otto stocks obscure books, limited edition books, rare books, homemade books, a lot of art and design books, and back issues of magazines – obscure magazines, limited edition magazines, rare magazines, homemade magazines…you get the idea.

What started out as a niche fanzine and magazine distribution company in Switzerland in 2007 has now become a global exercise in connecting elusive titles with those who love beautiful books. To date Motto has toured their ‘travelling temporary book stores’ to Vilnius, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Moscow, Vancouver, Stuttgart, Athens, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris. And now they have landed in Melbourne.

Taking up temporary residence in the storefront of a newly converted artist studio complex just off Sydney Road in Brunswick, Motto’s Melbourne bookstore is the result of a collaboration with gallery Neon Parc and promises to be just the first of numerous Motto projects planned for Melbourne during this year and years to come.

We asked Motto’s Joe Shakespeare which titles he thought would be highlights for Melbourne art and design book lovers:

“Motto has been working with some of the stores here in Melbourne, such as the wonderful World Food Books and Perimeter Books, for some time as a distributor. So being familiar with the focus of these stores, we've aimed to curate a selection of titles which bring something different to the Melbourne audience, a majority related to design. A few select titles which I'm proud to be presenting would be TITLE by Ramaya Tagegne, Series by Enrique Metinides and Formula Guide – Special Colors for Offset Printing by Maximage.”

Motto Melbourne’s temporary book store in collaboration with Neon Parc will be open from February 18 to 26 at 6 Duckett Street, Brunswick from noon to 7pm daily.

mottodistribution.com