In the summer of 1953, Charles Corm, Lebanese industrialist, writer, and philanthropist, took his wife Samia and their four children David, Hiram, Virginie and Madeleine on a road trip from Beirut to Europe. They traveled through Turkey, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Austria, Switzerland and France and visited many cities along the way. Today an accomplished architect, David had already developed an acute sense of aestheticism and was able to beautifully capture the best moments of this trip.
Upon their return to Beirut, David created three photo albums of this family trip where he carefully annotated each of the pictures. Being a natural born storyteller and gifted with an innate talent for creating scrapbooks, the result was astonishing; it is a real pleasure to go through those albums, to admire his meticulous calligraphy and read his remarks and annotations while looking at the photos.
62 years later, the albums are still in pretty good condition with the exception of the scotch tape pieces used to mount the photos on the album pages as time lead them to peel off, turn yellow and stain the corners of the prints. They are however, fragile and frequent manipulation can damage them.
Hiram approached me with those photo albums and asked me how I could help him preserve them and share them with his siblings. He wanted to reignite the memories of that family road trip by creating an object that they could touch, feel, enjoy and share with their own families.
I suggested we create a replica of those albums in order to make the new book as true as possible to the original albums.
Hiram approached me with those photo albums and asked me how I could help him preserve them and share them with his siblings. He wanted to reignite the memories of that family road trip by creating an object that they could touch, feel, enjoy and share with their own families.
I suggested we create a replica of those albums in order to make the new book as true as possible to the original albums.
I then approached our partners at My Easy Prints. My Easy Prints is a photo-oriented service, located in Beirut, Lebanon, that offers photo books and other photo-based products. When it comes to any kind of printing, book design and book binding, they are the ones I trust will give me and my clients the informed guidance we require.
We had the album pages scanned; we chose the appropriate type of printing paper for such a project, designed a sober cover and the result was a beautiful book.
Hiram gave it the title: Expédition en Europe – 1953 – Famille Charles Corm.
We had the album pages scanned; we chose the appropriate type of printing paper for such a project, designed a sober cover and the result was a beautiful book.
Hiram gave it the title: Expédition en Europe – 1953 – Famille Charles Corm.
Hiram was so pleased with the outcome that he ordered multiple copies to gift to his family.
The importance of such a project is to reproduce the same feel and mood as the original photo album; to be able to share memories and family adventures when originally only one copy was available. Photo albums are a natural legacy project and it is guaranteed that they will strengthen your family narrative.
It’s time to take out your old albums and scrapbooks from the cupboards and we’ll plan a simple and straightforward process to help you organize, preserve and share your photographic collection. Contact us to book your free consultation session.
It’s time to take out your old albums and scrapbooks from the cupboards and we’ll plan a simple and straightforward process to help you organize, preserve and share your photographic collection. Contact us to book your free consultation session.