Peter was a guest on our podcast recently, and we just published the second part of our talk. Every one of the binding Peter showed us during our talk has bindings has something special about it.
Peter has been making books since the 1970s. He's a bookbinding teacher and owner of a bookbinding shop not far from Boston, Massachusetts. Meet Peter Geraty, head of Praxis Bindery and Director of Integrated Studies at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, Colorado.
I first met Brenda at the American Academy of Bookbinding in 2015. At that moment, she already had some 20 years of experience in bookbinding. If you add a strong background in graphic design, it's not hard to imagine that the result can be pretty impressive.
This time Pavel decided to snatch the role of the main host and made me the guest of iBookBinding's podcast. We talk about how my interest in books and bookbinding began, study at the AAB, and the process of making tools for bookbinders.
Winners of the second OPEN • SET competition were just announced by the American Academy of Bookbinding, as well as the participants of the moving exhibition that tour the US throughout the next year.
Bookbinding involves a lot of precision craftsmanship. Making a lasting object that can open and close out of paper, leather, cord, and an adhesive isn't a simple task. The nitty-gritty of book mechanics is a lifetime of study and practice.
In 2013, I signed up for my first bookbinding course. It was a general interest course that ran for 3 hours every Tuesday evening for 11 weeks. It was kind of a whim—I just thought it sounded cool. What I didn't realize at the time was that this course wasn't just my introduction to bookbinding...
Every year two types of scholarships are awarded at the American Academy of Bookbinding awards scholarships: Open Scholarship and AAB Fine Binding Scholarship. The first one comes in the amount of $1000 that can be applied toward tuition. The latter one is a $3000 award, which can be used to cover tuition and housing fees. For the students who can show financial need there is also a Tuition Assistance option that covers $400 for a one-week course and $800 for a two-week course.
It is time to apply for one of the scholarships offered by the American Academy of Bookbinding. I’ve used that chance last year and I’m very happy that I was lucky to receive the scholarship and to attend two wonderful courses: Box Making with Peter Geraty and Fine Binding with Don Glaister. These three weeks were one of the best I had in the recent years =)
This summer brings us a new bookbinding contest. The American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB) announced this July a new triennial fine binding competition OPEN • SET.
