends—Gwyneth
Paltrow—as his most famous (publicly
known) client, along with places like
the NoMad Hotel in New York. Juniper
makes custom jackets so that books
can be color coded or, when properly
arranged, combined to form a single big
image—in one instance, the Brooklyn
Bridge—on the shelf. And now Wine has
a tome of his own: In September, he and
co-author Elizabeth Lane released For the
Love of Books: Designing and Curating
a Home Library. “I don’t have a history
in the publishing business,” Wine says.
“I didn’t go to school for library science,
or even for design or literature. I’m just
completely free to make this up as I
go along—and have a lot of fun with it.”
thatcherwine.comTHATCHER
WINE
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- What book fi rst
made you love reading?
The Neverending Story.
I remember the feeling
when I had to hand it back
into the library and sadly
couldn’t keep it on my shelf. - What are your favorite
artworks?
I love woodcut illustrations
and Victorian book covers.
Some artists were famous,
others were not. - What’s your true
indulgence?
Organic gyokuro green tea. - What library do you
fi nd most inspiring?
Sanborn Library at
Dartmouth College, where
I spent many afternoons
reading, studying and
having tea. - What’s your signature
accessory?
A blue-checkered shirt.
I love J. Hilburn’s. - Where do you go for a
real escape?
To the Colorado mountains
with my puppy, Maple. - What are your three
travel essentials?
I usually travel with three
books—a work of fi ction,
a biography or history and
a self-improvement book.
Right now it’s Americanah,
by Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie; Grant, by
Ron Chernow; and Digital
Minimalism, by Cal
Newport. - What’s your favorite
gadget?
I love nice clean stacks of
paper in books, but I also
like some irregularity and
the character it creates.
I have a lot of fun playing
with a deckle-edge tool
to make organic-looking
stacks of paper. - Who’s your favorite
author?
Kurt Vonnegut. - What’s one thing you
have in your offi ce for
inspiration?
Two Lucite telephones from
my grandparents. I want
to fi gure out how to
connect them to my iPhone.
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(^9) COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: COURTESY OF JUNIPER BOOKS; PATRICIA HOFMEESTER/SHUTTERSTOCK; COURTESY OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE;
MATIN/SHUTTERSTOCK; COURTESY OF J. HILBURN;
COURTESY OF ALFRED A. KNOPF; COURTESY OF DUAL EDGE RIPPER; JACK MITCHELL/GETTY; COURTESY OF JUNIPER BOOKS; CAVAN IMAGES/ALAMY; COURTESY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE AND ELI BURAKIAN