“Chasing the sock thief” ­ modern literature for your children created by blind talents

  RIGA, LATVIA - 08/02/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Social Business platform “BlindArt” set out to raise 17 000 euros on Kickstarter to finish development on their children's book series “Chasing the sock thief” and be able to publish them, adding a variety to the children's book range that is available currently.

“Chasing the sock thief” is a series of four children's books that were written by four talented members of Latvian Society of the Blind. During creative workshops that lasted 10 weeks, these blind authors created characters and events that comes together in a unique story. The main character of the books is Keyboard button Enter who helps to investigate a missing of a Little Yellow sock's twin sister. Together they go on adventure and learn about the world, revealing the educational material of the story. Books are mainly aimed for sighted children of preschool and primary school age group, but limited part of the print will be done in a Braille writing system to honor creators of the books.

The illustrations of the books have been drawn by visually impaired and blind children from Strazdumuiza Residential Secondary School and Training Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Riga, Latvia). Illustrations were made by using a complex tactile art technique - special previously made stencils are used to make dots around them as coordination borders, then orientating by touch of the fingers, kids are able to colour the shapes using their imagination.

To make books interactive, illustrations will be made into touchable visualisations, using a special Emboss varnish that creates salient on the pages. Touchable visualisations are great for stimulating sensory development, especially for young children at age of 2­4, when sensory motor skills develops the fastest.

“BlindArt” aims to make books innovative by offering an augmented reality feature with Overly application as a Second stretch goal on their Kickstarter campaign. It will allow you to show fun animations with characters from the books to your children. Interactive game, added to each book and audio book in English are goals for the Third and Fourth Stretch goal of “BlindArt” Kickstarter campaign.

“In our everyday life we value beautiful and visually pleasing things that makes our lives and minds richer. Many of these things can't be touched, but we can enjoy them by looking at them. At the same time, amongst us are people who see everything differently – with their hands and heart,” says Andrs Hermanis, founder and creative director of “BlindArt”. “In this project we want to show that blind and visually impaired people are an irreplaceable part of our society that is more than capable to create meaningful things with added value.”

“BlindArt” is a social business platform based in Riga, Latvia and started in 2007 with a goal to bring awareness to blind and visually impaired people.

By organizing creative workshops, exhibitions and other activities for blind and visually impaired, “BlindArt” hopes to show society that people with special needs are often overlooked because of their health issues, when in reality they are very talented and capable in their own unique way. By giving people a chance to donate or buy created artworks, BlindArt contributes to social accountability. This makes a great environment for development of social business ideas.

Link to our Kickstarter Campaign and video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/506325526/chasing-the-sock-thief-unique-series-of-childrens/description