Kuagummi Books are the latest addition to our ever-growing bookshop. To launch the new section we had a chat with Bartolomé Sanson about publishing.

Hello Bartolomé, How is your day going?
Hi Jonnie, today started terribly. I fell alseep at 4am to then be woken up at 8am by my neighbour destroying his bathroom with an array of power-tools. I'm really tired but i've got a good few things done this morning, mostly sending emails about new projects, so it's ok. Keep an eye on the Kaugummi website for what these are.

How did you get in to publishing?
Kaugummi started in 2005, it was the name of a structure I ran with my ex-girlfriend Alice Dourlen. We wanted to make something very DIY with zines printed and bound at home with hand made sleeves, that kind of thing, you know? At the same time I started a blog dedicated to the French DIY scene about small art publishers and self made publications. Then I published the first Kaugummi Magazine which we have made bi-anually since 2006. After that, it just seemed like a natural progression to start publishing art books. I also put out records but it's mainly weird psychedelic music.

How does the process of a concept becoming a book normally work with Kaugummi?
It's very variable actually, sometimes an artist will come to me with a book project that is almost finished or sometimes I will contact an artist and we work on it together and publish it. Most of the time I'm in charge of the layout of the books, I love minimalism in art books.

Do you get a lot of submissions?
I got submissions every day at the moment, normally in the region of 1 - 5. Some are awful, some are awesome. I don't really know what I'm looking for most of the time, I just want to be surprised and charmed by some unseen and amazing artworks or photographs. The best way to get a grasp of what I like would be to look at the Kaugummi catalogue.

Do you ever encounter any problems while working on books with artists?
No, not really, most of the people I work with are really easy going. Kaugummi is like one big happy family.

Do you have any dream books that you would like to publish?
Strangely I don't really have a dream book, there are a lot of artists I would like to work with but none particularly over the others. I have a dream exhibition for Kaugummi, so lets see what the future holds for that.

Where can people find your books?
Kaugummi books are available around the world. We are in the U.S.A., Japan, France, Germany, Switzerland and now in the UK Through HUH! I would like to thank Yvon Lambert in paris and Motto Berlin for their kind support. Don't forget to visit these awesome stores if you are near them.

Do you follow any ideologies you follow with book making?
Yes, I try to print as much as I possibly can on recycled paper. I also put out low print runs of each title so I never have to throw any away if they don't sell. I try to keep the prices as low as I can, I'm absolutely not in to the small print run / high price ideology. Some people sell their Kaugummi books on ebay for stupid amounts of money so please don't pay $50 for zine I published last year for £3.

What can we expect in the near future from Kaugummi?
I'm expecting a delivery of new titles tomorrow by Young Kyu Yoo, Jeff Luker and Phillipe Gerlach, These will be available soon. Later this year you can expect new books, records, prints, zines and an exhibition dedicated to artists books and zines curated by myself. I think 2010 is going to be an awesome year.

www.kaugummi.fr