Bookish Talk

BT #28 YouTube

Bookish Talk/ Design Bindings/ Highlights

Tom McEwan: Bookbinding in Scotland [Bookish Talk #28]

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We return to Tom McEwan to discuss the state of bookbinding in Scotland!

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00:00 – Beginning
00:44 – Earlier career
01:28 – Bookbinding in Scotland
08:21 – Teaching bookbinding in Scotland during the pandemic
10:38 – Bookbinding activities in the Glasgow School of Art
13:12 – Musings about when the design binding appeared and how to define the term “design binding.”
19:08 – Inspiration from surroundings landscape and nature of Scotland
25:13 – Influence of the previous profession: from the sculptor to bookbinder
27:26 – Titling the bindings
28:28 – Artistic techniques which help to show the orientation of the book

BT #27 YouTube

Bookish Talk/ Design Bindings/ Highlights

Design Bindings of the Booker Prize 2021 – Tom McEwan [Bookish Talk #27]

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This time we return to our Booker Prize bindings series to discuss the binding of A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam which was created by Tom McEwan. Tom is an award-winning bookbinder and the first Scottish guest on our podcast. It was a great pleasure to discuss his creative process.

We have also recorded another episode of the podcast with Tom where we discuss his career and some aspects of being a bookbinder in Scotland. This video will be published later.

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00:00 – Beginning
00:38 – Tom’s bindings made for the Booker Prize shortlist
01:38 – A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
04:36 – How the sheets for the Booker Prize bindings arrived
05:20 – Beginning to work on the edge decoration
05:52 – Using the sheets of blank paper to fill in the shoulders of the book while pressing
06:33 – Where to start: design concept or directly binding
07:53 – Working on the edge
08:43 – Using gold foil for gold tooling
09:19 – Dyeing leather for the cover
14:53 – How many layers of color does Tom usually apply to his design bindings?
17:03 – How long does the first stage (dyeing, silk screen printing) of work takes? Using the hair dryer to speed up the process
19:42 – The finished binding
24:41 – Tom’s favorite part of the bookbinding process
27:42 – How does Tom know that his design is finished?
30:42 – Has Tom’s taste changed through the years?
32:00 – What if other people modify your bindings? Collaborations in bookbinding
34:42 – Tom’s attitude toward the boxes for the bindings
36:01 – Tom’s approach to making bindings for the Booker Prize shortlist
40:36 – Difference between binding old/famous and modern/brand new books
45:01 – Where in the world you can find Tom’s bindings

BT #26 YouTube

Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Experimenting With Book Structures: Ben Elbel [Bookish Talk #26]

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We return to Ben Elbel to talk about experimental bookbinding and unusual book structures. While this episode was recorded a while ago, it stays absolutely actual. Especially as Ben was named one of the most inspiring bookish people of 2021 by the guests of our podcast!

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00:00 – Beginning
00:25 – Space for creativity in the bookbinding process
02:40 – Ben’s experiments with book structure. Are there any unsolved problems and ways to improve the book’s structure?
06:43 – Experimenting as a way to give personality to a book
08:32 – Sticking to traditions vs. doing something completely new
10:33 – Places to study modern bookbinding
12:27 – Competitions in the field of experimental and innovational bookbinding
14:15 – Doing experimental bookbinding without loss of quality
15:11 – The bibliophile pleasure of traditional bookbindings

Exhibition

Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Fine Bindings of Louise Bescond – Personal Exhibition [Bookish Talk #25]

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In December 2021, there was a retrospective exhibition of fine bindings made by a French/Belgian bookbinder Louise Bescond. Stepan Had a chance to visit the exhibition on the opening night and here is our recap of it.

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00:00 – Beginning
00:17 – Personal exhibition of Louise Bescond at “Librairie Metamorphoses” in Paris
01:51 – Les Triptyques – Lettre (Letters) by Joan Mirò, 1974, bound by Louise Bescond, gold tooling by Claude Ribal
02:26 – Involving other professionals in order to do the binding perfectly
04:39 – Are these books only displayed, or can you actually buy them?
05:46 – How the exhibition is organized – the installation out of book’s boxes
07:13 – Côte sauvage by Jean-René Huguenin
10:02 – La Vie mode d’emploi, Georges Perec, P.O.L., 1978, bound by Louise Bescond with using foil
12:48 – La carte et le territouire by Michel Houellebec
14:48 – Le Rivage des Syrtes, Julien Gracq, José Corti, 1951, edges gilded on deckle edges by Jean-Luc Bongrain
18:02 – Rêve d’une petite fille qui voulut entrer au carmel, Max Ernst
20:52 – Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission, stamped with my mashrabiya design
22:43 – The soft cover binding on the second French translation of Frankenstein
23:39 – Malevil by Robert Merle
24:32 – L’Équipée malaise by Jean Echeno
26:00 – The Catalog of the exhibition

BT #25 - YouTube

Bookish Talk/ Design Bindings/ Highlights

Design Bindings of the Booker Prize 2021 – Kate Holland [Bookish Talk #24]

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For the second part of the series dedicated to the bindings of the 2021 Booker Prize, we invited Kate Holland, to talk about her binding of “The Promise” by Damon Galgut — this year’s winner.

Among other things, we touch upon the subject of using other people’s creative products in your bindings and the matters of respecting the copyright.

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00:00 – Beginning
01:34 – “The Promise” by Damon Galgut, the winner of the 2021 Booker Prize
03:49 – Kate’s binding: connection of the dramatic landscape on the cover with the plot of the book
05:37 – Photographs used inside the doublures made by Gideon Mendel (from his series “The Struggle”)
07:44 – Copyrighting and credits in bookbinding
09:55 – Bookbinding description: a place for credits and useful information that also can be used by feature conservators
11:36 – Hand tooling lightning on the cover with foil
16:08 – Mono printed grass on the cover
17:59 – Hand tooling tree on the cover with matte black foil
19:32 – Hand-colored book edges
20:12 – How long does the process of binding a book for the Booker Prize goes
22:00 – Kate’s experience from several Booker bindings
22:56 – The financial side of the Booker Prize binding
24:03 – The reputation and the honor to do the book bindings for the Booker Prize
25:15 – Can a DB fellow refuse to do a binding for the Booker Prize?
28:01 – Current state of Kate’s work: commissions, teaching, etc.

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Artists Books/ Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Respecting Local Traditions & Telling a Personal Story with Bookinding – Angaea Cuna [Bookish Talk #20.2]

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This is the second part of our talk with Angaea Cuna, a sculptor, designer, educator, and bookmaker who currently resides in Hawaii. In this episode, we talked more about respecting the local traditions, environment, and nature in book art and bookbinding. And also we discussed how Angaea presented her own immigrant’s story in an artist’s book that she wrote, designed, made photos for, and assembled on her own.

Watch other talks with Angaea: https://www.youtube.com/c/iBookBinding/search?query=Angaea%20Cuna

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00:00 – Beginning
00:53 – Angaea’s collection of bones for designing books
03:18 – Hi’iaka artist book with bone inlay into the spine, books with black paper
07:03 – Angaea’s thoughts about the tactile experience from the books while creating her designs and inspiration from nature and mythology
10:20 – More nature materials from antique stores and own garden
13:24 – Experiment with the full cycle of making paper from Ma’o – Hawaiian cotton without professional equipment
17:51 – Japanese binding book with dragons on paper and cover inspired by the Bakunawa – a serpent-like dragon in Philippine mythology
20:24 – Inspiration from videogames
23:55 – Musings about taking materials from nature and environmentally conscious
30:25 – Influence of Hawaiian nature and culture on Angaea’s art, a book about growing in America as an immigrant
32:56 – DNA-tests for ethnicity and genealogy

BT #23 - Armina Ghazaryan - YouTube

Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Street Typography of Belgium / Signs & Numbers – Armina Ghazaryan [Bookish Talk #23]

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Today our bookish guest is Armina Ghazaryan, a freelance graphic designer interested in typography and branding. Currently, Armina lives in Ghent, and that’s where most of the examples of the street typography discussed in this video come from. We approached Armina because of her longstanding series of posts on Facebook and Instagram, where she shares her amazing findings.

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00:00 – Beginning
00:08 – Introduction of Armina Ghazaryan
01:20 – Street Typography Series: Inception
03:39 – Life of typography in cities: preservation, the reaction of people
05:19 – Photos of lettering and examples of typography in the city of Ghent
10:06 – Different ways to depict the digraph of the letters i and j in Dutch and Flemish languages
14:40 – Amsterdamse Krulletter (Amsterdam´s curly letter) in Ghent, Belgium
16:36 – Preserving and restoring old advertising signs and public lettering nowadays
20:37 – More photos of public lettering
27:00 – French, Dutch, and German influence on the Russian language
30:05 – More lettering photos
36:50 – Upside-down lettering, mistakes in the orientation of “S” and “N”
42:11 – Examples of unusual numbers in Ghent
44:58 – Postbox signs in the Netherlands
47:20 – Welcome to the city of Ghent: book markets, museums, and other events

Bookish Objects of the Dune Movie

Bookish Talk/ Books in Movies and Other Media

Bookbindings and Other Bookish Things of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Movie [Bookish Talk #22]

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This time we found all the bookish objects and themes from the new Dune movie directed by Denis Villeneuve. In this video, we talk about bookbinding, languages, libraries, and handwriting of the cinematic universe of Dune.

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Dune languages on David J. Peterson’s website: https://dedalvs.com/work/dune/
Reddit discussion of languages of Dune: https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/q9uzvu/the_different_languages_in_the_movie/
David J. Peterson’s tweet about the Litany Against Fear in Chakobsa: https://twitter.com/Dedalvs/status/1452724546369253376

00:00 – Beginning
01:05 – Importance of printed books in the Dune universe
02:07 – Languages of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movie
03:12 – The influence of Russian, English, and Chinese languages on the languages of the future
06:16 – David J. Peterson – the developer of the languages of Dune
07:36 – The scroll of the Herald of Change and a minor blooper
09:55 – The difference between the approach to languages in the new Dune movie and Star Wars
10:38 – Atreides library in the Gom Jabbar scene
11:55 – Gurney Halleck’s prayer book
14:57 – Chakobsa (?) praying book
17:25 – War languages of Harkonnens and Sardukar; the secret language of Tleilaxu
19:30 – The Litany Against Fear in Chakobsa
20:25 – Handwritten letter from Dr. Yueh
20:34 – Library at the abandoned research station

2021.07.10 - Bookish Talk - Angaea Cuna

Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Bookbinding in Hawaii by Angaea Cuna – From Sculpture to Artist’s Books [Bookish Talk #20]

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With this episode of our Bookish Talk, it was the first time for us when we mixed up not only the time difference with the guest but even the date. That happened because Angaea Cuna is a book artist living in Hawaii. We arranged our Zoom call for Friday. Pavel and I joined the call in the morning and spent some 15 minutes worrying if anything happened to Angaea. Luckily pretty soon, we realized that while it was Friday morning in Moscow and Versailles, it still was Thursday evening in Hawaii. So, we had to repeat the next day!

Angaea Cuna is a sculptor, designer, educator, and bookmaker. This is the first part of our talk, and there will be two more of them. Here we discuss how she started making books, found her first tools on a low budget, and talk about some of her first artist’s books.

And we’ll return to Angaea in a couple of weeks for the second part of our talk!

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00:00 – Beginning
01:19 – From sculpture to book arts
02:57 – Acquiring first equipment and tools on a low budget
05:30 – Creative approach to bookbinding and bookbinding tools
07:54 – Mastering the craft
10:06 – Where Angaea plans to take her art and craft next?
11:25 – Curating exhibitions
12:26 – Angaea’s first artist’s book
15:31 – Current projects
19:09 – Angaea’s clients / Telling a story / Valuing your work
26:25 – Angaea’s support system / Arts and crafts markets on Hawaii

 

 

2021.06.05 - Bookish Talk - Rebecca Laura

Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Miniature Artist’s Books and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder – Rebecca Padgham [Bookish Talk #19]

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We had a chance to discuss quite a lot during this 30-minute talk with Rebecca Padgham, an artist and bookmaker from the UK. Initially, we invited Rebecca after she posted in a bookish Facebook community a request for some advice concerning trimming books for a person with Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder.

But that definitely wasn’t the only topic we covered! From making miniature books from a single sheet of A4 paper to promoting your work through Facebook and Instagram. From creating artist’s books during travels to finding ways to sell your books in the year of pandemic.

It was a great pleasure to talk to Rebecca, and we wish her to fulfill her creative ideas and work on many amazing projects! Check the description of the video to find links to Rebecca’s Instagram and other places where you can find her works.

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00:00 – Beginning
00:46 – Rebecca’s path to book arts
02:06 – First book projects
03:38 – What’s after the university graduation?
04:29 – Selling your works at art markets
06:02 – Importance of networking
07:46 – Rebecca’s creative process during the trips
08:27 – Travelog from Greece
12:19 – How Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder affects bookmaking?
14:22 – Rebecca’s approach to trimming books
16:17 – Setting realistic production goals
18:38 – More books
18:48 – Miniature concertina books
19:19 – Miniature book: Cats and Dogs
20:10 – Inspired by Micro Library books – Books made with a single sheet of A4 paper
21:07 – Miniature book: Pigs
23:00 – Miniature book: Noah’s Ark
26:36 – Missing on art fairs in the year of pandemic and finding other ways to sell your work
29:31 – Promoting your work on social media
32:24 – Where Rebecca wants to take her crafts next?

2021.05.28 - iBB Podcast #22 - Andreas Maroulis 2

Bookish Talk/ Cover Decoration/ DB UK Competition/ Design Bindings/ Designer Bookbinders/ Gold Tooling/ Highlights

Award-Winning Binding, Gold Tooling, and Graphite Edges – Andreas Maroulis [iBB Podcast #22]

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We invited Andreas Maroulis, a Greek bookbinder currently living in the UK. Andreas won an award at the Designer Bookbinders Competition recently with his binding “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. In this episode of our podcast, we discuss the binding, the creative process Andreas follows, and some other things like gold tooling and edge decoration.

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00:00 – Beginning
01:02 – Gold tooling prize
02:26 – Richly tooled books vs. books with minimalistic tooling
04:24 – Feedback from other members of the Society
06:11 – Creative process and design of the binding
07:17 – Graphite edges with decoration
08:39 – Gold tooling on the turn-ins
09:48 – More technical details
13:45 – How the story influenced the design
23:23 – Finding new uses for gold in bookbinding
32:08 – Graphite and maybe graphene? All sorts of edge decoration
35:17 – A comment on sanding book edges
37:57 – Design sketches and tests
43:35 – Constraints of deadlines

2021.05.14 - Bookish Talk #18 - Richard Beadsmoore 2

Bookish Talk/ DB UK Competition/ Design Bindings/ Designer Bookbinders/ Highlights/ Japanese Binding

Award-Winning Bindings of Richard Beadsmoore [Bookish Talk #18]

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Designer Bookbinders has a competition for their UK-based members. This year, Richard Beadsmoore was among the competition winners, taking three prizes with his two bindings. In this video, we discuss these bindings. Richard talks about his creative process and describes how was is to start making books only after his retirement from his day job.

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00:00 – Beginning
00:55 – Designer Bookbinders UK Awards 2021 and Richard’s three prizes
01:58 – Where the inspiration for the cover for Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck comes from
05:30 – Discussing Richard’s designing process
06:28 – Maquette of the book
06:53 – Plans for the final version of the book and the dummies
07:40 – What being a licentiate of the Designer Bookbinders means and what do they do?
12:19 – Is bookbinding a hobby or a profession for Richard?
14:24 – Richard’s workshop
15:31 – London Craft Week
16:27 – Teaching bookbinding
16:49 – The second book: Hokusai by David Burnett, Incline Press, 1996
18:13 – Making a maquette and searching for appropriate materials
20:34 – Getting feedback about the prize
21:53 – Are any of Richard’s bindings available to see in public collections?
22:40 – Richard’s training and path to becoming an award-winning bookbinder
23:27 – How many designer bindings Richard has already made?
25:59 – Making books while having a background in drama

2021.04.03 - Bookish Talk #17 - BASE - An Exhibition Space for a Single Book - Mark Cockram

Bookish Talk/ Exhibitions/ Highlights

BASE – An Exhibition Space for a Single Book – Mark Cockram [Bookish Talk #17]

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Earlier this year, Mark Cockram created an unusual exhibition space for books at his studio that is only 76x34x18.5 cm in size. Since that moment he has had several exhibitions there. And that’s exactly what we are going to discuss during this Bookish Talk!

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Book Art SpacE BASE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/400132954397706

To follow Mark’s projects, use the links below:

Studio 5 Book Arts

00:00 – Beginning
01:34 – Introducing BASE – Book Arts SpacE
01:59 – Working with a 76x34x18.5 cm exhibition space
03:29 – The journey to the art
04:18 – What inspired Mark to create an exhibition space like that
07:56 – Guerilla exhibitions
09:55 – The first exhibition at BASE – Automatic #1
12:48 – The Second exhibition – Diptych: The book ends here
13:10 – Inviting other artists to exhibit at the BASE
14:39 – A tongue-in-cheek approach
16:59 – Miniature books
18:28 – Interactive exhibitions
20:06 – Kinetic book sculptures
23:53 – How were the books exhibited during the lockdowns? Online exhibitions
28:11 – How has the interaction with the clients and collectors changed during these past months?

2021.04.03 - Bookish Talk #16 - Todd Davis

Bookish Talk/ Highlights

Bookbinder’s Year in Lockdown – Todd Davis – Bookish Talk #16

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A bit more than a year ago, we recorded our second podcast video, and our guest was Todd Davis, a bookbinder from Boston, MA. We returned to Todd a year later to discuss how was it to survive the first lockdown and what new projects this past year have brought to him.

This video is a bit longer than our average Bookish Talk. Still, we decided not to move it to our main podcast, as besides talking bookbinding, we discussed some other topics like public transit or the reliability of mail services. The last, however, may be important to some of our colleagues =)

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Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/iBookBinding/
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/iBookBinding/
Discord — https://discord.gg/cxMw7x5

Follow Todd’s projects:
Website: https://middlesexbindery.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/llysenw/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiddlesexBindery/

00:00 – Beginning
01:44 – How it was a year ago, during the first Covid lockdown?
05:22 – Explosion in the number of orders after the first lockdown – Bibles and cookbooks
08:39 – Availability of supplies during the lockdowns – problems with shipping
12:33 – Does all that affect the orders? Do people bring them to the bindery or send them by mail?
18:02 – Wear of old books and their longevity after the repair
20:53 – Changes to book production and binderies of the precious centuries
27:55 – New types of orders that started to come after the first lockdown
29:47 – Is hiring an assistant an option?
30:57 – Vaccination and teaching classes again
33:40 – Book fairs and other events
37:30 – Paying rent during the lockdowns
40:42 – Tuning the work/life balance

2021.03.12 - Bookish Talk #15 - Lori Sauer

Archival Work, Book Repair and Restoration/ Bookish Talk/ Highlights

BINDING re:DEFINED – Teaching Unusual Bookbinding with Lori Sauer – Bookish Talk #15

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This time we return to Lori Sauer to discuss her project BINDING re:DEFINED and the importance of teaching and learning different bookbinding approaches and techniques. During this episode, Lori shows many unusual book structures including some structures created by other bookbinding teachers participating in the BINDING re:DEFINED project.

These structures include:

  • Daniel Kelm’s wire edge binding;
  • Kylin Lee Acherman’s split spine book structure;
  • Nadine Werner’s steckalbum.

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Follow Lori Sauer on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorisauer_beechingstoke/

BINDING re:DEFINED: https://www.bookbindingworkshops.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BINDINGreDEFINED

00:00 – BINDING re:DEFINED
00:59 – How it all began
06:15 – Being open to different traditions and approaches
08:14 – The target audience of the BINDING re:DEFINED project
08:50 – A scroll display structure
11:18 – Creating innovative book structures
11:59 – The Pompidou structure
13:22 – The removable case structure
15:53 – Structures that solve a particular problem
16:57 – Doing lots of tests before the structure starts to work properly
17:23 – Sewn board binding with a rounded wooden spine
20:23 – On stab bindings vs. books that open flat
21:29 – BINDING re:DEFINED in the post-Covid era
23:24 – Online classes
25:33 – Daniel Kelm’s wire edge binding
26:22 – Kylin Lee Acherman’s split spine book structure
28:32 – Nadine Werner’s steckalbum
29:10 – Networking in the bookbinders’ world
31:48 – Book arts fairs and lockdowns

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