Laura Shaw has been designing books since she was six years old. In collaboration with
her sister, she wrote, drew, and stapled such timeless bestsellers as Girls, Forin Girls,
and A Whimsicle Account of the Adventures of Daffnie Hobbs (a sample page from this
riveting bestseller is shown below).

While attending the School for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, she continued making
books using hand-colored photography, xeroxed collage, and a loaf of Wonder Bread.

Needing to earn her keep—and being unsuited to any profession that required stockings and heels—she
found herself working in publishing. Starting small at a mom 'n' pop publishing house specializing in Oriental
Medicine, she learned the difference between serif and sans serif type, the ABC's of how real books are
made, and just how bad Chinese medicinal herbs can smell while boiling on the stove.

Moving on to a bigger company, she went to work for Shambhala Publications—first as a production editor and then
designer. Under the tutelage of the stern but not unkind art director, she continued her education in classic book design
and production. She spec'd books by hand, matched arcane fonts for reprints, typed up detailed instructions to
compositors on an actual typewriter, and finally got them to buy a Mac.

Relocating to New York brought the grand chance to work for the big boys of publishing. At Random House, Laura
was the Promotion art director for the Knopf Group. In charge of seven imprints, she and her staff produced
200+ projects a year.

Heading west to Portland Oregon, she was hired as the at-large art director for Tin House Magazine and Books.
For four years she designed and produced their quarterly literary magazine Tin House, as well as numerous book
covers and interiors for clients nationwide.

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A Whimsicle Account of the Adventures of Daffnie Hobbs, page 1