PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — There were a number of events in Philadelphia to mark UNESCO’s World Book Day on Tuesday — but no one celebrated quite like two West Philly entrepreneurs, who dropped a book on their quest to bring the art of tufting to the world.
Every World Book Day when she was a teacher, Debra Gress Jansen would let her students read all day.
“It can teach you something you don’t know, it can take you back in time, it can take you into the future,” said Jansen. “It just helps you use your brain power a little bit more.”
That is why Jansen went into the bookselling business after teaching, opening Booked in Chestnut Hill.
And in the spirit of learning something new — and for World Book Day — she invited artists and entrepreneurs Tim Eads and Tiernan Alexander to the shop to showcase their new book all about tufting, the textile process behind carpet making.
“Tufting is for everybody,” said Alexander. “Tufting is so fun and if you look at it and think: ‘Oh I don’t know if I can do this,’ you can.”
Alexander is one half of the founding partnership of West Philly-based Tuft the World. She and business partner Eads first found the textile process behind carpet making in 2018.
“What we wanted to do was a how-to book, so that people who really like learning from books, that’s the format they prefer, would have a way to start tufting, to see examples,” she said.
“I think our role in this has been just really teaching artists and crafters a craft that’s been around for a long time that no one really knew about,” Eads added, “so it’s really just opening a door to something that’s been there.”
The book, which is named after their business, is also peppered with history notes and highlights fellow tufting artists from around the country.
“Everybody comes to their creativity through a different path, and I really feel like books are a great path to find things you love,” Alexander said.
For Jansen, that’s what World Book Day is all about.
“You’re utilizing everything, your imagination,” she said. “Just all your senses are involved in reading a book. It’s so important.”